By Sharon Robb
BUDAPEST, Hungary, August 25, 2019—Croatia and Russia claimed the last two world junior and championship records on the sixth and final day of the 7th FINA World Junior Championships Sunday at Duna Arena.
Croatian teenager Franko Grgic, 16, won the 1500-meter freestyle in 14:46.09, both world and championship records. The previous world junior record was 14:51.55 set in 2014.
Grgic’s time was the sixth-fastest in the world this year. He led from start-to-finish and won by more than a half body length.
Russia broke its own world junior record in the 400-meter medley relay by 1.98 seconds. The foursome of Nikolay Zuev (53.84), Vladislav Gerasimento (59.53), Andrei Minakov (50.93) and Aleksandr Shchegolev (48.89) won in 3:33.19. The U.S. was second in 3:33.66.
The Russian Federation ended the United States’ perfect streak in relays on the final night.
Other individual winners:
Russian Andrei Minakov won the 100-meter freestyle in 48.73. The U.S. did not make the medal podium.
Russian teammate Evgeniia Chikunova won the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:24.03 ahead of teammate Anastasia Makarova in 2:24.39.
The U.S. finished one-two in the men’s 200-meter backstroke with Wyatt Davis winning gold in 1:58.18 and Carson Foster second in 1:58.47.
American Torri Huske won the 100-meter butterfly in 57.71.
The U.S. went one-two in the 50-meter freestyle with Gretchen Walsh in 24.71 and Maxine Parker in 24.75.
American Luca Urlando won the 200-meter butterfly in 1:55.02.
Russian Vladislav Gerasimenko won the 50-meter breaststroke in 27.58.
Erika Fairweather won New Zealand’s first gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle in 1:57.96.
The U.S. women ended the meet with a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay in 3:59.13 with Claire Curzan (1:00.75), Kaitlyn Dobler (1:07.51), Torri Huske (57.86) and Gretchen Walsh (53.01).It was the only relay in the field to crazk 4 minutes.
Andrei Minakov of Russia and Lani Pallister of Austrailia were named Swimmers of the Meet.
Minakov, 17, won three gold and four silvers and finished with 13 points. Pallister, 17, won three gold medals sweeping the distance freestyle events and three silver medals for 18 points.
Florida Gold Coast past and present swimmers:
17. Jamaica, 4×100-meter medley relay, Nathaniel Thomas, Cameron Brown, Nicholas Vale, Kyle Sinclair, 4:05.60.
17. Jamaica, 4×100-meter medley relay, Zaneta Alvaranga, Sabrina Lyn, Emily MacDonald, Gaby Banks, 4:44.38.
25. Rodolfo Falcon Jr., Cuba, Azura, 1500-meter freestyle, 16:10.54.
73. Gaby Banks, Jamaica, SOFLO/Cypress Bay, 200-meter freestyle, 2:16.00.
Around 800 young promising swimmers ages between 15-17 (women) 14-18 (men) competed in the six-day competition, which has produced many of today’s swimming stars.
A total of 125 National Federations are represented at Duna Arena, the venue that staged the 17th FINA World Championships in July 2017 and has been the background to many FINA high-profile competitions since then such as the FINA Champions Swim Series and Swimming World Cup.
Sharon Robb can be reached at sha11cats@aol.com
http://www.swim4soflo.com
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