2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships
- August 30-September 4, 2022
- Lima, Peru
- Long Course Meters (50m), Prelims/Semis/Finals
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Girls 400 Meter Individual Medley – Final
- World Record – 4:26.36, Katinka Hosszu (2016)
- World Junior Record – 4:29.01, Summer McIntosh (2022)
- World Jr Champ Record – 4:38.53, Alba Vazquez Ruiz (2019)
Podium:
- Mio Narita (JPN) – 4:37.78
- Lilla Minna Abraham (HUN) – 4:44.19
- Giulia Vetrano (ITA) – 4:44.20
Five days after breaking the meet record in the 400 IM at Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii (USA), Japan’s Mio Narita took down another meet mark – this time in Lima, Peru at the FINA World Junior Championships.
In both races, Narita dominated the field and won by about ten meters. This time, she was a second slower than she had been in Honolulu; nonetheless she won by just over 6 seconds with 4:37.78. Narita took the lead from the opening beep, getting out front with a 1:02.37 butterfly leg. She was already up by 1.6 seconds at the 100, with teammate Ayami Suzuki in second place with 1:03.97.
Headed into the breaststroke, Narita led the rest of the competitors by 2.3 seconds. The third 100 is where she really shines, though, and she more than doubled her lead to 5.4 seconds with a 1:19 breaststroke split. Coming home in 1:04.6, she extended her lead by another second to win in 4:37.78 over Hungary’s Lilla Minna Abraham and Italy’s Giulia Vetrano, who touched virtually together in 4:44.2 behind her.
The previous meet record had been set by Spain’s Alba Vazquez Ruiz in 2019. She, too, dominated on the breaststroke, splitting 1:16.7, only 3.3 seconds slower than her backstroke. Narita’s front half was four seconds faster than Vazquez’s, which put her well ahead of the meet record from the outset.
Comparative splits:
| Alba Vazquez Ruiz, 2019 World Juniors | Mio Narita, 2022 Junior Pan Pacs | Mio Narita, 2022 World Juniors | |
| Butterfly | 30.11 / 34.14 = 1:04.25 | 29.53 / 33.50 = 1:03.03 | 29.33 / 33.04 = 1:02.37 |
| Backstroke | 36.82 / 36.61 = 1:13.43 | 36.32 / 35.22 = 1:11.54 | 35.70 / 35.47 = 1:11.17 |
| Breaststroke | 37.87 / 38.87 = 1:16.74 | 38.66 / 39.52 = 1:18.18 | 38.62 / 40.97 = 1:19.59 |
| Freestyle | 32.75 / 31.36 = 1:04.11 | 32.50 / 31.54 = 1:04.04 | 32.77 / 31.88 = 1:04.65 |
| 4:38.53 | 4:36.79 | 4:37.78 |