Atherton steals the show in Singapore with back-to-back gold
Swimming Australia, August 28, 2015: At just 15-years-of-age Minna Atherton has won back-to-back gold medals and was tonight crowned a dual world junior champion in Singapore after taking the title in the girl’s 200m backstroke final, adding to her 100m backstroke gold from last night.
Swimming from lane three, Atherton took the race out hard and led from start to finish to eventually stop the clock in a Championship record time of 2:09.11. That time was also quick enough to set a new Australian Age group record, lowering Emily Seebohm’s previous 15-years mark of 2:10.10 by almost a full second.
When asked who her swimming idols were, Minna replied “I’d say Emily, she’s such a great swimmer and backstroker. She has had so many great achievements and she’s taught me how to race comfortably.”
The Brisbane Grammar swimmer, who trains alongside Seebohm is relishing the opportunity to learn from her idol and has this week already erased two of Seebohm’s 15-years Australian age records in the 100 and 200m backstroke events. Australia now holds the 100 and 200m backstroke world titles across both senior and junior levels.
Despite coming into this meet in fine form, the field tonight featured a number of tough competitors and Atherton surprised even herself with the win.
“I wasn’t really expecting that, it was a big surprise. I was just going out to try and get a PB (Personal Best) and I wasn’t expecting a 2:09! This morning’s swim felt a bit harder than it usually does and I just wasn’t really expecting to win against this field,” Atherton said.
Just three days into the competition and Atherton already has three medals to her name; two gold, in the 100 and 200m backstroke and a silver from the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
When asked about her future goals Atherton replied, “I’m just going to go back and train to get as fast as I can.” - For Rio? - “Hopefully.”
The mixed 4x100m freestyle relay wrapped up proceedings on the third night of finals at the OCBC Aquatic Centre where the Australian quartet of Jack Cartwright (50.34), Kyle Chalmers (48.89), Lucy McJannett (54.92) and Shayna Jack (54.44) combined to add another silver medal to our tally with a time of 3:28.59. Canada grabbed the gold with an impressive 3:27.71 to erase the 2013 World Junior record previously set by Australia.
The Aussie team tonight also dipped under the previous world junior record time but were beaten to the wall by the courageous Canadians. The bronze medal went to Russia, just a touch behind in 3:28.79.
The Australian team is now sitting on a total of eight medals; five gold and three silver at the halfway point in the competition.
Head Coach Glenn Beringen said, “The meet is not over yet and I expect some fierce competition in the days to come. For our team it is not about medals, now it’s important that we try to maintain this high standard we have set and continue to build momentum and focus on developing our racing skills.”
In other events…
Boy’s 800m Freestyle Timed Final
After finishing fourth by just 0.01 of a second in the boy’s 400m freestyle on night one, Joshua Parrish has tonight taken fourth place in the men’s 800m freestyle by just 0.03 of a second. Parrish should hold his head high with his 800m free time of 7:57.43 an 11-second personal best. These close finishes on the world stage are an encouraging sign for Parrish who has plenty of potential as a future podium finisher.
Girl’s 50m Butterfly
Swimming side-by-side in the first semi-final, Lucia Lassman and Gemma Cooney will take on the final of the girl’s 50m butterfly tomorrow night after posting 26.80 and 26.91 to move through in third and sixth place respectively.
Boy’s 50m Freestyle
Triple-medallist from the meet so far Kyle Chalmers is asserting his dominance over the 50m freestyle, once again posting the fastest time to move through to the final as hot favourite in 22.44. Chalmers will need to get the better of the USA’s master of many strokes Michael Andrews who is second fastest in 24.50.
With just over 0.3 of a second separating the entire field the final will be a splash and dash fight for first place. Sydney Olympic Park swimmer Vincent Dai finished 10th overall after posting a 22.85 in his semi-final.
Girl’s 100m Breaststroke
The girl’s 100m breaststroke semi-finals saw South Australian Ella Bond touch in a time of 1:10.23 to take 10th place while her teammate Calypso Sheridan clocked a 1:11.29 for 15th.
Boy’s 50m Backstroke
Gold medallist in the 200m individual medley Clyde Lewis couldn’t quite hold onto the leaders in the boy’s 50m backstroke semi-final, finishing in a time of 26.17 to take 13th place.
Girl’s 100m Freestyle
Just 0.01 of a second separated Shayna Jack and Lucy McJannett in the final of the girl’s 100m freestyle. Jack was just ahead finishing fifth in a time of 55.38 with McJannett sixth in 55.39. The girls also took on the 4x100m mixed freestyle relay where they finished with the silver medal.
Swimming Australia would like to recognise and thank the ACGA for the support provided for our Youth development programs.
Official hashtags -
#NextGEN #AusWJC
Medal Tally
Gold – 5
Silver - 3
Bronze - 0
TOTAL - 8
Issued on behalf of Swimming Australia by
Ian Hanson| Media Manager
Ian Hanson| Media Manager Triathlon Australia Managing Director
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