Michael Andrew’s Championship Record Among Four U.S. Top Seeds at Jr Worlds

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

During the fourth morning of competition at the FINA World Junior Championships in Indianapolis, American Michael Andrew qualified first for the semi-finals of the men’s 50 fly in championship record-time to be the first of four U.S. top qualifiers for the semis.

Also scoring the top spot in the morning were teammates Daniel Roy in the men’s 200 breast and Alex Walsh in the women’s 200 IM. Reece Whitley made it a U.S. 1-2 with Roy in the breaststroke, and the U.S. men were also dominant in the 800 free relay prelims.

Read below for event-by-event full coverage of the prelims session.

Full results

Women’s 50 Back

Canada’s Jade Hannah, already a bronze medalist in the 100 back, qualified first for semi-finals in the one-lap race in 28.24, but American Regan Smith, who only needs to win the 50 to complete a backstroke sweep, qualified second in 28.43.

Just behind Smith were Japan’s Natsumi Sakai (28.44), Great Britain’s Cassie Wild (28.45) and Russia’s Polina Egorova (28.45). Grace Ariola, Smith’s American teammate, took sixth in 28.55.

Others qualifying under 29 included Denmark’s Julie Jensen (28.76), Great Britain’s Anna Maine (28.77) and Italy’s Tania Quaglieri (28.96). The cut-off point to make the semi-finals was 29.58.

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Men’s 50 Fly

Michael Andrew continued his assault on the men’s 50-meter events in Indianapolis, setting a championship record in the 50 fly prelims. He came up just a tenth short of Li Zhuhao’s World Junior Record of 23.39 set back in 2015. The 50 fly semis will come as part of a very busy finals session for Andrew Saturday night, with the 50 back final proceeding these semis and the 50 free final following.

Russia’s Andrei Minakov qualified second in 23.94, and Kazakhstan’s Adibek Mussin qualified third in 23.96.

The remainder of the top eight included Germany’s Luca Armbruster (24.05), Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (24.26), Egypt’s Abdelrahman Sameh (24.28), China’s Shen Jiahao (24.33) and Turkey’s Umitcan Gures (24.37).

Hungary’s Kristof Milak, the gold medalist and WJR-holder in the 100 fly, took 11th in prelims in 24.41 to book his spot in semis, while Poland’s Kamil Kazmierczak was the last man in at 24.88.

The USA’s Nick Albiero and Bulgaria’s Antani Ivanov tied for 17th at 24.91, setting up a possible swim-off for first alternate.

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Women’s 400 Free

Russia’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova picked up the top seed with the only mark under 4:13. She came in at 4:12.54, while Japan’s Waka Kobori was second in 4:13.08. Argentina’s Delfina Pignatiello, the gold medalist from the 800 free Thursday night, took third in 4:13.42.

Australia’s Sharni Robinson qualified fourth in 4:13.75, while top-seeded Hungarian Ajna Kesely ended up with the fifth-best time of 4:13.87.

Also making the final were Australia’s Molly Batchelor (4:14.25), the USA’s Leah Braswell (4:14.96) and Spain’s Esther Morillo (4:15.13).

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Men’s 200 Breast

The United States claimed the top two seeds for the men’s 200 breast final, with Daniel Roy leading the way in 2:11.72 and Reece Whitley claiming second in 2:11.86. The two swim with contrasting styles, with Whitley going long and strong the whole way and Roy coming home strong, and the two will face off in a 200 breast for the first time ever in the final.

Japan’s Ikuma Osaki qualified third in 2:12.17, followed by Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook (2:12.43) and Austria’s Valentin Bayer (2:12.67).

Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi, already the World Junior Champion in the 100 breast and the World Junior Record-holder in both the 50 and 100-meter distances, made the jump up to the 200 as he qualified sixth in 2:12.56, and the Czech Republic’s Filip Chrapavy (2:13.32) and Japan’s Yu Hanaguruma (2:13.34) claimed the last two spots in the final.

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Women’s 200 IM

Alex Walsh of the United States pulled ahead of her heat on the freestyle leg and recorded the fastest qualifying time of the final in 2:13.80, edging out Canada’s Kayla Sanchez. Sanchez recorded a time of 2:13.88, the only other mark under 2:14.

Great Britain’s Ciara Schlosshan took third in 2:14.36, and France’s Cyrielle Duhamel qualified third in 2:14.69. The USA’s Zoe Bartel, already qualified for the 100 breast final, had the fastest split on that leg on her way to qualifying fifth in 2:14.83.

Other finalists included Japan’s Miku Kojima (2:14.84), Great Britain’s Amy Bell (2:15.73) and Germany’s Julia Mrozinski (2:15.92).

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Men’s 800 Free Relay

The American men put on an impressive performance in the prelims of the men’s 800 free relay. Jack LeVant (1:48.75), Cody Bybee (1:49.43), Carson Foster (1:48.03) and Drew Kibler (1:48.43) finished in 7:14.84 to qualify first by more than two seconds for the final.

The World Junior Record of 7:13.76 should be on high alert in the evening as Michael Brinegar and Trey Freeman, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 free, join the squad.

Spain’s Cesar Castro, Alex Ramos, Javier Villanueva and Francisco Arevalo qualified second in 7:17.23, and Russia’s Petr Zhikharev, Mikhail Bocharnikov, Maksim Aleksandrov and Martin Malyutin were third in 7:15.57. 200 free World Junior Champion Ivan Girev will join Russia’s squad at night.

Other finalists included Australia (7:@0.60), Hungary (7:22.68), Poland (7:22.97), Germany (7:25.40) and Brazil (7:25.79).

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