Aussies go waltzing to top of the world with 9 gold medals at World Junior Championships in Singapore
Swimming Australia, August 31, 2015: The Australian Junior Swim team is sitting on top of the world after an exciting finale to the 5th FINA World Junior Championships in Singapore tonight.
Australia finished on top of the gold medal table for the second consecutive time with a total of nine gold medals, three more than the USA and Russia – who are ranked second and third respectively on six gold each.
After six-action-packed days of competition at the OCBC Aquatic Centre the Australians will take home 18 medals all together, made up of nine gold, six silver and three bronze.
The 30-strong Aussies demonstrated their dominance to lead the medal table from start to finish.
Tonight the Aussies picked up a further five medals, with gold to Kyle Chalmers, (100m freestyle) silver to the girl’s 4x100m medley relay team and bronze to Shayna Jack (50m freestyle) , Gemma Cooney (100m butterfly) and the boy’s 4x100m medley relay team.
Australia’s Junior Team Head Coach, 1984 Olympic silver medallist, Glenn Beringen said he was impressed with the team’s professionalism and ability to bounce back under tough circumstances.
“This has been a week of extraordinary performances and passion, bravery and resilience,” said Beringen.
“The team has remained focussed on the meet and on doing the best for the team, encountering the relentless nature of the meet and supporting one and all without question.
“We have demonstrated the characteristics of toughness and resilience which benchmark our nation’s swimmers and we have demonstrated competitive intelligence, narrowing in on our tactical approach to the meet and our bounce back ability.
“The team has tasted pain and embraced it, and tasted the pleasure of success as well.”
Swimming Australia Performance Pathway Manager, Jamie Salter said: “The way the team has raced this week has put them in a positive position to continue their swimming journey on the international stage.
“I have no doubt that the lessons learnt here in Singapore will help with the development of our swimmers as they progress through their sporting careers.”
The last night of finals started with a bang as the fastest young men from across the world lined up for the boy’s 100m freestyle.
It was Australia’s rising star, SA’s KyleChalmers who had the crowd on the edge of their seats as he stormed home to claim his second individual world title.
Swimming from lane seven, Chalmers went out hard and fast to clock a new championship record time of 48.47 adding to his earlier gold in the 50m freestyle to successfully secure the coveted sprint double.
That time now ranks the 17-year-old as equal 17th in the world this year and erases the previous Australian Age Group record of 48.58 held by world senior silver medallist and Australian and Pan Pacific champion Cameron McEvoy.
It also sees the Adelaide schoolboy, who is coached by Shelly Jarrett, rocket into an All-Time Top Ten of Australian 100m freestylers that reads like a who’s who – knocking Ian Thorpe’s bronze medal winning time from the 2004 Athens Olympics of 48.56 to 11th.
But he joins names like Eamon Sullivan, James Magnussen, McEvoy and former world record holder Michael Klim in a celebrated group of freestyle sprinters – launching himself into an exciting countdown to April’s Olympic Trials in his home town.
Having qualified as the sixth fastest for the final, Chalmers said there was a bit of pressure after Pedro Spajari set the championship record in the semis but he had confidence in his race plan and back end speed.
“I am absolutely stoked! That’s obviously my pet event; it’s been my focus since I made the team at trials,” said Chalmers, who had his entire family watching on in the stands.
“It’s awesome; my whole family is here, my grandparents, my little brother, mum and dad so it’s really special being able to look up in the stands before my race and see them up there, it’s just awesome.
“I went away to senior worlds (in Kazan) and swam quite well in the relay and was just hoping to get a good individual swim out over here, so I’m pretty happy with that tonight.
“I was a little bit more nervous tonight leading into the race, being in the marshalling room with Pedro was a bit intimidating.
“But I think I was pretty confident with my own race plan. I knew that I had to be out fast and my back end is always my strong point so I knew that if I was with him at the turn I could get him on the way home.
“This meet is obviously a really important meet; it was maybe one of my last junior races so I wanted to do something special.”
The USA’s Maxime Rooney picked up the silver medal in 48.87 with the bronze medal awarded to Brazil’s Felipe Souza in 49.30.
Backing up after four weeks away with the senior team in Doha and then racing in Kazan, Chalmers managed to step up again in Singapore and will take home a total of seven medals, including three gold, three silver and one bronze from this meet – to match his Kazan silver as a heat swimmer in the 4x100m medley relay.
Another young star that will head home with a significantly heavier suitcase is Minna Atherton who helped the girl’s 4x100m medley relay team secure silver tonight, taking her medal tally to six from the meet (three gold and three silver).
