The 2nd edition of the FINA World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships finally began on Friday at Balatonfured in Hungary.
This site was a last-minute decision after safety concerns moved the event from Israel at the 11th hour, which also wound up delaying the championship by a week.
Despite that very minor hardship, however, and the absence of a couple of big players in swimming including Australia and the Canadian Junior Boys, the first races went off without a hitch: the Junior Boys’ 7.5km race for 17-18 year olds, and the Youth Girls’ 5km race for 14-16 year olds.
Junior Boys’ 7.5KM (17-18 Year Olds)
The victory in that opening swim went to Russia’s Anton Evskiov in 1:27:08.32 – a solid pace for a junior championship.
The two Russian swimmers, Eviskov and his younger teammate Kiril Belyaev, led most of this race as part of a very significant lead pack .
It wasn’t until the 6th and final lap that Evsikov and Venezuela’s Diego Vera made their break to pull about 15 meters ahead of the rest of the now-stretched out field for the wins.
Evskiov won in 1:27:08.32, followed by Vega in 1:27:11.21 and Belyaev in 1:27:28.16.
The top finishing American in the race was Jerad Kaskawal, who came in 15th in 1:29:33.78: about two minutes back of the winners. Kaskawal swam most of this race in the back part of the lead pack, but over the last 2.5 kilometers started to fade out of that group.
The second-best American, Pierce Bradshaw, was 26th out of 44 in 1:32:45.12.
Full Junior Boys’ 7.5km results.
Youth Girls’ 5KM (14-16 Year Olds)
After their success on the boys’ side, the Russian younger girls could muster no higher than a 6th-place finish in their 5km race.
This girls’ race, which ran just four laps of the 1.25km course, stretched out the lead pack much earlier than did the preceding boys’ race. Only a few were able to keep pace with the nearly wire-to-wire leading speed of China’s Siyu Yan, who wound up winning in 1:00:40.81.
The one swimmer who challenged her at the front of the race for any significant period of time was French 15-year old Charlyne Secrestat – the youngest swimmer in the top 8. She was the first swimmer through the check point after both the first lap and the 3rd lap, but she perhaps put out a little too much effort trying to lead – she was out-paced by Yan by 9 seconds over the last kilometer, dropping her to 3rd.
Jumping up to pass her was Italy’s Carlotta de Mattia, who smartly swam just behind the battle at the front for most of this race without expending all of her energy.
The top three read Siyu Yan in 1:00:40.81, de Mattia in 1:00:45.33, and Secrestat in 1:00:45.71.
Touching just two seconds behind the medalists was American Kylie Mitchell in 1:00:47.27.
This race got a little chippy as the swimmers neared completion of the first lap. Both de Mattia and Mitchell earned yellow flags, in the 12th and 13th minutes, respectively, but the race settled down after that eventually and all 33 swimmers ultimately finished.
The other American in this race, Megan Byrnes, was 7th in 1:01:00.36. about 20 seconds back of the eventual winner.
The top 15 swimmers, down to Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott, were all within a minute of Yan’s eventual win. It was another 1:25 after Hibbott touched, though, before the 16th-place finisher crossed the line, showing how spread out this field became.
Full Youth girls’ 5km results.
Up Next
The 2nd edition of this event continues on Saturday with the Junior Girls’ 7.5km race, and the Youth Boys’ 5km race. The Junior and Youth co-ed team events, over 3km, will finish the meet up on Sunday.
Hey, Bobo, you’re always complaining about a lack of junior successes in French swimming; maybe 15 yr old Charlyne Secrestat is the star you’ve been waiting for! Maybe she’ll be the leader of a new generation of female swimmers specializing in middle to long distance freestyle events, following in the footsteps of Manaudou and Muffat?!