Brave and bold double gold for Australian Juniors in Singapore
Swimming Australia, August 26, 2015: Australia has a rich relay history and tonight it was the Junior team that demonstrated its dominance, taking out two relay gold medals in the boy’s 4x100m freestyle and girl’s 4x200m freestyle finals on the opening night of World Junior Swimming Championships in Singapore.
The girl’s 4x200m freestyle relay team of Tamsin Cook, Lucy McJannett, Shayna Jack and Gemma Cooney also set a new and a world junior record of 7:56.68 in the final event at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
It came straight after the boys team of Vincent Dai, Kyle Chalmers
Brayden McCarthy and Jack Cartwright stole the 4x100m freestyle relay gold with a brilliant display of front end speed.
“Be brave” was the message from team leader Glenn Beringen at the team meeting and brave they were as both relay teams left nothing in the tank to hang on and secure top spot on the podium in quick succession.
In fact the girls were both brave and bold as they threw down the challenge of ‘catch us if you can’ to the teams in the middle of the pool, and demolished the previous championship record by almost three seconds in the process.
The team held off challenges from Canada (7:57.04), Russia (7:57.58) and the USA (7:57.84) to take the title and write their names in the Junior World Record books.
West Australian Cook led the girls out, setting a new Championship record time of 1:58.16.
Queenslander’s McJannett (1:59.68) and Jack (1:59.76) then maintained the lead with 15-year-old Cooney tasked with the anchor leg.
Cooney didn’t disappoint, clocking a 1:59.08 split to hold off a fast finishing Canada and Russia and grab the gold for Australia.
The boy’s 4x100m freestyle relay went for a similar approach loading the team with speed early to break up the field and increase their chances of a medal.
It was always going to be a fight to the finish for a medal and Cherrybrook Carlile swimmer Dai put the Australian team in the mix early on with his 50.03 lead off swim.
Then world championship senior medallist Chalmers put the boys in early medal contention, splitting an impressive 48.41 (the fastest split of the night) to put them in front at the second change.
McCarthy had clear water ahead of him and extended the Aussies lead with a 49.66 with Cartwright still to come.
After setting a new personal best time in the heats it was up to the 16-year-old to bring the Australians home and he dug deep to touch first with a split time of 49.28.
The team successfully defended its title, taking gold in 3:17.39, ahead of the USA (3:18.42) and Italy (3:18.58).
Australia was also agonisingly close to a medal in the first final of the meet as Joshua Parrish took on the boy’s 400m freestyle. Parrish had the Australian crowd on the edge of their seat as he looked to have paced the perfect race.
The TSS Aquatics swimmer from the Gold Coast was in the mix as the field turned into the last lap but finished just shy of a medal, in fourth place; 0.01 of a second off a podium position.
Parrish, who won bronze in this event at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacs in Hawaii, clocked a 3:51.00 for fourth place behind gold medallist Grant Shoults from the USA (3:48.91) and China’s Jintong Yang (3:50.05) and Ziao Qiu (3:50.99) who won the silver and bronze respectively.
In other events…
Boy’s 100m Backstroke
It was another close race for the boys, this time in the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke. After finishing fourth in his semi with a new personal best time of 55.29, Clyde Lewis only narrowly missed a place in the final tomorrow night, taking equal ninth place overall.
Girl’s 100m Backstroke
If Brisbane Grammar swimmer Minna Atherton can maintain her momentum in the girl’s 100m backstroke event, the 15-year-old is on track for a fast final. With a world junior record to her name from the heats, Atherton was just a touch off her morning pace in the semis, clocking a 59.86 for the fastest time through to the final.
Atherton was the only swimmer to dip under the minute-mark and will swim from lane four tomorrow night.
Boy’s 100m Breaststroke
Australia will be represented by Sydney Olympic Park’s Matthew Wilson in the final of the boy’s 100m breaststroke after another strong semi-final swim from the Australian Age Group record holder. Wilson, who lowered the 16-years Australian age group record in the heats (1:01.55), clocked a 1:01.81 to move through as fifth fastest for tomorrow night.
Wilson’s teammate Grayson Bell, was slightly off his best stopping the clock at 1:08.24 to take tenth place overall.
Girl’s 50m Breaststroke
South Australia’s Ella Bond will contest the final of the girl’s 50m breaststroke tomorrow night after qualifying sixth fastest in a time of 31.92. Bond’s teammate Calypso Sheridan recorded a 32.98 to take 16th place overall.
The heats will kick off at 10:00am local time (12:pm AEST) at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in Singapore.
Swimming Australia would like to recognise and thank the ACGA for the support provided for our Youth Development programs.
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Issued on behalf of Swimming Australia by
Ian Hanson| Media Manager
Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
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