World Junior Championships: Diogo Matos Ribeiro Takes Down 50 Fly World Junior Record For Third Gold Medal
A 17-year-old Portuguese teenager continued his rise through the men’s sprint rankings Saturday evening as he lowered the world junior record in the 50 butterfly while winning his third individual gold medal of the week. Diogo Matos Ribeiro qualified only third in the 50 fly semifinals, but he had been conserving energy in that swim, with the 50 freestyle final coming up right after. Ribeiro won gold in that 50 free by more than a half-second with a mark of 21.92, and then Saturday morning, he swam a time of 48.67 in the 100 free prelims, but he scratched the semifinals of that event to focus on the 50 fly.
That decision paid off as Ribeiro dominated the field in the 50 fly. He swam a time of 22.96, breaking the world junior record of 23.05 set by Russia’s Andrei Minakov back in 2020. Ribeiro had previously just missed that mark when he won bronze at last month’s senior-level European Championships in 23.07, but here he got the record and swam a time that would have been quick enough to move up a spot to silver at the continental meet. He also broke the championship record of 23.12 that he set in Friday’s prelims.
The silver medal in this race went to the Czech Republic’s Daniel Gracik in 23.46, while Denmark’s Casper Puggaard won bronze in 23.96. Those three men had previously finished in the exact same order in the 100 fly final earlier in the meet.
