Day one finals of the 2017 FINA World Junior Championships set the bar high for the remainder of the six-day meet as a total of three World Junior Records (WJR) fell throughout the session.
Individual WJRs were posted in the men’s 100 breast by Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi and in the women’s 100 back by Canada’s Taylor Ruck. Ruck later joined her fellow Canadian’s in the women’s 800 free where they scorched the previous WJR, lowering it by more than five seconds.
Schedule of Events:
- Men’s 400 Free FINAL
- Women’s 50 Breast Semi-Final
- Men’s 100 Back Semi-Final
- Women’s 400 IM FINAL
- Men’s 100 Breast Semi-Final
- Women’s 100 Back Semi-Final
- Men’s 400 Free Relay FINAL
- Women’s 800 Free Relay FINAL
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Men’s 400 Free FINAL
It was a tight race for first in finals of the men’s 400 free as the USA’s Andrew Abruzzo, Trey Freeman, and Hungary’s Balazs Hollo each traded the lead throughout the race. Abruzzo made his move in the final 75 meters, flipping first at the 350-meter mark and powering his way home to a 3:49.19.
Hollo, who at the 250-meter mark flipped eighth, delivered some astonishing back-half speed to finish second overall with a time of 3:49.97. He was followed to the wall by Freeman and his time of 3:50.14.
Poland’s Antoni Kaluzynski finished fourth overall with a time of 3:51.08, while South Africa’s Jarryd Baxter was fifth with a 3:51.28.
Australia’s Jacob Vincent (3:51.39), Spain’s Francisco Jose Arevalo Rubio (3:51.57), and Australia’s Nathan Robinson (3:52.86) completed the top eight.
Women’s 50 Breast Semi-Finals
Mona McSharry of Ireland flirted with a new national record in semi-finals of the women’s 50 breast. McSharry, who owns the 200 breast Irish National Record, stopped the clock at a top showing of 31.09 to lead the top eight into tomorrow’s finals.
Canada’s Faith Knelseon grabbed a close second place seed with a time of 31.15, followed by the American duo of Emily Weiss and Zoe Bartel. The two young Americans posted similar times of 31.32 and 31.34 respectively.
Weronika Hallmann of Poland qualified fifth overall for finals with a 31.44, while Lithuania’s Agne Seleikaite posted a 31.76 for the sixth place seed.
Turkey’s Gulsen Beste Samanci and Austria’s Chelsea Hodges completed the top eight qualifiers with times of 31.87 and 31.90.
Men’s 100 Back Semi-Finals
The men’s 100 back proved to be a tight and exciting race as three athletes posted sub-55 second swims to lead the top eight into tomorrows finals.
Ireland’s Conor Ferguson sprung off the start with a sizzling 0.42 second reaction time, more than a tenth faster than the rest of the competition. Despite his strong start and swift first 50-meters (26.41), he did not claim the top seed. That honor went to Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez, who delivered the fastest second 50-meters (27.92) out of the entire field to claim the top seed with a 54.43. Ferguson grabbed the second place seed with a time of 54.53.
Picking up the third place seed was Romania’s Daniel Martin and his time of 54.62, followed by the USA’s Nicolas Albiero and Drew Kibler. The two posted qualifying times of 55.04 and 55.37 to return as fourth and fifth.
Poland’s Kacper Stokowski (55.44), Russia’s Nikita Tretyakov (55.45), and Great Britain’s Nicholas Pyle (55.48) rounded out the top eight qualifiers.
Women’s 400 IM FINAL
Japan delivered a strong 1-2 finish in finals of the women’s 400 IM as teammates Miku Kojima and Anna Sasaki secured gold and silver. Kojima turned up the heat in the back half of the race, shifting her from second to first ahead of the USA’s Madison Homovich. Kojima continued to build on that speed, powering to a first place finish of 4:39.14.
Meanwhile, Sasaki, who led throughout the first 100 meters, battled a strong Anja Crevar of Serbia to finish second with a 4:40.99. Sasaki’s final 50-meter split was a 31.17, faster than the rest of the field.
Crevar claimed third overall with a time of 4:42.24, while France’s Cyrielle Duhamel took fourth overall with a time of 4:43.56.
The American duo of Homovich and Christin Rockway claimed fifth and sixth with times of 4:45.68 and 4:47.09 respectively.
South Africa’s Rebecca Meder (4:48.40) and Spain’s Laia Marti Fernandez (4:50.54) were seventh and eighth.
Men’s 100 Breast Semi-Finals
Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy continued to flex his breaststroke sprinting prowess with a top showing in semi-finals of the men’s 100 breast. There the young Italian delivered a scorching 59.01 to secure the top seed in tomorrow night’s final, but to also down the championship, Italian National Record, and World Junior record (WJR).
Martinenghi is no stranger to posting records. Throughout 2017 he has re-written the record books multiple times and has shown no signs of slowing down. Since April he has downed the WJR in the 100 breast a total of four times. He has also lowered the Italian National Record several times throughout the year, putting himself in a strong position to become the first Italian man beneath the 59-second mark.
Comparable splits:
- Martinenghi (August 2017): 27.48, 31.53 = 59.01
- Martinenghi (July 2017): 27.60, 31.63 = 59.23
- Martinenghi (June 2017): 27.54, 31.77 = 59.31
- Martinenghi (April 2017): 27.65, 31.81 = 59.46
Joining Martinenghi in tomorrow night’s final are young breaststroke all-stars Reece Whitley and Michael Andrew. The two Americans delivered matching times of 1:00.33 to tie for the second place seed in tomorrow night’s final.
