7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019
- 50-Meter Course
- 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)
- Meet site
- Entries book
- FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
- Live results
Australia’s Thomas Neill entered these World Junior Championships as a viable contender but has already established himself as a bona fide budding freestyle superstar.
The 17-year-old teen from Rackley already claimed a silver medal here in Budapest via his impressive performance in the men’s 400m freestyle. Competing in the event on night 1 of these Championships, Neill laid waste to his previous personal best of 3:49.98 from earlier this year to clock a massive new PB of 3:46.27. That time rendered Neill runner-up, but not by much, as his time fell just .21 outside of Hungarian Gabor Zombori‘s 3:46.06 mark that won gold.
Then in the 200m free, Neill broke through with a big-time personal best yet again, smashing his entry time of 1:49.18 with his first sub-1:49 performance of his career in 1:48.20 to take 3rd seed out of the heats. Although he finished off the podium come the final that night, Neill clocked a 6th place time of 1:47.66, bringing his time drop total to over 1 1/2 seconds in this men’s 200m free event.
Rounding out a trifecta of head-turning swims for the Aussie teen so far, Neill once again landed on a podium, this time in the men’s 800m free event. Neill’s career-quickest mark of 7:59.05 landed him lane 2 based on entries, next to Croatia’s freestyle ace Franko Grgic, giving him a racer to chase the entire way. Neill was behind Grgic, right on Russian Ilia Sibirtsev‘s heels for the duration of the 800m, ultimately hitting the wall in a time of 7:48.65 for bronze.
His sub-7:50 effort means Neill dropped over 8 seconds with this one performance, giving him his 2nd individual medal of these Championships.
In terms of Australian swimming history, Neill’s 7:48.65 performance now checks him in as the 2nd fastest 17-year-old Aussie performer ever, sitting ahead of what legends Grant Hackett (7:50.30) and Kieren Perkins (7:52.93) threw down at 17. Only Mack Horton has been faster at this age, hitting 7:45.67 that sits as the World Junior benchmark time.
But, Neill’s time was stellar for any Aussie age, now inserting him as #7 on the list of all-time Aussie performers at any age.
Top Aussie Men’s 800m Freestyle Performers All-Time
#1 – 7:38.65 Grant Hackett 1981 Montreal 27.07.05
#2 – 7:39.16 Ian Thorpe 1982 Fukuoka 24.07.01
#3 – 7:44.02 Mack Horton 1996 Kazan 05.08.15
#4 – 7:46.00 Kieren Perkins 1973 Victoria 24.08.94
#5 – 7:46.79 Jack McLoughlin 1995 Brisbane 11.06.19
#6 – 7:47.38 Jordan Harrison 1995 Barcelona 30.07.13
#7 – 7:48.65 Thomas Neill 2002 22.08.19
What an incredible feat for this young man, Thomas O’Neill. Australian Swimming is in good hands.
Jack McLoughlin should sit higher on that list. Didn’t he go 7.42 at the WC’s?
Great swims this week and exciting future ahead
100%
This makes the battle for the 400 & 800 spots next year interesting.