FINA World Junior Championships *Day 6 Real-Time Recaps*

The final evening of the FINA World Championships schedule of events are as follows:

• Boy’s 100 freestyle
• Girl’s 200 breaststroke
• Boy’s 200 backstroke
• Girl’s 100 butterfly
• Boy’s 1500 freestyle
• Girl’s 50 freestyle
• Boy’s 200 butterfly
• Boy’s 50 breaststroke
• Girl’s 100 freestyle
• Boy’s 4 x 100 medley relay
• Girl’s 4 x 100 medley relay

A reminder of all the links you need to follow tonight’s action

Going into the evening the team scores are as follows:

Medal standings:

Team points:

Girl’s 

1. USA – 413
2. Australia – 280
3. Russia – 215
4. Canada – 209.5
5. Japan – 1:35.5

Boy’s 

1. USA – 298
2. Russia – 263.5
3. Australia – 228
4. Brazil – 174.5
5. Japan – 172

Boy’s 100 freestyle

The final evening of the FINA World Junior Championships started out with another record and one of the most impressive performances of the meet as Caeleb Dressel won the boy’s 100 freestyle in a time of 48.97. Dressel breaks both Australian Luke Percy‘s meet record of 49.14 and Michael Phelps 2004 17-18 year old National Age Group of 49.05.

Earlier in the competition Dressel gave us a preview of this performance by anchoring the American 4 x 100 freestyle relay with a 48.29.

Dressel and 50 freestyle champion Percy battled from start to finish. Dressel turned at the 50 in a time of 23.03, 18 one hundredths of a second ahead of Percy, who came back on Dressel in the second half of the race splitting a 25.85 compared to Dressel’s 25.94. In the end Percy did not have enough to catch the American and finished second in a lifetime best of 49.06.

50 freestyle silver medalist Evgeny Sedov of Russian was slower than his lifetime best of 49.23, finishing third in a time of 49.47.

Sebastian Szczepanski was the final swimmer under the 50 second barrier finishing fourth in a time of 49.98.

Australian Regan Leong finished fifth in a time of 50.02, South African Caydon Muller finished sixth in a time of 50.17, Nicolangelo Di Fabio of Italy finished seventh in a time of 50.21 followed by Russian Ivan Kuzmeko who finished eighth in a time of 50.50.

Girl’s 200 breaststroke

The girl’s 200 breaststroke was an incredible race which saw an impressive gold medal performance by Ukrainian Viktoriya Solnceva and an amazing battle for the silver.

Solnceva won the event in a time of 2:23.12, destroying the championship record of 2:25.19 set in 2008 by Russian Olga Detenyuk. Although that was not a surprise, since she had finished fifth at the World Championships in Barcelona having posted a 2:23.01, the way she did was thrilling.

Solnceva turned at the 100 meter mark in second in a time of 1:11.55 going on to annihilate the field in the second half, coming just shy of even splitting the race recording a 1:11.58 for her second 100 meters.

Solnceva’s splits in Dubai – 33.67/1:11.55 (37.88)/1:48.49 (36.94)/2:23.12 (34.63)

Solnceva’s splits in Barcelona – 33.40/1:10.40 (37.00)/1:46.74 (36.34)/2:23.01 (36.27)

Her final split of 34.63 was was more than a second faster than the 35.81 that Yuliya Efimova went in her final 50 meters for the victory in Barcelona and over a second and a half faster than the 36.22 Rikke Moeller Petersen put up in final 50 meters of her world record swim.

The race for the silver saw three women separated by only six one-hundredths of a second. Molly Renshaw of Great Britain turned at the 100 meter wall in the top position posting a 1:11.00, 61 one-hundredths of a second ahead of Ukrainian Anastasiya Malyavina and 1.03 seconds ahead of Italian Silvia Guerra.

Both Malyavina and Guerra would overtake the British swimmer in the final 50 meters with Maylyavina finishing second in a time of 2:27.46 while Guerra picked up the bronze recording a time of 2:27.51. Renshaw finished fourth in time of 2:27.52.

South African Justine Ann MacFarlane finished fifth in a time of 2:28.47, Australian Jenna Strauch finished sixth in a time of 2:29.07, German Marlene Huther finished seventh in a time of 2:31.49 followed by American Bethany Leap who finished eighth in a time of 2:32.87.

Boy’s 200 backstroke

Italian Luca Mencarini continued the evenings record setting performances winning the 200 backstroke in a time of 1:57.92 breaking the 2011 record of 1:58.73 set by American Jacob Pebley. This was a great swim Mencarini who beat his lifetime best of 1:59.58 by more than a second and a half.

