Australia’s Nederpelt and Schipper, the USA’s Grevers Strike Gold on Day One of Aussie Olympic Youth Festival

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, January 8. IAN Thorpe, Grant Hackett or Michael Klim he's not — at least not yet — but Australian Travis Nederpelt is following in their path quite nicely.

On opening night of the 3rd Australian Olympic Youth Festival in the Olympic Aquatic Centre here, 17-year-old Nederpelt scored an impressive 800 free-200 fly double (lcm) to highlight the competition.

Both swims were prs,and had he swum them last season, would have ranked on the yearly world list.

As it is, his 8:04.11 for the 800 and 2:01.76 for the 200 fly will have to content him with the No. 1 world-ranking for the first nine days of the new year.

He won handily too, with Japan's Takehiro Miyajim a distant second in the 800 (8:12.26). Canada's Darryl Rudolf (2:03.83) was silver medalist in the 200 fly. Bronze medalist in the 800 was Nederpelt's Aussie teammate, Ashley Semmens (8:15.01) and third in the fly was Canada's Colin Ng (2:03.86).

The United States received solid performances from Judson Cutino (17), who was fourth in the 800 (8:16.48) and 16-year-old Adam Hewko (fifth, 8:18.29).

America scored a gold when Patriot Aquatics' 17-year-old Matt Grevers went a pr 56.41 to win the 100 backstroke. He was second-fastest qualifier (58.00) but swam a solid race to win over Australia's top-qualifier, Leith Brodie. The latter finished in 57.92. Stanford-bound Hong Zhe Sun was third for the United States (58.00).

Grevers' was the only gold for Uncle Sam's forces but America also scored medal-placings when 15-year-old Kassandra Kugel (K-squared?) went a pr 2:04.02 for third in the 200 free with teammate Andrea Lehner (2:04.45) taking sixth.

Similarly, in the men's 200 free, 17-year-old Noa Sakaomto won a bronze (1:52.50) with teammate Matt McGinnis a close fourth (1:52.62). Terrapin Swim Club's Lauren Rogers, who trained with World Swimmer of the Year Natalie Coughlin when the latter was a part of the team a few years ago, scored a silver in the 100 back with her 1:03.80. The race was won by Japan's Hiro Tanaka (1:03.53).

The United States' other medal-winner came in the women's 200 fly, where 14-year-old Elaine Breeden went a solid 2:14.73 to capture the bronze. The race's gold went to Australia's Jessica Scheppers in an Aussie 15-16 record 2:11.98.

Before the meet, it was posited that Scheppers and Nederpelt would be the Australian youngsters with the most likely chance of registering world-class swims. Off tonight's action that prediction was fulfilled in spades.

Other USA finalists included Molly Houlton's sixth in the 100 back (1:05.04), Nick Walkotten's and Mark Johnson's sixth- and eighth-place finishes in the 200 fly (2:05.85/2:07.85); and Kim Kelly's (K-squared II?) and Leslie Swinley's fourth and fifth in the 1500 free.

Kelly clocked 16:49.35, about 10 seconds off her pr 16:39.01 from last year; and Swinley went a pr 16:52.65.

The mile gold went to Japan's 17-year-old Yumi Kida in a world-leading 16:33.94.

The meet continues through Saturday.

— Bill Bell

AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC YOUTH FESTIVAL
OLYMPIC AQUATIC CENTRE
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, JAN. 9, 2002

50 M POOL

RESULTS

Event 1 Men 800 LC Metre Freestyle

Name Age Team Seed Time Finals Time Points

1 Nederpelt, Travis 17 Australia 8:10.97 8:04.11 9
2 Miyajima, Takehiro 16 Japan 8:18.61 8:12.26 7
3 Semmens, Ashley 18 Australia 8:28.99 8:15.01 6
4 Cuttino, Judson 17 United States 8:16.99 8:16.48 5
5 Hewko, Adam 17 United States 8:18.26 8:18.29 4
6 Glucina, Matthew 17 Australia 8:33.45 8:20.56
7 Haszard, Arjun 17 New Zealand 8:38.79 8:26.96 3
8 Gard'ner, Shaun 18 New Zealand 8:34.68 8:29.82 2
9 Nead, Kevin 17 United States 8:21.73 8:33.26
10 Hatsuse, Yuushi 14 Japan 8:44.81 8:37.91 1
11 Woofe, Mathew 17 New Zealand 8:43.59 8:43.95
12 Thorpe, Alan 16 New Zealand 9:04.90 8:46.88

Event 2 Women 200 LC Metre Freestyle

Name Age Team Heat Time Finals Time Points

A – Final

1 Reimer, Brittany 15 Canada 2:03.03 2:02.84 9
2 Mitchell, Melissa 15 Australia 2:04.32 2:03.02 7
3 Kugler, Kassandra 15 United States 2:05.60 2:04.02 6
4 Kardash, Larisa 17 Canada 2:03.55 2:04.05 5
5 Kida, Yumi 17 Japan 2:05.35 2:04.17 4
6 Lehner, Andrea 14 United States 2:05.33 2:04.45 3
7 Walker, Meagan 18 Australia 2:04.28 2:04.54 2
8 Linton, Rebecca 17 New Zealand 2:05.54 2:04.70 1

