Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
NANJING, China, August 19. China’s Shen Duo continued her ascension as a world-class sprinter as she smashed the World Junior Record in the 100 free to highlight the night at the Youth Olympic Games.
Scheduled Events
- Women’s 800 free fastest heat
- Women’s 50 fly semis
- Men’s 50 free semis
- Women’s 200 back final
- Men’s 100 fly final
- Women’s 100 breast semis
- Men’s 50 back semis
- Women’s 100 free final
- Men’s 400 free relay
FINALS
Women’s 800 free
Italy’s Simona Quadarella put up a time of 8:35.39 in the earlier heats, and it held up to the challenge from those in the faster-seeded heats that swum during finals tonight.
Quadarella’s Splits:
50m
30.42 (4)
30.42
100m
1:03.03 (3)
32.61
150m
1:35.37 (3)
32.34
200m
2:08.04 (2)
32.67
250m
2:40.37 (2)
32.33
300m
3:13.04 (2)
32.67
350m
3:45.52 (2)
32.48
400m
4:18.09 (2)
32.57
450m
4:50.21 (2)
32.12
500m
5:22.40 (1)
32.19
550m
5:54.66 (1)
32.26
600m
6:27.17 (1)
32.51
650m
6:59.52 (1)
32.35
700m
7:32.25 (1)
32.73
750m
8:04.74 (1)
32.49
800m
8:35.39 (1)
30.65
Jimena Perez Blanco raced her way into second with an 8:36.95 from the final heat tonight, while Bahamas’ Joanna Evans touched third out of an earlier heat with an 8:39.75.
Vietnam’s Vien Nguyen placed fourth in 8:41.13 with Mexico’s Allyson Macias Alba finishing just behind with a fifth-place 8:41.53.
Brazil’s Bruna Veronez Primati (8:42.80), Germany’s Patricia Wartenberg (8:44.61) and Hungary’s Melinda Novoszath (8:44.61) rounded out the top eight in the timed final event.
Women’s 200 back
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
USA’s Hannah Moore led wire-to-wire in the women’s 200-meter backstroke finale, she just wasn’t able to shake off the final charge of Italy’s Ambra Esposito as the Italian forced a tie at the final touch, 2:10.42.
Esposito’s Splits:
50m
31.53 (3)
31.53
100m
1:04.39 (2)
32.86
150m
1:37.46 (2)
33.07
200m
2:10.42 (1)
32.96Moore’s Splits:
50m
31.16 (1)
31.16
100m
1:03.84 (1)
32.68
150m
1:37.24 (1)
33.40
200m
2:10.42 (1)
33.18
The top two swimmers clearly distanced themselves from the pack as Spain’s Africa Zamorano Sanz produced a bronze-winning time of 2:11.94, more than a second-and-a-half back of the winners.
Canada’s Mackenzie Glover (2:13.09), Russia’s Irina Prikhodko (2:13.93), Australia’s Amy Forrester (2:14.21), Canada’s Danielle Hanus (2:15.02) and Greece’s Eleni Koutsouveli (2:15.61) also vied for the YOG title tonight.
Men’s 100 fly
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Chen Yehua
In an incredibly close finish that nearly featured another gold-medal tie, China’s Li Zhuhao edged Russia’s Aleksandr Sadovnikov, 52.94 to 52.97, much to the pleasure of the home crowd here in Nanjing. While neither swimmer managed to challenge Daniel Ball’s World Junior Record of 52.52, the two still put on a show tonight.
Li’s Splits:
50m
24.64 (1)
24.64
100m
52.94 (1)
28.30Sadovnikov’s Splits:
50m
24.74 (2)
24.74
100m
52.97 (2)
28.23
Australia’s Nicholas Brown (53.18), South Africa’s Joshua Steyn (53.63), The Netherlands’ Mathys Goosen (53.64), Switzerland’s Nils Liess (54.14), Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi (54.30) and Austria’s Sascha Subarsky (54.44) also competed in the finale.
Women’s 100 free
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Ding Xu
Although there has been speculation about just which one of Shen Duo’s many 54-second swims this year should stand as the World Junior Record, including her 18th-ranked 54.15 from Chinese Nationals, Shen made all of that conversation a moot point tonight by blazing her way to a 53.84 for the 100-meter freestyle victory.
That swim is easily the World Junior Record now, and vaulted Shen up to 13th in the world rankings this year. She’s also now quickly becoming one of China’s top freestyle threats, as she’s nearing the Asian record of 53.13 set by Pang Jiaying of China back in 2009. Shen turned second behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, 26.19 to 26.40, but powered home in 27.44 to take the title.
