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
Spaniard Alba Vazquez is carrying on the great women’s 400m IM tradition established by Olympian Mireia Belmonte by becoming not only the World Junior Champion in the event but also the World Junior Record holder with a tremendous swim tonight.
After establishing herself as the top-seeded swimmer here at the World Junior Championships in Budapest with a morning swim of 4:43.17, the 17-year-old took things to an entirely new level by dipping well under the 4:40 threshold in a new lifetime best of 4:38.53. That gold medal-worthy swim overtakes the previous meet record and WJR set by Great Britain’s Rosie Rudin at 4:39.01 back at the 2015 edition of these Championships in Singapore.
Entering these Championships, Vazquez’s personal best sat at the 4:40.64 she produced just weeks ago in Kazan to take the European Junior Championships gold. That time set a new meet record there as well, but tonight is the first time she’s ever been under 4:40, which is big-time territory and a meaningful milestone mentally.
Below is a breakdown 0f splits between the 3 swims:
Vazquez’s old PB of 4:40.64 – 1:04.71/1:13.68/1:16.82/1:05.43
Rudin’s old WJR of 4:39.01 – 1:04.89/1:08.35/1:21.45/1:04.32
Vazquez’s new PB of 4:38.53 – 1:04.25/1:13.43/1:16.74/1:04.11
Vazquez’s time would have finished 7th in the stacked women’s 400m IM final in Gwangju this year, finishing ahead of Hungary’s Zsuzanna Jakabos’ 4:39.15 and France’s Fantine Lesaffre’s 4:39.68.
WJRs continue to be dumb
This is why FINA not looking for the best time swum by a junior in terms of establishing World Junior Records is annoying. Elizabeth Biesel swam a 432.8 when she was still 15. It was at Olympic Trials so she was a part of the drug testing protocol. How old was Yi Shiwen in 2012? 16 it turns out. She went a 428. Great swim by the Spanish Junior but still not the fastest swim by a junior.
Weyant’s 4:35 doesn’t count even though she is 17? Sorry if this question has been answered before.
FINA determines junior status by your Year of Birth (or age on Dec 31 of that year). For boys it’s currently 2001-2004 and for girls 2002-05.
Basically, if you’re a girl and you turn 18 later that calendar year you’re not eligible for juniors.
Now that is stupid