Event 3 Men 200 LC Metre Freestyle

Name Age Team Heat Time Finals Time Points

A – Final

1 Sharp, Robert 18 Australia 1:52.94 1:51.85 9
2 Russell, Colin 18 Canada 1:52.26 1:52.12 7
3 Sakamoto, Noa 17 United States 1:52.59 1:52.50 6
4 McGinnis, Matt 17 United States 1:53.28 1:52.62 5
5 Thompson, Andrew 16 Australia 1:53.28 1:53.67 4
6 Yamamoto, Hiroaki 15 Japan 1:54.58 1:54.26 3
7 Dickens, Scott 18 Canada 1:55.31 1:55.01 2
8 Pickersgill-Brown, Ben 16 New Zealand 1:56.23 1:57.57 1

Event 4 Women 100 LC Metre Backstroke

Name Age Team Heat Time Finals Time Points

Finals

1 Tanaka, Hiro 14 Japan 1:03.58 1:03.53 9
2 Rogers, Lauren 15 United States 1:04.43 1:03.80 7
3 Ingram, Melissa 17 New Zealand 1:05.15 1:04.13 6
4 Seah, Nicole 16 Australia 1:04.14 1:04.37 5
5 Kubas, Hanna 17 Canada 1:05.27 1:04.56 4
6 Houlton, Molly 14 United States 1:04.95 1:05.04 3
7 Zimmer, Tayliah 17 Australia 1:04.31 1:05.32 2
8 Bradshaw, Jessica 18 Canada 1:05.70 1:05.80 1

Event 5 Men 100 LC Metre Backstroke

Name Age Team Heat Time Finals Time Points

Finals

1 Grevers, Matt 17 United States 58.00 56.41 9
2 Brodie, Leith 16 Australia 57.91 57.92 7
3 Sun, Hong Zhe 17 United States 58.43 58.06 6
4 Koga, Junya 15 Japan 58.39 58.30 5
5 Uchida, Shouhei 16 Japan 58.32 58.38 4
6 Hawes, Matthew 16 Canada 58.94 58.65 3
7 Williams, Lewis 18 New Zealand 1:00.20 59.12 2
8 Braddock, Damian 16 New Zealand 1:00.17 59.87 1

Event 6 Women 200 LC Metre Butterfly

Name Age Team Seed Time Finals Time Points

1 Schipper, Jessicah 16 Australia 2:14.11 2:11.98 9
2 Crossingham, Charnelle 17 Australia 2:13.63 2:14.64 7
3 Breeden, Elaine 14 United States 2:16.91 2:14.73 6
4 Bernier, Joanie 18 Canada 2:17.15 2:16.42 5
5 Watanabe, Kozue 16 Japan 2:14.24 2:17.07 4
6 Landry, Michelle 18 Canada 2:20.10 2:19.93 3
7 Beller, Yeng Lan 14 United States 2:16.68 2:20.08 2

Event 7 Men 200 LC Metre Butterfly

Name Age Team Heat Time Finals Time Points

Finals

1 Nederpelt, Travis 17 Australia 2:02.67 2:01.76 9
2 Rudolf, Darryl 18 Canada 2:05.26 2:03.83 7
3 Ng, Callum 17 Canada 2:04.88 2:03.86 6
4 Kaneda, Kazuya 15 Japan 2:04.92 2:04.64 5
5 Lee, Henry 17 Australia 2:04.85 2:04.95 4
6 Walkotten, Nick 16 United States 2:07.15 2:05.35 3
7 Fujii, Syunsuke 16 Japan 2:05.29 2:05.94 2
8 Johnson, Mark 18 United States 2:07.60 2:07.85 1

Event 8 Women 1500 LC Metre Freestyle

Name Age Team Seed Time Finals Time Points

1 Kida, Yumi 17 Japan 16:44.71 16:33.24 9
2 Reimer, Brittany 15 Canada 17:26.63 16:37.54 7
3 Wilson, Belinda 18 Australia 16:54.46 16:41.44 6
4 Kelly, Kimberly 16 United States 16:39.01 16:49.35 5
5 Swinley, Leslie 15 United States 16:56.04 16:52.65 4
6 Gorman, Melissa 17 Australia 17:17.13 16:57.25 3
7 Hentzen, Whitney 16 United States 16:50.66 16:57.69
8 Iwai, Kanae 17 Japan 17:10.35 17:03.24 2
9 Linton, Rebecca 17 New Zealand 17:08.17 17:05.96 1
10 Kallu, Sarah 16 Australia 17:07.66 17:06.63
11 Haley, Bevan 15 Canada 17:20.19 17:11.04
12 Yoshimura, Shiho 15 Japan 16:52.09 17:16.41
13 Walker, Meagan 18 Australia 17:19.83 17:41.02
14 Nesbitt, Rebecca 18 New Zealand 17:48.96 18:16.51

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