It was not an easy win Mencarini, who had to pass six athletes in the second half of the race to collect the gold. Keita Sunama of Japan finished only 29 one-hundredths behind earning the silver in a time of 1:58.21. Both Mencarini and Sunama had to make up significant ground on American Connor Green, who had a over a second lead on both men at the 150 meter mark.

Green faded to third finishing in a time of 1:58.42 followed by fellow American Alexander Katz who finished fourth in a time of 1:59.10.

Danas Rapsys of Lithuania finished fifth in a time of 1:59.36, Hungarian David Foldhazi finished sixth in a time of 1:59.80, South African Christopher Reid finished seventh in a time of 2:00.80 followed by Axel Lennart Pettersson of Sweden who finished eighth in a time of 2:02.86.

Girl’s 100 butterfly

And the records keep on falling. Russian Svetlana Chimrova set the fourth record of the evening and set the 100 butterfly championships for the third time in two days. In the prelims Chimrova posted a time of 59.30 then posted the top time in the semi-finals finishing in a time of 58.75 and followed up those two performances by winning the event this evening in a time of 58.34.

Chimrova, who also won the 50 butterfly earlier in the competition, turned at the 50 meter wall in a time of 26.84, over half a second ahead of Australian Jemma Schlicht and was able to hold off the a fast charging Lilianna Szilagyi of Hungary.

Szilagyi finished second in a time of 58.73 followed by Schlicht who finished third in a time of 59.08.

Lucie Svecena of the Czech Republic was the only other women to finish under the one minute barrier, placing fifth in a time of 59.94.

Americans Kathryn McLaughlin and Courtney Weaver finished tied for fifth in a time of 1:00.16.

Misuzu Yabu of Japan finished seventh in a time of 1:00.33 followed by Italian Claudia Tarzia who finished eighth in a time of 1:01.28.

Boy’s 1500 freestyle

Another race, another gold and another championships record for Australian Mack Horton. Horton took the 1500 freestyle in a time of 14:56.60. He has now collected individual gold and broken meet records in the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle events.

Horton, who appears to be next in a long line of great Australian distance freestylers, broke the 15 minute mark for the first time at the Australian World Championships in April posting a time of 14:59.66. He currently holds the Australian age group record for 15 year olds, he was not able to surpass Kieran Perkins age group record of 14:58.08 as a 16 year old, but still has approximately seven months to chase down Perkins age group record of 14:50.58 ,which he posted as a 17 year old.

Horton was extremely steady nearly even splitting the race swimming the first 750 meters in a time of 7:57.92 followed by a 7:58.58 in the second half.

Jan Micka of the Czech Republic finished second in a new national record time of 15:08.43. Micka broke his own record of 15:13.51, which he set earlier this year.

Pawel Furtek of Poland finished well behind the top two finishers touching in a time of 15:17.48 to collect the bronze.

Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk finished fourth in a time of 15:18.81, Joris Bouchaut of France finished fifth in a time of 15:19.18, American David Heron finished sixth in a time of 15:22.81, Wojciech Wojdak of Poland finished seventh in a time of 15:22.93 followed by Egyptian Ahmed Abbas who finished eighth in a time of 15:24.00.

Girl’s 50 freestyle

In her final event Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte won her fourth gold of the competition taking the 50 freestyle in a lifetime best of 25.10. Meilutyte, who once again had an incredible start posting a reaction time of .59, also set a new national record breaking her own record of 25.19, which she posted in yesterday’s semi-final.

After a disastrous 100 freestyle final Russian Rozaliya Nasretdinova finished second in a time of 25.16. Although a strong swim for Nasretdinova it was once again a disappointment as she was not able to match her semi-final time of 25.02.

Siobhan Bernade Haughey of Hong Kong, who beat the Meilutyte to win the 100 freestyle, collected the bronze in a time of 25.38.

Italian Giorgia Biondani finished fourth in a time of 25.42, American Abbigail Weitzeil finished fifth in a time of 25.48, Cloe Hache of France finished sixth in a time of 25.65 followed by Australian Shayna Jack who finished seventh in a time of 25.87.

Fernanda Delgado of Brazil was disqualified.

Men’s 200 butterfly

American Andrew Seliskar won his country’s second gold of the evening taking the boy’s 200 freestyle in a time of 1:56.42. Seliskar broke the championship record of 1:57.16 set by Kenta Hirai of Japan in 2011. Earlier in the meet the 16 year old broke Michael Phelps NAG record in the 200 IM, but finished fourth in the final; in tonight’s race he was well off Phelps record of 1:54.58 (which no one expected him to break), but was able to win the event.

