2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships Psych Sheet: Pallister, Minakov, Foster Set For 18 and Under Spectacle in Budapest

lani-pallister-
Lani Pallister is the top seed in all three distance free races for Australia. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships will begin this week in Budapest, Hungary with the prelims beginning on Tuesday morning. The World Juniors are a nice stepping stone for the best 18 and under athletes to showcase their talents on the international stage. The World Juniors began in 2006 in Rio de Janeiro and have become a bigger deal over the years with Olympic gold medalists Mack HortonPenny Oleksiak and Kyle Chalmers using this meet as a launching pad for their success. Even as recently as 2017, today’s stars of Kristof Milak and Rikako Ikee won a multitude of medals at the World Juniors in Indianapolis.

Horton still holds the meet record in the 400, 800 and 1500 free from 2013, which are the three oldest men’s meet records still standing, with Chupkov holding the 200 breast from 2015. Recently retired Ruta Meilutyte still holds two meet records from 2013 where she won the 50 and 100 breast a month after setting world records at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona.

Psych sheets have been released for the meet which can be viewed at the link below. Some of the future starts in the sport of swimming will be attending the meet including Worlds silver medalist Andrei Minakov as well as rising stars Luca Urlando and Carson Foster of the United States along with Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who won two gold medals at the European Juniors this year.

Australia’s Lani Pallister is setting herself up for a huge medal haul as she is the top seed in all three distance races. She swam at the 2017 Juniors but didn’t win any medals, so this could be a huge breakout meet for her. Belarus’ Anastasiya Shkurdai is also on the psych sheet as the top seed in the 50 and 100 fly as she is ranked fairly high in the world rankings. She did not swim in Gwangju last month so this will be her time to really showcase her talents as one of the rising stars in the sport.

Worlds silver medalist Benedetta Pilato is just 14 years of age but is already becoming a household name in swimming, but has yet to prove herself in the Olympic distances. She will be doing the 100 this week in Budapest where she is the seventh seed so she will have a chance to really make a name for herself.

Also in the breaststroke races will be Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova, who would have won the silver medal at Worlds in the 200 with her best time earlier this summer. Chikunova will have some work to do to catch the meet record that Viktoria Gunes set in 2015 when she dipped under 2:20, but this could set up Chikunova for a run at a medal next summer in Tokyo.

Top Seeds:

Men:

  • 50 Free: David Curtiss, USA, 22.25
  • 100 Free: Andrei Minakov, RUS, 48.50
  • 200 Free: Luca Urlando, USA, 1:46.51
  • 400 Free: Jake Mitchell, USA, 3:48.09
  • 800 Free: Aleksandr Egorov, RUS, 7:52.04
  • 1500 Free: Franko Grgic, CRO, 14:56.55
  • 50 Back: Thomas Ceccon, ITA, 25.16
  • 100 Back: Thomas Ceccon, ITA, 53.60
  • 200 Back: Jan Cejka, CZE, 1:57.51
  • 50 Breast: Vladislav Gerasimenko, RUS, 27.77
  • 100 Breast: Alexander Zhigalov, RUS, 1:00.75
  • 200 Breast: Shoma Sato, JPN, 2:09.42
  • 50 Fly: Thomas Ceccon, ITA, 23.46
  • 100 Fly: Andrei Minakov, RUS, 50.83
  • 200 Fly: Luca Urlando, USA, 1:53.84
  • 200 IM: Carson Foster, USA, 1:58.69
  • 400 IM: Carson Foster, USA, 4:13.39
  • 4×100 free: Russia, 3:18.11
  • 4×200 free: United States, 7:16.42
  • 4×100 medley: Russia, 3:35.17

Women:

  • 50 Free: Gretchen Walsh, USA, 24.85
  • 100 Free: Gretchen Walsh, USA, 54.13
  • 200 Free: Claire Tuggle, USA, 1:58.21
  • 400 Free: Lani Pallister, AUS, 4:06.57
  • 800 Free: Lani Pallister, AUS, 8:25.66
  • 1500 Free: Lani Pallister, AUS, 16:06.84
  • 50 Back: Daria Vaskina, RUS, 27.51
  • 100 Back: Daria Vaskina, RUS, 59.46
  • 200 Back: Rye Ulett, USA, 2:09.70
  • 50 Breast: Benedetta Pilato, ITA,  29.98
  • 100 Breast: Kayla van der Merwe, GBR, 1:07.12
  • 200 Breast: Evgeniia Chikunova, RUS, 2:21.07
  • 50 Fly: Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR, 25.87
  • 100 Fly: Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR, 57.39
  • 200 Fly: Lillie Nordmann, USA, 2:07.43
  • 200 IM: Anastasia Gorbenko, ISR, 2:11.92
  • 400 IM: Alba Vazques Ruiz, ESP, 4:40.64
  • 4×100 free: United States, 3:40.20
  • 4×200 free: China, 7:52.30
  • 4×100 medley: Russia, 4:01.83

Mixed:

  • 4×100 medley: United States, 3:47.01
  • 4×100 free: Russia, 3:28.50
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