RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, August 28. ALREADY the owner of a sterling competition, Tyler Clary made his showing at the FINA World Youth Championships even more impressive over the last two days of the meet. Clary was the headliner for a United States squad that was short on depth, but long on grit and determination. Despite a roster of eight – four men and four women – the American contingent performed admirably.
The winner of the 200 individual medley earlier in the meet, Clary took top honors in the 400 I.M. with a performance of 4:21.33. That time handed Clary a convincing triumph over Poland’s Mateusz Matczak (4:23.42). For good measure, Clary added a bronze medal in the 200 backstroke and was fifth in the 1,500 freestyle.
Not that the U.S. is in need of further strength in the 200 backstroke, plenty of power appears to be on the way. While Clary was third in the distance dorsal, the gold medal went to countryman Cory Chitwood, who touched the wall in 2:00.68. As for the 1,500 free, Poland’s Maclej Hreniak was the winner in 15:28.42 and American Ian Rowe picked up bronze in 15:33.97.
Wang Qun, who bested the field in the 50 breast, added two more medals in the 100 and 200 breast distances. The Chinese standout went 1:09.21 in the 100 to finish just ahead of Russia’s Vitalina Simonova (1:09.35). The tandem then flipped spots in the 200 breast with Simonova winning in 2:26.58. American Caitlin Leverenz took bronze in each discipline.
In women’s freestyle action, France got wins in the 200 and 1,500 races. Ophelie Cyriell Etienne won the shorter distance in 2:00.44 and Aurelie Muller took the metric mile in 16:35.32. China’s Tang Yi was second in the 200 free with the United States’ Leah Gingrich and Jessica Rodriguez third and fifth, respectively.
The 50 backstroke events were won by Brazil’s Leonardo Guedes (26.26) and China’s Zhou Yanxin (29.49) and the men’s 50 fly was owned by Belarus’ Yaumeni Lazuka (24.56). A win for Belgium was earned by Yoris Grandjean in the 100 free. Grandjean was clocked in 50.32, ahead of the 50.84 of Russia’s Sergey Fesikov.
Other victories went to Italy’s Ilaria Bianchi in the women’s 100 fly (59.57) and Mattia Pesce in the men’s 50 breast (28.43), Germany’s Daniela Schreiber in the women’s 50 free (25.55) and Austria’s Dinko Jukic in the men’s 200 fly (2:01.64).
Click Here to view event results PDF file
Click Here to view event results PDF file