After four days out of six at the 2013 FINA World Junior Championships, the American men continue to slide down the medal table while the Australians and Russians look very, very good.
That’s the opposite story from the American women, who have been rocketing up and dominating the competition with 10 total medals, and four golds.
The reasons for difference in performance between the two groups is not immediately obvious. Yes, the American men are without some of their key junior performers (Santo Condorelli, Ryan Murphy), but the American women are as well (Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel). The American women’s ranks are clearly deeper than the men’s at the present time, though of course this could be just a developmental difference between boys and girls as anything (boys medals go to “early developers” at these sorts of meets, whereas the girls are all more at an even plane of development).
Either way, kudos go to the Australians for remaining on top of the medals table. With so much struggle at senior level meets as of late, the juniors continue to carry a big load of the country’s swimming hopes. Many in Swimming Australia have expressed the desire to be on top of the Olympic swimming medal table before too long, and with the success of their junior team, that may not be as much of a pipe-dream as it might initially sound like.
The medals table is below, followed by the points standings through 4 days.
| MEN | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Australia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Russia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Great Britain | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| USA | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| WOMEN | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| USA | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Lithuania | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Australia | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Russia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MIXED | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Russia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Australia | 8 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| Russia | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
| USA | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 |
| Lithuania | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Great Britain | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Team Rankings – Through Event 28
Women – Team Scores
Place Team Points
===================================================================
1 United States of America USA 321
2 Australia AUS 230
3 Canada CAN 165.5
4 Russia RUS 158
5 Japan JPN 135.5
6 Great Britain GBR 109.5
7 Italy ITA 91
8 Lithuania LTU 79
9 Hungary HUN 77
10 Ukraine UKR 72
11 Slovenia SLO 57
12 Brazil BRA 53.5
13 Mexico MEX 51
13 Germany GER 51
15 South Africa RSA 38
16 Hong Kong HKG 26
17 Sweden SWE 19
18 Czech Republic CZE 17
18 France FRA 17
20 Austria AUT 10
21 Turkey TUR 9
22 Poland POL 8
23 Slovakia SVK 6
24 New Zealand NZL 4
24 China CHN 4
26 Portugal POR 3
27 Bahamas BAH 1
Men – Team Scores
Place Team Points
===================================================================
1 United States of America USA 243
2 Russia RUS 227.5
3 Australia AUS 206
4 Brazil BRA 164.5
5 Japan JPN 142
6 Canada CAN 128
7 Poland POL 111
8 Great Britain GBR 106
9 Italy ITA 95
10 Greece GRE 51.5
11 Germany GER 49.5
12 South Africa RSA 47
13 Lithuania LTU 45
14 Trinidad & Tobago TRI 34
15 Hungary HUN 32
16 Czech Republic CZE 31
17 France FRA 29
18 Kazakhstan KAZ 26
19 Venezuela VEN 25
20 Egypt EGY 21
21 Mexico MEX 15
22 Ukraine UKR 11
23 Austria AUT 10
23 Suriname SUR 10
25 New Zealand NZL 6
26 Portugal POR 5
27 Jamaica JAM 4
28 Romania ROU 3
28 Croatia CRO 3
28 Sweden SWE 3
31 Uzbekistan UZB 1
Ridiculous selection process leads to these results. Thank goodness our World Championship roster was only selected at one meet so that those athletes could return their focus to Barcelona with plenty of time to prepare to dominate.
With Ledecky, Manuel and Murphy, USA would be well ahead. 🙂
Probably, but put in account almost every country left a star at home.Australia leave Graham out, Brazil, their best sprinter,
Even so, the level of Junior Champs is amazing.CR in almost every event.
Just like in the senior team, obviously USA would win these junior worlds easily if they had sent all their top juniors, but other countries such as Australia also did not send all their top juniors (Jordan Harrison, Alexander Graham, Amy Matsuo, etc).
The more important question is:
Where is the french??
You are european, so you should also know that some russians are not in very good shape. Ustinova, Baklakova and Tarasevich, to name just 3. The europeans consider the European Junior Championship more important than World Championship.