Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
NANJING, China, August 17. THE hosts had the top swim of the night as the Chinese downed the World Junior Record in the mixed 400 free relay to kick off the Youth Olympics Games. Russia’s Anton Chupkov also took down a WJR during the men’s 100 breast semis.
Scheduled Events
- Men’s 400 free final
- Women’s 50 breast semifinals
- Men’s 100 back semifinals
- Women’s 100 back semifinals
- Men’s 100 Breast semifinals
- Women’s 200 IM finals
- Mixed 400 free relay finals
FINALS
Men’s 400 free
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk used a stunning final 100 meters to win the first gold medal on offer for the meet, as he charged to a 3:49.76 for the win. That’s a solid drop in time from his preliminary effort of 3:53.31.
Romanchuk’s Splits:
50m
27.52 (6)
27.52
100m
56.79 (8)
29.27
150m
1:26.12 (7)
29.33
200m
1:55.49 (5)
29.37
250m
2:24.58 (4)
29.09
300m
2:54.12 (5)
29.54
350m
3:22.37 (1)
28.25
400m
3:49.76 (1)
27.39
Romanchuk’s final 100 meters left the rest of the field in the dust. He initially had been fifth in the field before he put together back-to-back 28s and 27s splits to win the finale by more than a second-and-a-half.
El Salvador’s Marcelo Alberto Acotsa took second in 3:51.32 as he could not withstand the late charge by Romanchuk. Norway’s Henrik Christiansen placed third in 3:51.55.
Egypt’s Akram Ahmed, the top seed out of prelims with an Egyptian record 3:52.02, took fourth in 3:51.78 to lower the South Carolina-bound swimmer’s national mark.
Israel’s Ido Haber (3:53.55), Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak (3:53.96), Brazil’s Luiz Altamir Lopes Melo (3:55.07) and Spain’s Guillermo Sanchez Gutierrez (3:56.08) also competed in the finale.
Women’s 200 IM
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Yang Lei
Vietnam’s Vien Nguyen went out hard and never looked back as she raced her way to the second gold medal of the night. Nguyen managed to turn in a sizzling time of 2:12.66, lowering her Vietnamese record of 2:14.58 from earlier this summer at the Southeast Asian Championships. She never really was in trouble as she led wire-to-wire and had enough energy to race her way through freestyle for the win.
Nguyen’s Splits:
50m
28.57 (1)
28.57
100m
1:02.07 (1)
33.50
150m
1:41.50 (1)
39.43
200m
2:12.66 (1)
31.16
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey finished second in the finale with a time of 2:13.21, while USA’s Meghan Small could not replicate the 2:11.83 lifetime best she clocked at the U.S. Senior Nationals as she took bronze tonight in 2:14.01.
Spain’s Africa Zamorano Sanz (2:14.18), Germany’s Kathrin Demler (2:14.53), Hungary’s Dalma Sebestyen (2:14.86), South Africa’s Marlies Ross (2:15.25) and Canada’s Kelsey Wog (2:17.86) also vied for the title as part of the championship heat.
Mixed 400 free relay
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
As the host nation teased this morning with a 3:29.36 during preliminary qualifying, the Chinese ran roughshod all over the World Junior Record in the mixed 400 free relay. The foursome of Li Guangyuan, Qiu Yuhan, Yu Hexin and Shen Duo scorched the finale field with a 3:27.02. That swim lowered the previous mark of 3:28.74 set by the Australians at the World Junior Championships.
The Aussie team of Luke Percy (49.57), Regan Leong (49.59), Shayna Jack (54.37) and Georgia Miller (55.21) front loaded its swim, while China staggered its men. Yu Hexin definitely keyed the record with his smoking 48.61 split.
China’s Splits:
CHN People’s Republic of China 3:27.02
LI Guangyuan (M) 0.72 24.84 50.94 (7) 50.94
QIU Yuhan (W) 0.47 25.96 54.04 (4) 1:44.98
YU Hexin (M) 0.22 22.92 48.61 (1) 2:33.59
SHEN Duo (W) 0.30 25.89 53.43 (1) 3:27.02
Brazil’s Luiz Altamir Lops Melo (50.90), Natalia de Luccas (57.07), Matheus de Santana (47.73) and Giovanna Tomanik Diamante (55.85) took second in 3:31.55 with Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (50.35), Ami Matsuo (54.35), Brianna Throssell (55.60) and Nicholas Brown (51.46) finishing third in 3:31.76.
