Michael Andrew knocked off a pair of Junior World Records during the third day of prelims at the FINA World Junior Championships in Indianapolis. He actually crushed the existing marks in both the 50 back and 50 free on his way to the top seed time for semi-finals in both events.
Elsewhere, Americans Regan Smith and Alex Sumner captured the top two qualifying times in the prelims of the women’s 200 back.
Read below for event-by-event full coverage of the morning session.
Women’s 50 Fly
Belarus’ Anastasiya Shkurdai edged out the World Junior Record-holder, Japan’s Rikako Ikee, for the top seed in prelims, 26.36 to 26.39. Just behind in third was Sweden’s Sara Junevik at 26.41, while Canada’s Rebecca Smith took fourth in 26.56.
Japan’s Sayuki Ouchi (26.74), Germany’s Maya Tobehn (27.19), Sweden’s Hannah Rosval (27.31) and Turkey’s Aleyna Ozkan (27.32) rounded out the top eight.
Both Americans, Emma Carlton and 100 back World Junior Record-breaker Regan Smith, qualified for the semi-finals, as Carlton finished 11th in 27.37 and Smith 13th in 27.47. Meanwhile, one night after taking gold in the 200 fly, Great Britain’s Emily Large was the No. 16 qualifier for the semis, coming in at 27.53.
Men’s 50 Back
Michael Andrew of the United States took down the World Junior Record, qualifying first in prelims at 24.63, crushing the previous record of 24.94 set by Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov last month.
Andrew also beat his own championship record in the event by a half-second. It had previously stood at 25.13, set on his way to a World Junior title two years ago in Sinagapore. Andrew had entered seeded first in the event at 24.96.
Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez, the gold medalist in the 100 back Thursday night, qualified second but almost a full second behind in 25.49. Poland’s Kacper Stokowski qualified third in 25.64,and fourth went to Ireland’s Conor Ferguson in 25.61.
Romania’s Daniel Martin (25.75), Poland’s Kamil Kazmierczak (25.98) and Great Britain’s Nicholas Pyle (25.99) finished fifth through seventh, respectively, while Andrew’s American teammate Nick Albiero qualified eighth in 26.16.
It took a 26.41 to make it back to semi-finals, as Estonia’s Armin Lelle was the last man in.
Women’s 100 Breast
Ireland’s Mona McSharry edged out her two American rivals to earn the top seed for semi-finals. She touched in 1:07.79, while Zoe Bartel came in second at 1:07.98.
Emily Weiss, the Indiana-native who won gold in the 50 breast Thursday night, finished third in 1:08.30. Finishing fourth and well ahead of anyone else in the field was Canada’s Faith Knelson. Knelson recorded a time of 1:08.34.
Great Britain’s Annabel Guye-Johnson took fifth in 1:09.27, and rounding out the top eight were Russia’s Anastasia Makarova (1:09.40), Sweden’s Hannah Brunzell (1:09.55) and Russia’s Alena Chekhovskikh (1:10.07).
Finishing in a tie for 16th and the last spot in the semi-finals were Ireland’s Niamh Coyne and Belgium’s Anke Geeroms. Both clocked 1:10.88 in prelims, and a swim-off is likely to determine the final spot in the semis.
Coyne ended up dropping all the way down to 1:09.67 to win the swim-off, while Geeroms settled for second in 1:10.72.
Men’s 50 Free
Less than an hour after breaking the World Junior Record in the men’s 50 back, Michael Andrew of the United States crushed another mark in the men’s 50 free. He beat the previous mark of 22.00 set by China’s Yu Hexin in 2014 and the championship record of 22.11 set by Australia’s Luke Percy in 2013.
Andrew’s previous best time had been 22.03, only three hundredths off the World Junior Record.
He qualified first by more than a half second, as France’s Maxime Grousset took second in 22.34, and Venezuela’s Alberto Mestre picked up the third seed with his time of 22.57.
Hungary’s Nemeth Nandor finished fourth in 22.59, and others breaking 23 were Canada’s Rusian Gaziev (22.62), Italy’s Leonardo Deplano (22.64), Great Britain’s Lewis Burras (22.70), Brazil’s Luiz Borges (22.73), Poland’s Karol Ostrowski (22.87), Kazakhstan’s Adilbek Mussin (22.93), Japan’s Hayata Ito (22.95) and American Will Davis (22.97).
For the second straight race, there was a tie for 16th, setting up a potential swim-off for the last spot in the semi-finals. Russia’s Arsenii Chivilev and Brazil’s Rodolfo Moreira each finished in 23.21.
Women’s 100 Back
Regan Smith won gold in the women’s 100 back Thursday night and then broke 59 for the first time leading off the mixed 400 medley relay, but it’s still the 200 back that’s her specialty. Smith cruised to the top seed in prelims and touched in 2:09.07, a new championship record.
Smith clipped the meet record of 2:09.11 set by Minna Atherton two years ago. Smith’s time was well off her own lifetime best of 2:07.19, but Smith appeared to have plenty left in reserve to go after that mark (and perhaps’ Kaylee McKeown’s World Junior Record of 2:06.76) in the final.
The Americans finished 1-2 in prelims as Alex Sumner closed well to finish in 2:09.84, tying her entry time exactly. Finishing in third was Russia’s Poliana Egorova in 2:11.11. Japan’s Natsumi Sakai (2:11.41) and Russia’s Anastasiia Avdeeva (2:11.49) also broke 2:12.
Moldova’s Tatiana Salcutan finished sixth in 2:12.28, while Canada’s Jade Hannah, the 100 back bronze medalist, was seventh in 2:12.35. Hungary’s Laura Ilyes took eighth in 2:12.61.
Mixed 400 Free Relay
Canada has already won two relays, the women’s 800 free and mixed 400 medley, and that team could be poised for another victory Friday night after qualifying first in the mixed 400 free relay. Rusian Gaziev (50.32), Alexander Pratt (50.97), Taylor Ruck (54.12) and Penny Oleksiak (54.33) qualified with a time of 3:29.74.
Australia’s Elijah Winnington (49.68), Zachary Attard (50.02), Jemima Horwood (55.57) and Eliza King (55.31) qualified second in 3:30.58, followed by the American team of Daniel Krueger (50.05), Matthew Willenbring (49.66), Amalie Fackenthal (56.55) and Kelly Pash (56.16), who combined to record a time of 3:32.42.
The Americans should bring in two fresh women for tonight to join Krueger and Willenbring, with Grace Ariola, Lucie Nordmann and perhaps even Regan Smith all strong possibilities.
Russia finished fourth in 3:32.78, and Brazil (3:32.98), Germany (3:32.98), Hungary (3:33.32) and Poland (3:33.45) also made the final.
Men’s 800 Free
In the early heats of the men’s 800 free, Poland’s Antoni Kaluzynski recorded the top time with his 8:05.76. Spain’s Marcos Gil (8:06.07) and Japan’s Tatsuki Shoike (8:06.76) were second and third, respectively.
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Great job Michael!