With the April 1st “open season” on the new FINA Junior World Records, there’s very much of a limbo-situation left in the gap between the recognized Junior World Record, and the fastest times ever done by a junior.
And so, below, we’ve made our best attempt at assembling these “Junior World bests,” sticking with FINA’s definition of a ‘junior.” That is to say, girls who are aged 14-17 or boys who are aged 15-18, based on their age on December 31st.
That eliminates some really good, really well-known swims, like Thorpe’s World Record at 18, but in the year he turned 19.
This is where we’re asking for help from our readers. We know we have great readers that know a lot about swimming, and because of the monumental task of tracking down these “bests,” we fully recognize that there’s some we might have missed.
And so, before we settle up with these as Junior World bests, we’re reaching out to our audience to help make sure we haven’t overlooked any. Some were easy to figure out, especially on the girls’ side, where a huge portion of the current World Records were done by swimmers 17 & under.
If you think you’ve found a time that should replace one on this list, leave it in the comments with time, meet, and results if you can find them, and if we can verify, we’ll update the list.
Once suggestions quiet down for a few days, we’ll settle things up (they can always be changed later if one happens to have still been overlooked).
Interestingly, thus far, only two (UPDATED) of these swims is also the Junior World Record – that’s Evgeny Sedov’s 50 fly and Santana’s 100 free.
50 Free 21.98 Evgeny Sedov
100 Free 48.35 Matheus Santana* (McEvoy was 48.0 as an 18-year old, but in his “19th year”)
200 Free 1:43.90 Danila Izotov (still his best time)
400 Free 3:40.59 Ian Thorpe (his 3:40.17 was done at 18, but was in his “19th year”)
800 Free 7:45.67 Mack Horton (Really hard to find this one – Thorpe’s WR wasn’t until his “19th year”)
1500 Free 14:46.84 Sun Yang (14:43.48 from Kieren Perkins was in his “19th year”, UPDATED)
50 Back 25.04 Ryan Murphy (Xu Jiayu in his 19th year)
100 Back 53.38 Ryan Murphy (Hagino in 19th year)
200 Back 1:54.77 Ryosuke Irie (Hagino in 19th year, Peirsol in 19th year, UPDATED)
50 Breast 27.16 (Johannes Skagius)
100 Breast 59.56 Akahiro Yamaguchi (UPDATED)
200 Breast 2:07.01 Akahiro Yamaguchi
50 Fly 23.28 Evgeny Sedov*
100 Fly 51.10 Michael Phelps
200 Fly 1:53.93 Michael Phelps
200 IM 1:55.94 Michael Phelps (UPDATED – Hagino was in his 19th year)
400 IM 4:08.94 Kosuke Hagino (UPDATED)
50 Free 23.99 Cate Campbell
100 Free 53.03 Cate Campbell
200 Free 1:55.06 Missy Franklin
400 Free 3:59.82 Katie Ledecky
800 Free 8:13.86 Katie Ledecky
1500 Free 15:36.54 Katie Ledecky
50 Back 27.22 Fu Yuanhui (UPDATED)
100 Back 58.33 Missy Franklin
200 Back 2:04.06 Missy Franklin
50 Breast 29.48 Ruta Meilutyte
100 Breast 1:04.35 Ruta Meilutyte
200 Breast 2:22.78 Keiko Fukudome (Watanabe faster in 18th year, UPDATED)
50 Fly 25.66 Sarah Sjostrom (done in both 2009 and 2010)
100 Fly 56.06 Sarah Sjostrom
200 Fly 2:04.72 Jiao Liuyang (Jiao Liuyang and Ellen Gandy were faster in their 18th year, while 17)
200 IM 2:07.57 Ye Shiwen
400 IM 4:28.43 Ye Shiwen
Open question to group – since we’re already taking liberties with the FINA rules, why are we sticking with the requirement to anchor a swimmers age to their December 31st birthday? It’s an arbitrary and silly constraint that unfairly penalizes swimmers whose birthdays are later in the year.
If we truly want a *real* Junior World Record Book, I propose that we simply count all swims done by males prior to their 19th birthday and females prior to their 18th birthday. Doing anything other than that is capricious, lazy, or both.
50m Free Evgeny Sedov Russia 96 21.98 31-Mar-14 Russian Cup Rostov, RUS
100m Free Cameron McEvoy Australia 13-May-94 48.07 30-Apr-13 Australia National Championships Adelaide, AUS
It’s not lazy theroboticrichardsimmons, I think swimswam just want to make “what-might-have-been” list if FINA want to accept the records in the past, with the rule they set for their official records.
And the rule is not that bad, IAAF use the same 31 Dec cut-off for their junior world record.
But if you want the real record, i think we can make that list.
