7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019
- Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
- Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
- Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
- 50-meter (LCM) course
- Meet site
- Entries book
- FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
- Live results
In a scorching men’s 100m breaststroke final tonight in Budapest, which saw 2 distinct ties among the 8 swimmers, American Josh Matheny took the silver in a new lifetime best and U.S. National Age Record.
The 16-year-old has been chipping away at the NAG over the 3 rounds of this men’s 100m breaststroke at these World Junior Championships, first hitting a new best of 1:00.66 in prelims, followed by an eye-catching 1:00.32 in last night’s semi-finals.
Tonight, Matheny saved the best for last, registering a quick 1:00.17 to drop another .16 and lower his own NAG for another time. The teen produced his swiftest opening 50 to date in 28.17 and held on to close in 32.00 to snag the silver behind winner Vladislav Gerasimenko of Russia. Gerasimenko threw down the only sub-minute outing of the field in 59.97. He is coming off of a bronze medal-worthy performance at this year’s European Junior Championships, but there in Kazan he clocked a much closer 1:00.84.
Comparative Splits for Matheny/Michael Andrew’s pre-Championships NAG
- Matheny, 2019 Finals – 28.17/32.00 = 1:00.17
- Matheny, 2019 Semifinals – 28.38/31.94 = 1:00.32
- Matheny, 2019 Prelims – 28.38/32.28 = 1:00.66
- Andrew, 2015 – 28.53/32.15 = 1:00.68
As for the rest of tonight’s final, American teammate Kevin Houseman took bronze in 1:00.55, while Canada’s Gabe Mastromatteo placed 4th in 1:00.69. Ireland’s Eoin Corby and Great Britain’s Archie Goodburn tied for 5th in 1:01.16, while 2 Japanese swimmers in Shoma Sato and Yuta Arai tied for 7th place in 1:01.26.
Matheny, who trains with Team Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics, is entering his junior year of high school at Upper Saint Clair, where he’s the 4th-ranked recruit in the class of 2021. He also holds the National Age Group Record in long course in 2:11.02, which he did at US Nationals earlier this month. At that meet, he was 1:00.91 in the 100 breaststroke.
he split 59.30 on the mixed medley relay ….he is on fire !!!
He’s class of 2021, not 2020.
USA needs a 58.2-58.5 breaststroker for Tokyo. He is 16 years old. He can do it.
I think that would a stretch…our best shot at 58.2 by Tokyo is CD giving up the sprint free and flys and focusing on breast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3FmBTjbL1U
World Junior record is 59.01s
Josh Matheny most likely will need to beat it to qualify for US national team for Tokyo (at the age of 17).
Hard, but not totally impossible.
Heads up, next year on to low-59 or even sub-59.
In that, Tokyo is not such an impossible goal.
Kinda bummed he didn’t swim fast enough to make the senior nats team, but that allows a guy who’s almost literally twice his age on the team, so I guess you win some you lose some