Russia (3:32.15), The Netherlands (3:33.19), Great Britain (3:33.28), Germany (3:36.51) and Spain (3:38.10) rounded out the finale.
SEMIFINALS
Women’s 50 breast
Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte obviously is just doing enough to get through the early qualifying as she posted an easy-speed 31.67 to lead the semifinal heats tonight. The world-record holder, who already went 29.90 at the Sette Colli Trophy meet in Rome to lead the world this year, had little trouble dominating the semifinal heats.
Germany’s Julia Willers raced her way to second in 31.94, while Hungary’s Anna Sztankovics picked up third in 32.01.
Sweden’s Sophie Hansson (32.02), Ukraine’s Anstasiya Malyavina (32.03) and Korea’s Yang Jiwon (32.33) finished fourth through sixth, as the top six all came from the second semifinal as they all were chasing Meilutyte. Hungary’s Dalma Sebestyen and Great Britain’s Georgina Evans tied to win the first semifinal with 32.27s, which was enough to secure the final two transfer spots into the championship finale.
Men’s 100 back
Italy’s Simone Sabbioni had just enough to hold off China’s Li Guangyuan in the second semifinal, 54.48 to 54.52, as those two swimmers will be the top two seeds heading into the finale.
Sabbioni’s Splits:
50m
26.48 (1)
26.48
100m
54.48 (1)
28.00
Russia’s Evgeny Rylov, meanwhile, took third in 54.86 as he won the first semifinal. World Junior Record holder Apostolos Christou of Greece qualified fourth in 55.09, while Romania’s Robert Glinta took fifth in 55.10.
Germany’s Marek Ulrich (55.55) and Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank (55.70) also earned their way to the championship finale, while USA’s Patrick Mulcare snatched the final spot in the finale with an eighth-place 55.86.
Notably, American Patrick Conaton finished 14th overall in 56.95.
Women’s 100 back
After having the Commonwealth Games to get herself prepared for top-flight international competition, Great Britain’s Jessica Fullalove had just enough to hold off USA’s Clara Smiddy for the top seed, 1:01.35 to 1:01.38. Smiddy came barreling home down the stretch with a 31.36, but was unable to catch Fullalove, who went out in 29.66.
Fullalova’s Splits:
50m
29.66 (1)
29.66
100m
1:01.35 (1)
31.69
New Zealand’s Bobbi Gichard took third in the second semifinal as well with a 1:01.70, while Brazil’s Natalia de Lucca, the first semifinal winner with a 1:02.06, qualified fourth into the finale.
Canada’s Danielle Hanus (1:02.12), Italy’s Ambra Esposito (1:02.22) and Russia’s Irina Prikhodko (1:02.24) secured spots into the finale with fifth through seventh-place finishes.
Meanwhile, The Netherlands’ Maaike de Waard and Czech’s Tereza Grusova set up a swimoff for eighth-place honors with 1:02.34s.
Men’s 100 breast
Russia’s Anton Chupkov will be the favorite heading into the finale after clocking a 1:00.84 for the top seed. He had the fastest closing split of the semifinalists and should be able to duplicate that type of backend speed in the finale. His time is a World Junior Record as well, beating the 1:00.88 set by Ilya Khomenko, also of Russia, at the World Junior Championships last summer.
Chupkov’s Splits:
50m
28.69 (1)
28.69
100m
1:00.84 (1)
32.15
Carlos Claverie, a future Louisville Cardinal, finished second in 1:01.71, just off his Venezuelan record of 1:01.62 set in prelims. Japan’s Ippei Watanabe took third in 1:02.00.
South Africa’s Chad Crous (1:02.30), Germany’s Maximilian Pilger (1:02.58), Hungary’s David Horvath (1:02.63), Croatia’s Nikola Obrovac (1:02.79) and Brazil’s Andreas de Queiroz Mickosz (1:02.89) also earned spots into the championship heat.
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I think Nguyen trains in America, maybe in Florida.
She swam a 400 IM pr/NR of 4:41.68 in February @. the Arena GP in Orlando.
2:12.6 is smokin’!
Mme. Nguyen also won golds in the 400 IM/ 209 back in June at the Southeast Asian Championships w/her 200 back a pr/NR 2:12.74.
Look out, Katinka, you’ve got competition/company. Wonder if Dave Salo has any scholarship money left?.