Masato Sakai of Japan who was the fastest qualifier for the final gave Seliskar a run for his money. Sakai went out fast turning at the 100 wall in a time 55.36, 1.31 seconds ahead of the American, it was at that point that Seliskar accelerated putting up a third 50 split of 29.04, 1.52 seconds faster than Sakai.

Sakai eventually finished second in a time of 1:56.82.

Russian Alexander Kudashev finished third in a time of 1:58.57 just ahead of James Guy of Great Britain who finished fourth in a time of 1:58.80. Guy swam the fastest final 50 meters of anyone in the race posting a time of 30.44.

Luiz Altamir Melo of Brazil finished fifth in a time of 1:58.99, Australian Mitchell Pratt finished sixth in a time of 1:59.58, he was followed by teammate Isaac Jones who finished seventh in a time of 2:00.20.

Dominik Ciezkowski of Poland finished eighth posting a time of 2:01.80.

Boy’s 50 breaststroke 

Peter John Stevens of Slovenia won the men’s 50 breaststroke in a time of 27.98. Stevens was not able to match the 27.74 he put up in the prelims to set the championship record. Kohei Goto of Japan finished second in a time of 28.09.

Russian Vsevolod Zanko of Russia collected the bronze finishing in a time of 28.18.

Brazilian Pedro Cardona finished fourth in a time of 28.37, Vladislav Mustafin of Uzbekistan finished fifth in a time of 28.39, American Carsten Vissering finished sixth in a time of 28.46, Krzysztof Tokarski of Poland finished seventh in a time of 28.58 followed by his Polish teammate Maciej Holub who finished eighth in a time of 28.83.

Girl’s 200 freestyle

Italian Diletta Carli won her country’s first gold medal of the competition taking the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:58.94. Carli was 1.04 better than her best of 1:59.98, but finished one one-hundredth of a second slower than Canadian Brittany MacLean‘s championship recrod of 1:58.94.

The race for the silver was a tight one between Russian Mariia Baklakova, American Quinn Carrozza and Siobhan Bernade Haughey of Hong Kong. At the half way point the three women were separated by 11 one-hundredths of a second. At the 150 turn they were separated by two tenths of a second. In the final 50 meters Baklakova over took the other two women to take the silver in a time of 1:59.51. She was followed by Carrozza who finished third in a time of 1:59.69.

Looking for her second medal of the evening Haughey fell short touching in fourth posting a time of 1:59.94.

Australian Alanna Bowles finished fifth in a time of 2:00.28, Canadian Kennedy Goss finished sixth in a time 2:01.22, Australian Chelsea Gillett finished seventh in a time of 2:01.97 followed by German Kathrin Demler who finished eighth in a time of 2:02.41.

Boy’s 4 x 100 medley relay

In the final boy’s event of the championships saw the Japanese team made up of Keita Sunama (55.47), Kohei Goto (1:00.56), Takaya Yasue (52.20) and Toru Maruyama (49.90) take the 4 x 100 medley relay in a new championship record of 3:38.13. They broke the championship record of 3:39.65 set by the Americans in 2011.

The Russian team made up ground in the final 100 meters, but could not catch the Japanese finishing second in a time of 3:38.72.

Caeleb Dressel split 48.81 making up time on both the Japanese and Russian teams in the final 100 meters, but it was all for not as the Americans were disqualified for a false start committed by Matthew Josa swam the butterfly leg. It was determined that Josa had left .21 seconds early.

Due to the Americans disqualification the South Africans finished third recording a time of 3:42.01. Caydon Muller was most impressive anchoring the South African team splitting a 48.71 the fastest freestyle split in the event.

The Australians finished fourth in a time of 3:42.33, Germany finished fifth with a time of 3:43.51, Poland finished sixth in a time of 3:43.82 followed by the Canadians who posted a 3:44.45 to finish seventh.

Girl’s 4 x 100 medley relay

The Russian team made up of Daria Ustinova (1:01.29), Anna Belousova (1:08.74), Svetlana Chimrova (58.65) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (55.80) took the final event of the competition winning the 4 x 100 medley relay in a new championship record time of 4:04.48. The Russians broke the record of 4:05.65 set by the Japanese in 2011.

The final 100 meters saw both Sophie Taylor (54.56) of Great Britain and American Cierra Runge (54.67) made up significant ground on the Russians, but both teams came up short.

The British team finished second in a time of 4:05.42 followed by the Americans who collected the bronze finishing in a time of 4:05.76.

The Australians finished fourth in a time of 4:07.55, the Italians finished fifth in a time of 4:08.44, the Germans finished sixth in a time of 4:10.74, the Japanese finished seventh in a time of 4:10.82 followed by the Canadians who finished eighth in a time of 4:13.64.