Streamlined News

PHOENIX, Arizona, August 22. THE FINA junior world championships wrapped up last night in Peru with the United States at the top of the gold medal and overall medal tallies. The Americans won 22 medals, 11 of them gold, with Japan coming in second with 19 medals and seven golds.

On the final night, the top swim for the Americans was the win in the 200 backstroke by 17-year-old Jacob Pebley, with a 1:58.73. We believe this is a lifetime best time for Pebley, who would have placed third at the nationals earlier this month with that time and is now the sixth-fastest American in the event, a list that includes Michael Phelps, who is not likely to swim this event at the Olympic Trials. Kosuke Hagino of Japan was closing fast on Pebley in the final few meters but settled for second with a 1:58.9. Ryan Murphy placed third with a 1:59.63, his third time under two minutes this year.

Pebley won another gold on the final night leading off the medley relay for the United States. Pebley’s time of 55.06 was five hundredths of a second slower than his gold medal-winning swim in the 100 earlier in the meet, but it was enough to give the Americans a lead over Japan, who took over first after breaststroke and butterfly. Seth Stubblefield made up the difference on freestyle to give the United States the win by less than three tenths of a second.

We could see Evan Pinion in the finals of the 1500 freestyle at the Olympic Trials. The 17-year-old clocked a personal best of 15:11.03 to win the race by four seconds, pulling away from Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri at 1100 meters.

If you missed any of our recaps from the junior world championships, you can find them on our world channel at swimmingworld.com.

FINA reported today that all drug tests conducted at the world championships came back negative. This follows in the wake of the controversy surrounding the warnings given to several swimmers after positive drug tests from earlier in the year. Two of those swimmers, Cesar Cielo and Liu Jing, won medals at the world championships.
Dana Vollmer and Andy Grant became the second swimming couple to tie the knot in as many weeks. Vollmer and Grant were married on Saturday and are now off on their honeymoon on an island off the southern coast of India. Vollmer and Grant are, I guess, the Romeo and Juliet of the swimming world. Vollmer was a Cal Bear while Grant was a Stanford Cardinal, which are two of the biggest collegiate swimming rivals in the country. We at Swimming World wish the newlyweds all the best.

Watch today’s episode of Streamlined News.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use