World Junior Championships: Petar Mitsin And Leah Hayes Lead Way Into Day 1 Finals

World Junior Championships: Petar Mitsin & Leah Hayes Feature In Day 1 Prelims

Petar Mitsin, Leah Hayes, Miroslav Knedla and Oleksandr Zheltyakov safely negotiated the prelims as the World Junior Championships got under way in Netanya, Israel.

The meet runs from 4-9 September and features almost 650 athletes from 94 countries.

Link to results

Men’s 400m Freestyle

Mitsin set a WJR of 3:44.31 en-route to gold at the European Juniors in July and he lined up in the final of seven heats.

The Bulgarian headed the prelims in 3:50.52 ahead of European Junior silver medallist Alessandro Ragaini (3:50.65) and Canada’s Lorne Winnington (3:50.72).

Also through was Vlad Stancu, European junior bronze medallist, in 3:51.14.

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Women’s 50m breaststroke

Jefimova dominated the prelims in 30.19, 0.11secs outside the 16-year-old’s Estonian record of 31.08.

Behind her came Alexanne Lepage of Canada who was the only other woman inside 31 in 30.82.

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Men’s 100m backstroke

Miroslav Knedla – winner of the 50 back at the European Juniors – headed the field into the semis over two lengths.

The Czech Republic swimmer clocked 54.17 ahead of European Junior champion Oleksandr Zheltyakov of Ukraine (54.46).

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Women’s 400m Individual Medley

Leah Hayes – who won 200IM bronze at the senior worlds in Budapest in 2022 – dominated the heats to book lane four for Monday evening’s final in 4:41.49.

The American – who was third in the US Nationals – will be alongside Ella Jansen of Canada who clocked 4:44.26.

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Men’s 100m breaststroke

Watson Nguyen of the USA posted the top time of 1:01.60 ahead of Puerto Rico’s Xavier Ruiz who clocked 1:01.73.

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Women’s 100m backstroke

The first four through comprised two apiece from the USA and Australia.

US pair Erika Palaez (1:00.06) and Teagan O’Dell (1:00.24) were the first two through ahead of Iona Anderson (1:00.26) and Jaclyn Barclay (1:00.73), the quartet the sole swimmers inside 1:01.

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Men’s 4×100 freestyle relay

The Italian quartet led the way into the final in 3:18.57 – swifter than Romania’s winning time last year – and will be alongside the USA who clocked 3:19.04.

A 48.69 anchor by Edward Sommerville – the quickest split in the field – steered Australia to third in 3:20.01.

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Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay

Jamie Perkins‘ lead-off leg of 1:58.23 – the fastest in the entire field – guided Australia into lane four in 7:59.36.

The USA will be alongside after clocking 7:59.97 and it appears to be a head-to-head between the two with Canada next into the final in 8:02.21.

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