Plytnykaite & Juska Make Some Noise At Lithuanian Aquatics Team Cup

2023 LTU AQUATICS TEAM CUP

• Saturday, November 11th & Sunday, November 12th
• Lazdynai Swimming Pool, Vilnius Lithuania
• SCM (25m)
• Results

The 2023 LTU Aquatics Team Cup took place over the weekend with several national record holders diving in for short course action.

Among them was Smiltė Plytnykaitė, with the 16-year-old making noise across the sprint freestyle events.

The teen won the 50m free in a time of 25.06, a mark which came within .11 of the Lithuanian age record in the race. That benchmark still stands at the 24.95 Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte put on the books as a 16-year-old in 2013.

Plytnykaitė topped the 100m free podium in a result of 54.52, a new lifetime best. Splitting 26.94/27.58, the budding star shared .10 off her previous career-quickest outing of 54.62 notched in December of last year.

Finally, the 200m free also fell victim to Plytnykaite where she grabbed gold in 1:59.67. Her performance represented her first-ever foray into the sub-2:00 territory to establish a new age record. The previous mark stood at the 2:00.12 Sylvia Statkevicius logged in 2021.

However, Plytnykaite’s time also overwrote the senior Lithuanian record in the women’s 200m free as well, erasing the previous standard of 1:59.90 that’s been held since 2013.

Additional Winners

• Rokas Jazdauskas did damage across the men’s 200m free, 100m IM and 200m IM races. He produced times of 1:47.49, 54.99 and 2:00.06, respectively, with both IMs checking in as lifetime bests.
• 14-year-old Tajus Juska made his presence known over the course of the 2 days. He nailed new lifetime bests and Lithuanian age records as follows:
  • 22.37, 50m free
  • 1:48.47, 200m fre
  • 24.10, 50m fly
  • 2:02.06, 200m fly