The United States of America then claimed double relay gold in two epic races to finish the first evening of competition at the Wingate Institute.

Men’s 400m Freestyle |  Mitsin delivers Bulgaria’s first-ever World Junior Title

Bulgaria’s Petar Mitsin opened the championships in the best possible fashion, wining not just his first junior world title but also Bulgaria’s first gold medal at a World Junior Swimming Championships. Mitsin has enjoyed a breakout twelve months starting with his senior international debut at the European Championships last August, a 14th place finish at the World Aquatics Championships (25m) in Melbourne in December, and now a first junior world title in the 400m Freestyle here in Netanya.

In this time he’s also erased Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton from the record books by breaking the Australian’s World Junior Record at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Serbia two months ago.

While Mitsin didn’t deliver another World Junior Record tonight, his win was just as impressive, having to work harder than most expected over the final fifty metres to touch first in 3:46.49. Italy’s Alessandro Ragaini took it to Mitsin over the final two laps, splitting the fastest over the final lap to fall just short of the Bulgarian in 3:46.66, while fellow countryman Filippo Bertoni was third in 3:48.73.

Women’s 400m IM  |  Hayes pushes to herself to the limit

The United States of America’s Leah Hayes now has a World Junior Swimming Championships gold medal to add to her World Aquatics Championships bronze medal from Budapest, taking off in the second half of the Women’s 400m Individual Medley to claim the first gold medal of the women’s program.

Two months ago the 18-year-old clocked the fastest time of her career at the US World Championships Trials, and tonight she again lowered her best time to touch first in a new Championship Record of 4:36.84.

Hayes was clearly exhausted after her race, but the United States of America co-captain still found enough breath to tell the Netanya crowd that this week was about the team and not just her individual swims.

Ella Christina Jansen from Canada, who led at the 200m mark, was also under the Championship Record in 4:37.35, while fellow Canadian Julie Brousseau won bronze in 4:38.45.

Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay  |  USA to the Maximus

Maximus Williamson delivered the swim of a lifetime for the United States of America, as the Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team posted Netanya’s first World Junior Record (3:15.49). Williamson split 47.78 as the second leg swimmer, more than a second faster than his career-best over the distance.

Anchor Jason Zhao was just as impressive, the sixteen year-old managing to hold off two-time World Aquatics Championships gold medallist Flynn Southam who pushed on valiantly over the final fifty but couldn’t get Australia over the line as they finished second (3:16.69) with Canada third (3:17.49).

Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay   |  An epic finish delivers a third gold for Team USA

The United States of America reclaimed their Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay crown after missing the Lima championships last year. In an epic race that saw the United States of America, Australia and Canada battle for the lead over the final fifty metres, after almost eight minutes of racing just 0.61 separated the medallists with United States of America (7:52.48) touching out Australia (7:52.68) and Canada (7:53.09).

In another bold selection it was sixteen year-old Madi Mintenko that anchored the women’s relay, alongside Addison Sauickie, Leah Hayes, and Lynsey Bowen.

Semi Finals Wrap

Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova was again the fastest swimmer in the Women’s 50m Breaststroke (30.48) and will swim from lane four tomorrow night alongside New Zealand’s Monique Wieruszowski (30.81) who will be aiming to continue the island nation’s incredible streak of winning a world junior title at every championships they have sent a team to.

Czechia’s Miroslav Knedla also matched his heats ranking, qualifying fastest in the Men’s 100m Backstroke (53.28). Argentina’s Ulises Saravia took out the first semi final from lane six (53.95) and will swim in the middle of the pool alongside Knedla.

The United States of America’s Watson Nguyen (1:01.34) and Joshua Chen (1:01.49) qualified first and second in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke with five swimmers clocking a time under ‘1:02’, while it was also a ‘one-two’ for the United States of America in the Women’s 100m Backstroke as Teagan O’Dell (59.83) and Erika Pelaez (59.94) went through fastest.

Medal Tally After Day 1

USA                    3 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Bronze

Bulgaria              1 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Bronze

Australia             0 Gold, 2 Silver, 0 Bronze

Canada               0 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze

Italy                    0 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze

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