Shen’s Splits:
50m
26.40 (2)
26.40
100m
53.84 (1)
27.44
Haughey, meanwhile, snared silver with a 54.61 a year after shining at the World Junior Championships. China’s Qiu Yuhan raced to a bronze in 54.66.
Australia’s Ami Matsuo (54.75), Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte (55.17), Luxembourg’s Julie Meynen (55.29), Russia’s Daria Mullakaeva (55.69) and Russia’s Daria Ustinova (55.88) comprised the rest of the championship eight.
Men’s 400 free relay
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua
No one else stood a chance against Great Britain tonight as the British squad started off strong with a 49.67 from Duncan Scott and never looked back as Miles Munro (49.83), Martyn Walton (50.18) and Luke Greenbank (51.51) never relinquished the lead en route to a winning 3:21.19.
Great Britain’s Splits:
Great Britain 3:21.19
SCOTT Duncan 0.70 23.94 49.67 (1) 49.67
MUNRO Miles 0.35 23.47 49.83 (1) 1:39.50
WALTON Martyn 0.22 23.32 50.18 (1) 2:29.68
GREENBANK Luke 0.38 24.91 51.51 (1) 3:21.19
Italy’s Alessandro Bori (49.85), Giacomo Carini (51.65), Simone Sabbioni (50.97) and Nicolangelo di Fabio (49.82) finished second in 3:22.89 with Germany’s Marek Ulrich (51.52), Maximilian Pilger (51.99), Damian Wierling (49.50) and Alexander Kunert (49.92) taking third in 3:22.93.
Russia (3:25.01), Australia (3:26.50), Spain (3:26.74), USA (3:28.75) and South Africa (3:28.86) posted the rest of the championship heat finishes.
SEMIFINALS
Women’s 50 fly
Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova put up the top time out of the sprint fly semis with a 26.55. That’s not far off the World Junior Record of 26.32 set by Svetlana Chimrova at last year’s World Junior Championships. Slovenia’s Nastja Govejsek took second in 26.77, while Australia’s Brianna Throssell (26.82) and Switzerland’s Svenja Stoffel (26.89) all broke 27 seconds and could challenge Chimrova’s WJR.
Norway’s Elise Naess Olsen (27.01), Hungary’s Liliana Szilagyi (27.04), Brazil’s Giovanna Diamante Tomanik (27.05) and Slovakia’s Barbora Misendova (27.17) also made their way into the championship finale.
Men’s 50 free
China’s Yu Hexin took down Evgeny Sedov’s World Junior Record of 22.07 with a swift time of 22.01 to top semis in the splash-and-dash. Yu finished nearly half-a-second ahead of the rest of the pack. Sedov, however, went faster this year with a 21.98, but the time occurred before FINA’s April 1 cutoff date in the ever-perilous to track World Junior Records.
Brazil’s Matheus de Santana (22.48) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter (22.49) finished second and third, and look to be the top competition for Yu if he has an off swim in the finale.
Poland’s Jan Holub (22.74), Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (22.78), Germany’s Damian Wierling (22.80), Great Britain’s Miles Munro (22.80) and Italy’s Alessandro Bori (22.87) all broke 23 seconds to get into the championship heat.
Women’s 100 breast
Although it is clear that Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte is not firing on all cylinders here in Nanjing, the Olympic gold medalist is still head-and-shoulders above the rest of the breaststrokers in town. Meilutyte clocked in at a 1:07.83 to top the semis, which is well off her world-leading 1:05.21 from the ASA National Championships in Sheffield earlier this year.
Meilutyte’s Splits:
50m
31.47 (1)
31.47
100m
1:07.83 (1)
36.36
China’s He Yun finished second overall in 1:08.47, while Ukraine’s Anastasiya Malyavina took third in 1:08.71. Finland’s Silja Kansakoski also broke 1:09 with a fourth-place time of 1:08.82.
Hungary’s Dalma Sebestyen (1:09.58), Great Britain’s Georgina Evans (1:09.80), Germany’s Julia Willers (1:09.82) and Hungary’s Anna Sztankovics (1:09.84) comprised the rest of the championship field.
Men’s 50 back
Italy’s Simone Sabbioni (25.40) and Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (25.42) could be looking at another tie after posting matching 54.24s in the 100-meter back last night. This evening, the two qualified 1-2 in the sprint event, and are close enough that another tie could be in order.
Greece’s Apostolos Christou took third in 25.63 with Brazil’s Vitor Nascimento tying with Russia’s Filipp Shopin for fourth with matching 25.79s.
The Netherlands’ Laurent Bams (25.84), Ukraine’s Andrii Khloptsov (25.95) and Romania’s Robert Glinta (25.98) also undercut 26 seconds to make the finale.
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