Gergely Csurka, FINA Media Committee Member (HUN)
FOTO Brandonn
Almeida photo credit: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia
Australia lost one title by 0.02sec (in the women’s
50m back) but captured another by 0.04sec (in the women’s 4x100m free) and
still leads the medal count ahead of the USA. Day 5 saw three more nations earning their
respective first titles: Italy, New Zealand and Ukraine – and two more World
Junior Records bettered.
Two
Championship Records fell in succession to start the penultimate final session
in style. First, Italy’s Simona Quadarella earned a clean win over the 1500m
free, gaining more than 7 seconds on runner-up Sierra Schmidt of the USA – her
time (16:05.61) was way better than the previous CR (by 18sec). It was also the
first title for Italy here in Singapore.
“Oh,
I’m so happy and proud of this gold medal” Quadarella said after the race. “The
time is really great, I didn’t expect that good. It was a hard swim, not an
easy one, and winning feels really fantastic!”
Soon
Brazil’s Pedro Spajari brought down the 100m free’s CR by clocking 48.87 in the
semis.
Ukraine
also captured its first gold here – Andrii Khloptsov returned to the roots, so
to speak, as the nation’s first junior world title also came in the 50m fly
(among the girls, in the first edition in 2006, by Lyubov Korol). Since the
championships’ most versatile athlete, Michael Andrew (USA) swam beside him,
Khloptsov had to produce his very best, which he did, hitting the wall 0.2sec
ahead of the American.
“I
can’t translate my feelings into English words… I can just say now: Oh my God!”
said the young Ukrainian while grasping for air. “There is no secret behind
this. In 50m, your task only is to swim. And add a little talent. This is my
best time ever, it’s really nice!”
In the
meantime, Andrew is now stands with 1 gold and 2 silver in the 50m events but
he can complete his unprecedented mission on Sunday when he takes his marks in
the 50m breast final. Just minutes after his swim in the fly, he clocked the
5th fastest time in the breast semis, so anything can happen tomorrow.
The
session’s third dash event well could be labelled as ShowDownUnder: Australia’s
Minna Atherton and New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’Amausili had a face-to-face clash
for the first time in the 50m back, though previously they had a special play
of “Who betters the World Junior Record more times?”. During the heats and the
semis Atherton got a 2-1 lead in record-beating, but when the title was at
stake it was the New Zealander who got the upper hand. Well, the margin wasn’t
even a finger between the two, Fa’Amausili clocked 27.81 (a new WJR, for 2-2),
reaching the wall just 0.02sec earlier than Atherton.
“To see
my name on the board with the number 1, it’s just crazy and I’m just super
happy now” Fa’Amausili said. “I’ve never raced with Minna at international
meets until now so it was great to see her here. When I saw her setting a new
junior world record in the semis I was a bit scared, but I came out tonight,
not thinking of anything else, just tried to swim as fast as I could.”
Next
came the gladiators’ fight, the men’s 400m IM. It was a tremendous battle,
Brazil’s Brandonn Almeida went out really fast, he was way ahead for most of
the time, but the fast start began to take its toll in the second part and Sean
Grieshop of the US was closing up metre by metre. He trailed by more than 3sec
at the half-way mark behind Almeida, but that was cut to 1.26sec with 100m to
go and only 0.35sec separated the two before the last lap. With the Brazilian
running out of gas, Grieshop switched into the 5th gear and passed his rival
with ease, gaining 1.76sec on him just in the last 50m (4:15.76).
“It was a great effort from all the competitors, a lot of fun” Grieshop said. “One of my best stroke is freestyle and I just felt I really needed to hit the freestyle as hard as I could, harder than any other 50s and it paid off. It’s so amazing to be on the podium, hold the hand and my heart, see raising the flag.”
One
more World Junior Record swim was ahead – and it turned out to be the thriller
of the day in the women’s 4x100m free relay. The Russians led the field during
almost the entire race, boosted by outstanding takeover times (0.18, 0.09,
0.17), however, the chasers caught them perhaps in the last 20cm and
Australia’s Lucy McJannett just out-touched Daria Ustinova by 0.04sec for a new
WJR (3:39.87).
With
this brilliant win the Aussies have held their ‘2-gold lead’ over the US at the
medal table before the last day, a gap they are maintaining since Day 2.
Medal table after Day 4
AUS 8 6 0
USA 6 9 4
RUS 4 1 9
TUR 3 0 0
CAN 2 5 3
CHN 2 2 1
GBR 1 1 5
ITA 1 1 3
JPN 1 0 1
NZL 1 0 1
ROU 1 0 0
UKR 1 0 0
BRA 0 2 0
SWE 0 2 0
ESP 0 1 2
HUN 0 1 0
EGY 0 0 1
LTU 0 0 1
VEN 0 0 1
Medal table after Day 4
AUS 8 6 0
USA 6 9 4
RUS 4 1 9
TUR 3 0 0
CAN 2 5 3
CHN 2 2 1
GBR 1 1 5
ITA 1 1 3
JPN 1 0 1
NZL 1 0 1
ROU 1 0 0
UKR 1 0 0
BRA 0 2 0
SWE 0 2 0
ESP 0 1 2
HUN 0 1 0
EGY 0 0 1
LTU 0 0 1
VEN 0 0 1
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