2019 World Junior Swimming Championships Day 2 Prelims: Luca Urlando Shines in Double

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Luca Urlando took the top seed in the 200 free. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

World Junior Swimming Championships (Luca Urlando)

Budapest, Day 2 Prelims

The 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships continued on Wednesday morning in Budapest with a full slate of events as the top junior swimmers in the world vied for world titles.

The men’s 200 IM opened the day of competition, followed by the women’s 100 free, the men’s 100 fly, the women’s 200 fly and the men’s 200 free before moving to the mixed 4×100 medley relay.

Men’s 200 IM

World Record: Ryan Lochte, USA (1:54.00)
Meet Record: Johannes Hintzem Germany (1:59.03)
World Junior Record: Qin Haiyang, China (1:57.06)
Top Entry: Carson Foster, USA (1:58.69)

Carson Foster of the U.S. entered the field with the top time in the 200 IM. While he didn’t quite reach his seed time of 1:58.69, he was the only one in the field to break 2 minutes during Wednesday’s prelims to open the second day of competition.

Foster took the top seed in the event in 1:59.30 with a strong 55.18 on the front half. He was able to hang on to that lead and finished more than a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Greece’s Apostolos Papastamos took the second spot in 2:00.43, nearly breaking 2 minutes, and holding off Australia’s Se-Bom Lee, who finished in 2:00.54.

The top three were a second ahead of the rest of the group as Canada’s Finlay Knox took the fourth seed in 2:01.51, followed by Israel’s Ron Polonsky (2:01.58), France’s Leon Marchand (2:01.71), Japan’s Ikuru Hiroshima (2:01.77) and Russia’s Ilia Borodin (2:01.91).

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Women’s 100 Free

World Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (51.71)
Meet Record: Taylor Ruck, Canada (53.63)
World Junior Record: Penny Oleksiak, Canada (52.70)
Top Entry: Gretchen Walsh, USA (54.13)

The women’s 100 free is shaping up to be quite a showdown. Two swimmers finished under 55 seconds and could be headed for a collision course in the finals.

Australia’s Meg Harris took the top seed in 54.87 and will be the top seed in the semifinals. Gretchen Walsh of the U.S. was just behind in 54.99, not too far off of her top entry time of 54.13.

It won’t just be a two-person race, however.

Russia’s Ekaterina Nikonova took the third seed in 55.12, just ahead of Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan (55.17) and Japan’s Nagisa Ikemoto (55.19).

South Africa’s Aimee Canny (55.32), USA’s Torri Huske (55.43) and Germany’s Zoe Vogelmann (55.77) rounded out the top eight.

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Men’s 100 Fly

World Record: Caeleb Dressel, USA (49.50)
Meet Record: Kristof Milak, Hungary (51.08)
World Junior Record: Kristof Milak, Hungary (50.62)
Top Entry: Andrei Minakov, Russia (50.83)

Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov used a 27.82 second-half to claim the top seed in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 51.91.

Russia’s Andrei Minakov had the top seed coming in with a 50.83. He took the second seed in 52.17.

Italy’s Federico Burdisso and Canada’s Joshua Liendo Edwards tied for the third seed, both swimming the prelim race in 52.48.

Russia’s Igor Pavlov was next in 52.54, while U.S. rising star Luca Urlando took the sixth seed in 52.59.

Japan’s Tomoru Honda (52.79) and USA’s Blake Manoff (52.90) rounded out the top eight.

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Women’s 200 Fly

World Record: Liu Zige, China (2:01.81)
Meet Record: Emily Large, Great Britain (2:07.74)
World Junior Record: Suzuka Hasegawa, Japan (2:06.29)
Top Entry: Lillie Nordmann, USA (2:07.43)

Charlotte Hook of the U.S. used a strong front half of her 200 fly to earn the top seed out of prelims. She was out in 1:01.92 and finished in 2:09.86.

She was the only swimmer in the field to break 2:10.

Hungary’s Blanka Berecz took the second seed in 2:10.20, followed by Australia’s Elizabeth Dekkers (2:10.70) and USA’s Lillie Nordmann (2:10.82). Nordmann had the top entry time in 2:07.43.

Hungary had another swimmer in the top eight as Fanni Fabian took the fifth seed in 2:11.41. Two swimmers from Turkey followed as Zehra Bilgin took the sixth seed in 2:11.70, followed by Defne Tacyildiz (2:11.77) and South Africa’s Dune Coetzee (2:12.85).

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Men’s 200 Free

World Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany (1:42.00)
Meet record: Ivan Girev, Russia (1:46.40)
World Junior record: Ivan Girev, Russia (1:46.40)
Top Entry: Luca Urlando, USA (1:46.51)

Luca Urlando put together a strong second half of his Wednesday double, taking the top seed in the 200 free.

Urlando finished the race in 1:47.91, the only swimmer to break 1:48 during prelims.

Fellow American Carson Foster took the second seed in 1:48.11, which could lead to a compatriot battle for the title during finals.

Of course, six other swimmers in the finals will have something to say about it.

Australia’s Thomas Neill took the third seed in 1:48.20, just ahead of Brazil’s Murilo Stein Sartori (1:48.56) and Hungary’s Gabor Zombori (1:48.72).

China’s Hong Jingquan (1:49.13), Russia’s Aleksandr Shchegolev (1:49.16) and Sweden’s Robin Hanson (1:49.25) rounded out the finalists.

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Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay

The U.S. mixed relay took the top seed as Wyatt Davis, Kevin Houseman, Justina Kozan and Amy Tang completed the race in 3:50.35.

Davis started with a 54.72 split in the backstroke. Houseman then went 1:02.41 in the breaststroke before Kozan split a 59.08 in the butterfly and Tang anchored a 54.14 in the freestyle.

The time was five seconds away from the world junior record set by Russia.

The Russians took the second seed in 3:51.41, followed by Canada (3:52.34).

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