I’m searching for awhile and I come up with this list for men (maybe someday i have the time to search the women record) :-):
50m… Read more »
There;s is one mistake in my list. 200m back, it should be this one:
200m Back Ryosuke Irie Japan 24-Jan-90 1.54.77 7-Jun-08 Japan Open Tokyo, JPN
I have a doubt: Marco Orsi(Italy)didn t made 21.82 at 18 in 2009?(Okay, he made 19 in December, but he made his record in March.
Yes.. if was at 18.. regardless of when turning 19.. the 50 record would be from Orsi..
I think you’re right, DDIAS.
00:21.82 Marco Orsi CN Uisp Bologna 6 Mar 2009 Italian Championships Riccione, Italy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_record_progression_50_metres_freestyle
and Orsi wan born in 11 Desember 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Orsi
so he is the fastest juniors (under 19 years) in 50m Free.
OK.
FINA’s style Record: it’s Sedov (b. 1996), 21.98 (in 31 Dec 2014 he’s still 18 yo)
theroboticrichardsimmons/USA Swimming/Australia Swimming’s style Record :-): it’s Orsi (b. 1990), 21.82 (in 31 Dec 2009 he is 19 yo – not eligible for FINA’s record).
It’s not arbitary at all. In fact I feel the FINA rule makes it easier. All you need to know is someone’s birth year, not their birth date.
I agree it is easier (for those who try to compile the list), but it is definitely less fair.
Also, for official world record, FINA have to know the exact birthdate, not just the year, so why not using birthdate, instead of just the year?
Braden, could you also make the best textile list?
I think it’s shiny suit’s time for men 200m free and 1500m free & women 50m free, 100m free, 200m breast, 100m fly, and 200m fly. Can we get the real junior best time on that events without help from that super suit? 🙂
A textile list in this case can be a bit dicey and misleading. Whereas all great swimmers had some period of their peak outside of the “shiny suit” era, for those who were 17 and 18 and 2008 and 2009, they will have had no ‘unaided’ opportunity to get onto the list, know what I mean?
yeah i know what you mean.
i think I’m just sentimental. because of that shiny suit, Thorpe’s
1:45.37 (200 free), Paltrinieri 14:48.92 (1500 free), and Hagino’s 1:55.74 (200 back) can’t make the list. 🙂
I agree that it is quite dicey.
For example, I absolutely don’t think Izotov would have been anywhere close to that 1:43.90 had he not been in x-glide. Izotov’s textile PB is 1:45.59 in Barcelona last year.
On the other hand, swimmers like Campbell or Sjoestrom would still have broken/held the records (albeit slower) had they been in textile in 2009.
Campbell swam 24.89 as 14 yo in textile, and then she also swam 24.48 in textile in 2007, barely turned 15 yo.
Same for Sun, he swan 14:35 textile before turning 19 on 2010.. he could have gone 14:46 even without the suits at 2009..
Why not put this list on you records page?
Ever since FINA decided to observe junior WR’s, I wondered what the reasoning was for the girls being 14-17 and boys being 15-18. Why the disparity?
Sven – it’s the same age ranges as the Junior World Championships. That’s probably the root of the rationale.
gotcha, thanks!
I’m guessing it accounts for the different rates of maturity, but is that the official rationale?
Yeah, if you took it a step further, that’s probably where you’d drill down to. Meet qualifying ages are commonly done this way around the world; some countries also do their age records this way.
Braden, at 18 years old, on the year turning 19 the 1500 time is Sun Yang 14:35:43 at 2010 Asian Games, the time was at November, he was born on December.
Rafael – that wouldn’t have qualified had FINA been accepting Junior WR then, because he was 19 on December 31. For the purposes of this list, we’re trying to hold true to FINA’s age ranges. We can definitely do a different list based on “true age” swims next, though.
Ultimately, some people have an advantage if you look at age on December 31, and the opposite group has the advantage if you base age on birthday.
Why would the opposite group has the advantage if you base it on birthday?
Birthday is birthday, and turning 19 yo is the same for every group.
Therefore, basing it on birthday is more fair, in my opinion.
Jiao 200 fly 2008 Olympics 2:04.72 listed as born 91
Jiao looks good too.
Possible women’s 200 breast keiko Fukudome 2:22.78 japan junior cup 29 August 2009
Majer99 – It looks like she’s a ’93 birth, so looks like Fukudome is a new leader in the women’s 200 breaststroke.
When will Ukranian National happen? Probably Solnceva will crush the 200m mark.. she went 2:23:12 last year and she will turn 16 this year..
Victoria changing the country
probably, Turkey
Yang times were at 2008 OG and 2009 Worlds (Forget to add this)
Thanks for the updates all. I think we’re getting closer to a ‘good’ list.
Yang is from 1991, at 2008 he went 14:48:39 and in 2009 he went 14:46:84.. So the 1500 record is his