World Junior Championships, Day 1: Agostina Hein Sets South American Record in 400 IM
Agostina Hein of Argentina set the meet, Argentine senior and South American records in the women’s 400-meter individual medley to win gold at the World Junior Championships Tuesday.
Hein went 4:34.34 to win the race by more than a second. It downs the amazingly long-lived mark set at the 2004 Olympics by Georgina Bardach. That time was a South American record and it earned her bronze in one of the biggest swimming accomplishments in the nation’s history.
Hein looks poised to be the next star for an Argentina program long dormant, coming off a strong Junior Pan Am Games this summer.
All the action from the first finals session in Otopeni, Romania (all finals except where noted):
Men’s 400 Freestyle
The first event of the finals turned into a Russian battle. Swimming as Neutral Athletes, Grigorii Vekovishchev bested teammate Egor Babinich by 0.93 seconds to win in 3:46.64. It put a scare into the meet record of 3:46.06 set by Gabor Zombori in 2019.
Vekovishchev was first at every wall from 150 on. Babinich ran third until surging in the fifth 50. He went 3:47.57, holding off by .16 seconds the charge of China’s Xu Haibo, who got bronze. Swimming from Lane 8, Xu was sixth at 350 meters before coming back in 26.93.
The lone American in the field, Aiden Hammer, finished fifth in 3:48.20. He had been second at prelims. He was a spot behind the American-named, but Aussie-Born Tex Cross, who went 3:48.17 for fourth. Eighth in the final was Turkey’s Kuzey Tuncelli.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke Semifinals
American Rachel McAlpin led the way with a time of 30.78. She was .19 seconds ahead of Ralina Giliazova of the Neutral Athletes, with fellow American Elle Scott third in 31.13. Irene Burato of Italy finished fourth.
Men’s 100 Backstroke Semifinals
An American was on top here, too, with Gavin Keogh going 53.52 to lead a crowded final eight. His fellow American, Collin Holgerson, missed out in 10th.
John Shortt of Ireland finished second in 53.80. He’ll be joined in the final by swimmers from eight different nations. Georgii Iakovlev of the Neutral Athletes was third, followed by Aussie Henry Allan. The final eight includes Israeli Aukan Goldin, Trinidadian Liam Carrington and Canadian Parker Deshayes.
Women’s 400 Individual Medley
Agostina Hein made history, and emphatically so. The Argentine teen went 4:34.34 in the final. That’s exactly 2.5 seconds quicker than the time that Leah Hayes used to set the meet record in 2023, and it put her 1.15 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s Amalie Smith. (Not to be confused with Australia’s Amelie Smith – second “a” vs. second “e” – who finished eighth.)
Georgina Bardach’s record is one that Hein has been circling. She was three tenths off in prelims at 4:37.87. She won Junior Pan Ams in 4:38.41, a meet where she took down Virginia Bardach’s national record in the 200 IM.
Smith went 4:35.49. Shuna Sasaki of Japan was third in 4:38.94, keeping the Americans off the podium.
Audrey Derivaux, who was second in prelims, dipped to fourth, undone by a slow first 50 of breaststroke that was two full seconds slower than Sasaki and nearly four slower than Smith. Kayla Han finished fifth in 4:41.18, just outtouching Misuzu Nagaoka of Japan. Vivien Jackl of Hungary was seventh.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke Semifinals
The showdown between Filip Nowacki and Shin Ohashi in the final is set, though it might not be exclusively a two-man race.
Nowacki set the semis pace in 59.24. Ohashi was second in 59.72, the two leaders swimming out of different heats. Third was Evangelos Ntoumas of Greece in 59.77, while Nowacki has a fellow British swimmer under a minute in Max Morgan – fourth in 59.93. Oliver Dawson of Canada was fifth.
Only one American made the final, and just barely, with Gabe Nunziata eighth in 1:00.68. Andrew Eubanks finished 14th to miss out.
Women’s 100 Backstroke Semifinals
Charlotte Crush leads the way into finals by a wide margin, her time of 59.21 just a tenth off the meet record set in 2017 by one Regan Smith. She was 1.1 seconds ahead of the field and the only one under a minute. Second was home-nation hope Daria-Mariuca Silisteanu in 1:00.31, .07 seconds up on Canadian Madison Kryger.
Romania has two in the final, with Aissia Claudia Prisecariu sixth. It comes at the expense of both Chinese swimmers and the second American, with Julia Mischler going 1:00.65 to miss out. Places two through 10 were separated by .46 seconds.
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
There’s a bronze medal in the race for the U.S., and barely that, needing to surge on the final leg to get in podium position for the first time in the race.
The gold went to the Neutral Athletes B, in a meet and world junior record of 3:15.38, clipping a tenth off the American mark from 2023. Mikhail Shcherbakov, Roman Zhidkov, Egor Proshin and Georgii Zlotnikov comprised the squad.
Second was Italy in a wild race. The Italians were eighth after one leg and seventh at the midway point. But Carlos D’Ambrosio split 47.20 on the end to drag them from fifth to silver.
The U.S. needed a similar rally. They were seventh after one leg and fifth at the midway point. Michael Rice’s 48.85 rose the U.S. from fourth to bronze, .01 ahead of Brazil. Austin Carpenter, Rowan Cox and Kenneth Barnicle made up the squad.
Great Britain was first in prelims and in third at the final handoff before slipping to fifth. Jacob Mills led off in 48.27.
Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay
There are no gold medals in the first day of relays for the United States. China made sure of that.
China won the race in 7:51.59, just .12 off the meet and world junior record set in 2017 by Canada. The U.S. couldn’t keep pace, second most of the way to silver in 7:52.82.
China started with a pair of 1:57s from Yan Tiaoshan and Gong Zhengqi. The third leg was a weak spot for both China and the U.S., but Yang Peiqi brought it home in 1:55.53 to take a .08-second lead to more than a second.
The U.S. was second via Kennedi Dobson (1:57.53), Lily King (not that one, this is one “l”), Kayla Han and Rylee Erisman. Erisman came home in 1:56.69.
Italy was the only team with four sub-2-minute legs to win bronze in 7:56.86. Canada was fourth, led by Ella Cosgrove’s 1:57.61.
