{"id":596027,"date":"2024-09-06T10:01:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=596027"},"modified":"2024-09-06T10:22:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T17:22:54","slug":"claire-weinstein-brinkleigh-hansen-clinch-usa-double-at-world-junior-open-water-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/claire-weinstein-brinkleigh-hansen-clinch-usa-double-at-world-junior-open-water-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Claire Weinstein & Brinkleigh Hansen Clinch USA Double At World Junior Open Water Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Weinstein & Brinkleigh Hansen Clinch USA Double At World Junior Open Water Championships<\/h4>\n

Claire Weinstein<\/strong> and Brinkleigh Hansen<\/strong> made it double gold for the USA with victories in their respective 7.5k and 5k races at the\u00a02024 World Aquatics Junior Open Water Swimming Championships<\/strong>\u00a0in Alghero, Sardinia.<\/p>\n

Weinstein claimed her third open water title in the space of two years when she touched the panel in 1:25:43.30 ahead of Spain’s Clara Martinez de Salinas Pena<\/strong> (1:25:46.00) and Hungarian Napsugar Nagy,<\/strong> adding bronze in 1:25:49.60 to her silver at the European Juniors in Vienna in July.<\/p>\n

It follows a fine Olympic debut in Paris last month for Weinstein, the 17-year-old swimming the lead-off (1:54.88) as the USA won silver in the 4×2 as well as coming eighth in the individual.<\/p>\n

Emir Batur Albayrak<\/strong> won the men’s race by the tightest of margins from Italian Davide Grossi<\/strong> in 1:18:34.30 to 1:18:34.50.<\/p>\n

Albayrak’s victory was in stark contrast to the European Juniors two months ago where he won 50 seconds. There his Turkish teammate Atakan Ercan<\/strong> finished third, a feat he replicated in Alghero in 1:18:39.00.<\/p>\n

The youngest athletes of the championships started their meet in the 5k.<\/p>\n

Hansen pulled away to win gold on her international debut in 1:03:05.30 ahead of Hungary’s Anna Bartalos<\/strong> (1:03:09.50) and Mahila Spennato<\/strong> of Italy (1:03:14.80), the pair replicating their finishing positions at the European Juniors in Vienna in July.<\/p>\n

The trio set the pace early on and with the rest of the field unable to keep up, they separated from the pack to fight it out amongst themselves.<\/p>\n

Fourteen-year-old Hansen swims for Saint Petersburg Aquatics in Florida, the\u00a0same club that produced 1500 free world record holder and Olympic champion Bobby Finke.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s\u00a0Jonas Lieschke<\/strong>, age 15, stayed with the lead pack for the majority of the boys’ three-lap race, but accelerated to move away from the field on the last lap, enjoying a 13-second margin of victory over silver medallist Balint Kreisz<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>of Hungary.<\/p>\n

Lieschke touched in 59:42.10 to upgrade his fifth-place finish at the European Juniors in Vienna in July with Kreisz taking silver in 59:55.40, the 15-year-old one of a number of fine Hungarian youngsters looking to follow in the slipstreams of Kristof Rasovszky<\/strong> and David Betlehem<\/strong>, who won gold and bronze at the Paris Olympics last month.<\/p>\n

Konstantinos Chourdakis<\/strong> of Greece was third in 59:57.80.<\/p>\n