Two new junior world records
SINGAPORE — Australian swimmer Minna Atherton set a new junior world record in the women’s 100m backstroke to win gold as her country continued their strong start to the 5th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre yesterday.
SINGAPORE — Australian swimmer Minna Atherton set a new junior world record in the women’s 100m backstroke to win gold as her country continued their strong start to the 5th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships at the OCBC Aquatic Centre yesterday.
Minna, 15, clinched her country’s first gold of the evening in a time of 59.58sec to finish ahead of Claire Adams (1:00.19), of the United States, and New Zealand’s Bobbi Gichard (1:00.42). Despite setting a new world junior record, Minna said it was not her best effort.
“It’s a good race and a fantastic experience, but I think I could have swam a bit faster,” said the teenager, who will compete in the 200m and 50m backstroke today and tomorrow. “I went out a little too quickly and maybe I could have posted a better time if I controlled my pace a little. But I started the race with the intention of beating my previous time in the heats, so I’m happy that I did that and I’m looking forward to the remainder of my races.”
Clyde Lewis secured the Aussies’ second and final gold of the evening — and fourth overall in the championship — after winning the men’s 200m individual medley final in a time of 2:00.15. Hungary’s Daniel Sos (2:01.78) took silver, while American Sean Greishop (2:01.83) won bronze.
The highlight of Day 2 was the hotly-anticipated men’s 100m breaststroke, which saw Russia’s Anton Chupkov — who set a new world junior record time of 1:00.12 in the heats on Tuesday — claiming gold in 1:00.19 ahead of Reece Whitley, of the US (1:01.00), and Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas (1:01.26).
Despite the fierce rivalry, the jubilant Russian said the gold was never in doubt. “I was very confident that I would win gold before the final and I am pleased with my performance, despite not being able to break my record,” he said. “But I didn’t go all out because I was saving my energy for the mixed 4x100m medley.”
Reece, who had posted the fourth fastest timing in the heats, conceded it was a mammoth task to upstage Anton. “He’s always been up there and I was just aiming to finish on the podium. It was a good race and I knew I was among the frontrunners, but I’m not too disappointed to have lost out on the gold,” said the American.
The Russian went on to clinch his second gold medal of the night with compatriots Irina Prikhodko, Daniil Pakhomov and Arina Openysheva in the mixed 4x100m medley in a new world junior record time of 3:45.85. Australia had to settle for silver (3:48.27) and the US bronze (3:50.24).
Romanian swimmers finally got on the medal table last night, with Robert Glinta winning the men’s 100m backstroke event in a new championship record time of 54.30s.
China and Turkey also won their first gold medals, with Wang Siqi and Viktoria Gunes winning titles in the women’s 200m butterfly and 50m breaststroke respectively.
Australia are currently top of the leaderboard with four gold medals, with the US hot on their tails with three after Maxime Rooney and Sierra Schmidt put them in the reckoning with victories in the men’s 200m and women’s 800m freestyle.
Today’s finals:
Women’s 200 m Backstroke
Men’s 100 m Butterfly
Women’s 100 m freestyle
Men’s 800 m Freestyle
4x100 m Freestyle Mixed