Girls 1500 free
Slovenia picked an opportune time to win their first every Youth World Championship medal, and made it a gold in this girls 1500 free from Tjasa Oder in a new Meet, and National, record of 6:18.63. That moves her into 17th in the world this year.
Oder was locked in a back-and-forth battle with the United States’ Rachel Zilinskas, but it was a great closing 100 that brought her from behind for the gold. Zilinskas took silver in 6:18.85. She, and the three swimmers behind her, were all also under the old Meet Record held by Russia’s Elena Solokva in 16:28. That includes bronze medalist Claudia Dasca of Spain in 16:24.30, Michelle Weber of South Africa in 16:27.14, and Maria Vilas Vidal, the other Spaniard, in 16:27.75.
Boys 50 fly
The United States’ Maclin Davis took his second butterfly title of the meet, to go with his earlier finish in the 100, when he won the 50 fly in 24.26. He just out-touched Croatia’s Mihael Vukic in 24.30. The difference in this race came on the all-important start. Davis was the fastest off of the block (.70 reaction), whereas Vukic was the slowest of the finalists (.83 reaction).
Italy’s Martino Lucatello took bronze in 24.54. About a stroke behind him was a tie for 4th between the USA’s Erich Peske and the Ukraine’s Yevgen Koptyelov.
Girls 50 backstroke
The Ukraine might have just missed a medal in the boys 50 fly, but the rest of the session was spectacular for the program. That started with Daryna Zevina’s big win in this girls 50 back in 28.45. That breaks her own Meet Record, set during the semifinals, of 28.60, and completes a clean-sweep of the backstroke events for the World Championship finalist.
Great Britain’s Emma Saunders also cleared the pre-2011 Meet Record, held by Grace Loh of Australia, with her silver-medal performance of 28.76. That’s a rung-up-the-ladder for her after bronzes in the two longer backstroke distances. In third was Canada’s all-around sprint star Chantal van Landeghem in 29.01, which is a career-best time for her.
In 4th was Turkey’s Hazal Sarikaya in 29.12, which misses her own National Record by .02 seconds. American Olivia Smoglia was 5th in 29.20.
Boys 400 IM
Japan’s Kosuke Hagino broke Tyler Clary’s Meet Record handily in the prelims, but that time didn’t even come close to holding up through finals. The top 5 swimmers all broke Hagino’s old record, including event champion Maksym Shembrev in a 4:15.64 that will be the mark that everyone is chasing at the next edition of this meet in 2013. That marked the second-straight win for the Ukrainians.
China’s Xiang Li took silver in 4:17.00, but it was one of the straighter 4:17 400 IM’s you’ll ever see. He was world-class for three legs of this race, but his 100 backstroke was actually slower than his 100 breaststroke. He had a great closing 50 to pull past the old record holder Hagino, who took bronze in 4:17.15.
The USA’s Josh Prenot just held of the UK’s Matthew Johnson after the two flipped in almost an identical time at the final turn. Prenot’s time was 4:18.44, a career-best by almost three seconds, and Johnson touched 5th in 4:18.54. That crushes the old British (and English) Records in the 400 IM held by Roberto Pavoni at 4:23.04.
Girls 400 free relay
The Americans, while seemingly heavy favorites after prelims, got locked up in a great battle in this race with the Canadians, as both cleared the old Meet Record. On the anchor, American Lia Neal (54.83) was able to hold off Canada’s Chantal van Landeghem (54.69) to win gold in 3:42.85. The rest of the gold medal winning relay includes Kristen Vredeveld (55.64), Jr. National Champ in this race Simone Manuel (55.90), and Rachel Acker (56.48). Chelsea Chenault and Julia Anderson will also earn gold medals for their prelims contributions.
Canada’s silver-medal time was 3:43.24. Great Britain’s group, anchored by a 55.27 from Jessica Lloyd took bronze in 3:45.99.
Full girls 400 free relay results.
Semifinals
- Australia’s Cameron McEvoy continues to edge closer to the 49’s he did leading off the 400 free relay with a 50.08 to take the top seed in the boys 100 free.
- No records yet in the girls 100 fly, but 6 swimmers did break the minute mark in the semi-final. The head of the group is the UK’s Rachel Kelly in 59.62. American Kendyl Stewart touched 7th in 1:00.02.
- Bronte Campbell of Australia broke her own Meet Record, set this morning in the girls 50 free in 25.28. The field tightened up considerably on her in this semifinal, with Lia Neal in 2nd in 25.39 and Chantal van Landeghem in 3rd in 25.58.
- The boys 50 breaststroke final tomorrow should be very tight, with the top 7 qualifiers all touching between Oleg Utekhin’s 28.43 and 28.9. In that pack was the United States’ Nic Fink in 28.79.