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook turned in a 1:01.09 for the fourth place seed, followed by Germany’s Wassill Kuhn’s 1:01.24.
Italy’s Alessandro Pinzuti (1:01.26), Russia’s Evgenii Somov (1:01.32), and South Africa’s Michael Houlie (1:01.49) completed the top eight.
Women’s 100 Back Semi-Finals
The women’s 100 back followed the record-breaking momentum that the men’s 100 breast had set, delivering another set of championship and World Junior Records (WJR). Canada’s Taylor Ruck powered to a top qualifying time of 59.28 from heat one, lowering Australia’s Minna Atherton’s 2016 WJR of 59.34 in the process.
Ruck’s time also lowers Regan Smith’s championship record of 59.52, set in prelims earlier in the day.
Smith of the USA echoed Ruck’s top time in heat one with a quick showing of 59.41 in the second heat of semi-finals. Smith’s time qualifies her second for tomorrow night’s finals and flirted with the National Age Group Record held by Missy Franklin. The record of 59.18 was set in 2011 before Franklin’s Olympic debut.
The two young stars have set themselves up for an exciting race in tomorrow night’s finals. Smith delivered the strongest first 50-meters out of the entire field, splitting a 28.95 over Ruck’s 29.07, however Ruck brought home the race in a 30.21 over Smith’s 30.46.
Joining the two young backstroke stars in finals will be fellow Canadian Jade Hannah and her qualifying time of 1:00.21.
Japan’s Natsumi Sakai qualified fourth overall with a 1:00.23, followed by the USA’s Grace Ariola and her time of 1:00.39.
Polina Egorova of Russia grabbed the sixth place seed with a 1:00.48, just ahead of the British duo of Cassie Wild (1:00.58) and Anna Maine (1:00.71).
Men’s 400 Free Relay FINAL
The men of Hungary arrived ready to race for finals of the men’s 400 free relay, buoyed by sizzling splits from both their lead and anchor legs: Kristof Milak and Nandor Nemeth. Milak got the race off to a strong start with a top split of 49.08, the fastest lead-off split in the field. Marton Barta (50.58) and Richard Marton (50.09) swam second and third for the Hungarians, but were unable to hold off the charging Americans who took first thanks to strong middle swims by Matthew Willenbring (49.16) and Drew Kibler (50.04).
That all changed when Nemeth dove in for the Hungarians, shifting the relay team from fifth to first with a sizzling split of 48.24. As a team, the men of Hungary completed the race with a combined time of 3:17.99, finishing just about a second off the benchmark World Junior Record of 3:16.96.
Poland cruised along at second throughout most of the race. Relay members Karol Ostrowski (49.87), Bartosz Piszczorowicz (49.12), Kacper Stokowski (49.88), and Jakub Kraska (49.66) posted a combined time of 3:18.53, just holding off the Australian team’s final time of 3:18.55.
The third place Australian team was comprised of Jordan Brunt (49.68), Zachary Attard (49.57), Samuel Wendt (50.67), and Elijah Winnington (48.63).
Despite strong swims by Willenbring and Kibler, the American team of Daniel Krueger (49.50), Willenbring (49.16), Kibler (50.04), and Trey Freeman (49.98) finished fourth overall, followed by Russia’s time of 3:19.34.
Brazil (3:19.62), Germany (3:19.88), and Italy (3:20.29) were sixth through eighth respectively.
Women’s 800 Free Relay FINAL
Just a few events after Taylor Ruck posted an individual World Junior Record in the 100 back, the young Olympian was back and anchoring the Canadian women’s 800 free relay with similar results.
Kayla Sanchez led off for the Canadians with a split of 1:59.01, touching second behind Russia’s Irina Krivonogova and her split of 1:58.61. Russia’s Polina Nevmovenko dove in as the first of the second relay legs, but was no match for Olympic gold medalist Penny Oleksiak as she charged to a split of 1:56.86. Rebecca Smith continued Oleksiak’s power through the third leg, delivering a split of 1:58.66 before transitioning to anchor leg Ruck. Ruck split a 1:56.94 en route to Canada’s first gold of the meet and a final time of 7:51.47.
Their combined time scorched Australia’s World Junior Record (WJR) of 7:56.68, which doubled as the Championship record, set in Singapore at the 2015 FINA World Junior Championships.
Russia’s relay team of Krivonogova (1:58.61), Nevmovenko (2:00.50), Vasilissa Buinai (2:00.37), and Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (1:57.85) finished second overall with a time of 7:57.33.
The foursome of Waka Kobori (2:00.53), Rikako Ikee (1:56.54), Sayuki Ouchi (2:01.11), and Suzuka Hasegawa (2:03.91) finished third overall with a combined time of 8:02.09, followed closely by the USA’s Lucie Nordmann (2:00.12), Miranda Heckman (2:02.39), Regan Smith (1:59.87), and Kelly Pash (2:00.02) and their time of 8:02.40.
Hungary finished fifth overall with a time of 8:03.70, just ahead of Spain’s sixth place time of 8:07.26.
Germany picked up seventh with a time of 8:08.78, while Italy suffered a disqualification due to an early take-off by the second swimmer.
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