Kuzey Tuncelli announced himself as the world’s premier junior distance swimmer by winning the Men’s 800m Freestyle in Netanya, while Denmark’s Casper Puggaard, Australia’s Olivia Wunsch, and USA’s Teagan O’Dell all became junior world champions on night three of competition.
Men’s 100m Butterfly | Casper Puggaard becomes the greatest Dane
Denmark’s Casper Puggaard is now a World Junior Champion, avenging last year’s third place finish in Lima this evening with a dominant display in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. Puggaard turned in second but immediately took the lead with his underwater work, extending the margin to a full stroke at the finish to touch in 52.30 ahead of the People’s Republic of China’s Wang Xizhe (52.65) and Austria’s Lukas Edl (52.68).
Puggard has been seen meticulously perfecting his turns in the competition pool during every warm-up session this week, with the work clearly paying dividends on the biggest stage possible.
“It is really important for me to make a good turn so I can get good backend speed, so I can just say it was fantastic tonight,” Puggaard told World Aquatics.
“I’ve been practising so much for this race. I came in with the right mindset and that was to win this race.”
Puggaard was already Denmark’s most accomplished junior swimmer coming into this meet, having won the nation’s only two World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships medals in Lima last year, and this evening he now make’s further history for the nation by becoming the first Dane to win a junior world title.
Women’s 200m Backstroke | Teagan O’Dell clocks a career-best time to win junior world title
The United States of America’s Teagan O’Dell has already raced over half a mile of backstroke here in Netanya, but rather than starting to show signs of fatigue, the 16-year-old appears to be improving as the week progresses. Shutting out any disappointment from the 100m Backstroke on night two of competition, O’Dell tonight dominated the Women’s 200m Backstroke leading from start to finish to win the junior world title in a new personal best time of 2:08.09.
“I’m super happy with that, it was a tough individual last night, but then I had to pull through for my relay and it was super exciting so I’m just trying to carry the momentum through for the rest of the week,” O’Dell told World Aquatics after winning gold.
O’Dell touched two seconds clear of the United States of America’s Jojo Ramey (2:10.18), who unlike her teammate had to wait until the third day of competition to get a taste of racing in Israel. Australia’s Bella Grant (2:11.24) finished third to win her second medal of the meet, showing impressive versatility across the strokes after winning silver in the 200m Butterfly earlier this week.
Men’s 800m Freestyle | Turkiye’s Tuncelli delivers breakout result
Take a bow Kuzey Tuncelli. The distance specialist from Turkiye, who only turned sixteen last week, delivered one of the most exceptional performances of the meet this evening to win gold and claim the junior world title in the Men’s 800m Freestyle.
It was a remarkably consistent swim by Tuncelli who split 29-point on every single one of his sixteen laps other than the first and last. His winning time of 7:48.25 was more than four seconds faster than his best swim in the event, broke the open Turkish national record, and would have placed him 7th in the final at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
“It was an incredible race and I’m very happy to be here,” Tuncelli told the crowd after his world junior championships winning swim.
Tuncelli sat second behind reigning European Junior Champion Petar Mitsin for the first twelve laps, before Mitsin faded out over the final 200m to finish second in 7:49.36. The People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Zhanshuo won bronze in 7:50.03, charging home in a 26.35 to move into third place on his final two strokes of the race.
Women’s 100m Freestyle | Olivia Wunsch powers home in one-two finish for Australia
Australia’s Olivia Wunsch delivered the performance of her junior career this evening in Netanya to claim the Women’s 100m Freestyle junior world title. Her time of 53.71 is the second fastest time ever recorded at junior worlds and the 17-year-old’s first time swimming ‘sub-54’.
Wunsch’s victory was made even sweeter with teammate Milla Jansen (54.08) touching second also in a personal best time to give the Australians another one-two finish in Netanya.
“I just came to this meet looking for some more international exposure, so I’m really happy with the race I put together and really happy with Australia’s depth in the 100m Freestyle and the performance Milla put in out there,” Wunsch told World Aquatics after her race.
The United States of America’s Anna Moesch (54.69) was third.
Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay | Australia break USA’s streak with World Junior Record
It took a World Junior Record to get the job done, but the Australians have finally knocked off the United States of America in a relay after three successive silver medals. Flynn Southam, Edward Sommerville, Olivia Wunsch and Milla Jansen combined to win gold in the Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay, with the team’s time of 3:24.29 almost two seconds faster than the existing World Junior Record set back in 2019.
Wunsch and Jansen delivered huge swims for their country having just gone ‘one-two’ in the Women’s 100m Freestyle just 25 minutes earlier, while Sommerville clocked the fastest split for the world junior champions with his second consecutive 48-point relay swim.
“It feels good and I couldn’t have done it without the team – Flynn, Olivia and Milla,” Sommerville said after the final.
“We’re so lucky to have the depth of women in Australia and I’m hoping Ed and I can replicate that result on the last night here,” Southam added.
The United States of America (3:25.59) were second, while Canada (3:29.14) won their fourth relay bronze for the week.
Medal Tally | Through Day 3 in Netanya
View the Medal Tally after two days of competition