Atherton (59.61), breaststroker Ella Bond (1:09.54), butterflyer Gemma Cooney (58.77) and freestyler Shayna Jack (54.50) combined to sneak into the silver medal position with a time of 4:02.42.
The top three teams all clocked times under the previous championship record with Russia recording the win in a time of 4:01.05, ahead of early leaders Australia and Japan.
Australia’s first bronze medal of the meet came in the girl’s 100m butterfly final with the gusty Cooney once again surpassing all expectations to touch third in a personal best time of 58.98.
Cooney turned third at the 50 metre mark and managed to hold off challenges from the rest of the field including fellow Australian Lucia Lassman who wasfifth in 59.53. The gold medal went to Japan’s Rikako Ikee (58.28) with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in the silver medal position with a 58.50.
Australia didn’t have to wait long for another medal as just minutes later Shayna Jack took on the girl’s splash and dash 50m freestyle.
The title was anyone’s for the taking as the finalists went stroke for stroke into the wall with Russian swimmer Mariia Kameneva (25.12) eventually taking the gold. Sixteen-year-old Jack got her hand on the wall for the bronze with a time of 25.24 while Japan’s Rikako Ikee (25.19) backed up from the butterfly to take the silver.
The boy’s 4x100m medley team added a third bronze to Australia’s collection on the final night of racing with the talented team of backstroker Clyde Lewis (55.85), breaststroker breaststroker Matt Wilson (1:01.81), butterflyer Brayden McCarthy (54.17) and the anchorman Chalmers (48.34) touching in a time of 3:40.21. The Russian’s grabbed the gold in a new world junior record time of 3:36.44 with the USA in the silver medal position with a 3:37.51.
In other events…
Boy’s 200m backstroke
After a strong start in the final of the boy’s 200m backstroke, St Peters Western swimmer Tristan Ludlow was third at the 100 metre mark but couldn’t quite hold onto the lead group, eventually touching in 6th place with a time of 2:00.01.
Boy’s 1500m Freestyle
The timed final of the boy’s 1500m freestyle was a fight to the finish with TSS Aquatic Swimmer Josh Parrish putting together a solid swim to finish sixth in a time of 15:21.15. His teammate Jacob Vincent, who swam in the morning heats, was 20th overall in 15:44.88. The Gold medal went to
Swimming Australia would like to recognise and thank the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) for the support provided for our Youth development programs.
Medal Tally:
Gold - 9
Silver - 6
Bronze - 3
TOTAL - 18
Medals
GOLD:
Girl’s 100m backstroke: Minna Atherton (WJ record) 59.58
Girl’s 200m backstroke: Minna Atherton (Championship record) 2:09.11
Boy’s 200m individual medley: Clyde Lewis, 2:00.15
Girl’s 400m freestyle: Tamsin Cook, 4:06.17
Boy’s 50m freestyle: Kyle Chalmers, 22.19
Boy’s 100m freestyle: Kyle Chalmers, 48.47
Girl’s 4x200m freestyle relay (WJ record): Tamsin Cook, Lucy McJannett, Shayna Jack, Gemma Cooney – 7:56.68
Boy’s 4x100m freestyle relay: Vincent Dai, Kyle Chalmers, Brayden McCarthy, Jack Cartwright – 3:17.39
Girl’s 4x100m freestyle relay: Shayna Jack, Minna Atherton, Gemma Cooney, Lucy McJannett
SILVER:
Girl’s 200m Butterfly: Tamsin Cook, 2:08.86
Girl’s 50m Backstroke: Minna Atherton, 27.83
Boy’s 200m Breaststroke: Matthew Wilson 2:11.23
Boy’s 4x200m freestyle relay: Damian Fyfe, Clyde Lewis, Kyle Chalmers and Josh Parrish – 7:17.76
Girl’s 4x100m medley relay: Minna Atherton, Ella Bond, Gemma Cooney, Shayna Jack
Mixed 4x100m medley relay: Minna Atherton, Matthew Wilson, Lucia Lassman, Kyle Chalmers – 3:48.27
Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay: Jack Cartwright, Kyle Chalmers, Lucy McJannett, Shayna Jack – 3:28.59
BRONZE:
Girl’s 100m Butterfly: Gemma Cooney, 58.98
Girl’s 50m Freestyle: Shayna Jack, 25.24
Boy’s 4x100m medley relay: Clyde Lewis, Matt Wilson, Brayden McCarthy and Kyle Chalmers - 3:40.21
Notes:
Kyle Chalmers – 7 medals total: 3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze
Minna Atherton – 6 medals total: 3 gold and 3 silver
Issued on behalf of Swimming Australia by
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