A second junior world title for Casper Puggaard has rocketed Denmark to third on the medal tally at the ninth World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, while the United States of America’s Kate Hurst, Australia’s Iona Anderson and Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita all delivered memorable wins on the penultimate night of racing in Netanya, Israel.
Men’s 50m Butterfly | Puggaard becomes first male swimmer to win two individual golds in Netanya
Denmark’s Casper Puggaard (23.50) has become the first male athlete to win two individual gold medals at the ninth World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships with a dominant display in the Men’s 50m Butterfly.
Puggaard had to come from behind in his 100m Butterfly win on Wednesday night but this evening there was no chasing. The 18 year-old was explosive off the blocks, something he has been working on all week with the Danish coaching team, leading from start to finish to touch first ahead of Austria’s Lukas Edl (23.89) and Australia’s Thomas Pattison (23.95).
“It felt amazing. I had a really good swim at the semi finals, so I was just hoping for a gold medal in this one as well,” said Puggaard in his post-race interview.
“I also want to say thanks to my coach for supporting me and training me through this summer, and also want to say thanks to the support at home because it means so much.”
Earlier these championships Puggaard became Denmark’s first junior world champion and tonight he takes his career World Junior Swimming Championships haul to two gold and two bronze medals. He also joins an elite group of previous junior world champions that have since medalled in this event at a senior World Aquatics Championships including Michael Andrew (2017), Thomas Ceccon (2019), and Diogo Ribeiro (2022). To date, no Danish male swimmer has ever won gold at a long course World Aquatics Championships, however with Casper Puggaard now in the frame, the future well and truly looks bright for men’s swimming in Denmark.
Women’s 1500m Freestyle | Worth the wait – USA’s Kate Hurst is World Junior Champion
The United States of America’s Kate Hurst has waited through nine sessions of swimming in Netanya for her one and only swim at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, but did she deliver when finally given the chance to race.
Hurst took control of the Women’s 1500m Freestyle final at the 700m mark after five lead changes over the first half of the race, and from there she wasn’t again challenged touching the wall first in 16:09.37.
“I am so happy, five days was a long wait, but I had the best time cheering for my amazing teammates who are killing it this week,” said Hurst in her post-race interview.
“We still have another day and the rest of this session left, so I can’t wait to see what they bring to the table.”
Hurst was a full nine seconds faster than her most recent 1500m Freestyle at US Junior Nationals last month, and nineteen seconds faster than her official entry time for this meet.
Japan’s Ruka Takezawa (16:18.68) was fifth with six laps to go but worked her way into the placings over the final 100m to claim silver, while the People’s Republic of China’s Mao Yihan (16:18.76) who led the race at 250m and again at 550m managed to hold on for Bronze.
Mao only turned fourteen two months ago and remarkably could have another two World Junior Swimming Championships still to come in her junior career.
Women's 50m Backstroke | Australia’s Iona Anderson claims backstroke one lap dash
Australia’s Iona Anderson has delivered the swim of her short career to become the junior world champion in the Women’s 50m Backstroke. With half the field inseparable with five metres to go, it was Anderson’s lunge on the wall that made the narrowest of differences as she hit the touchpad in 28.01 ahead of the United States of America’s Erika Pelaez (28.07) and Australian teammate Jaclyn Barclay (28.14).
When asked how it felt to deliver a career-best swim at a final of a World Junior Swimming Championships Anderson was almost lost for words.
“It is pretty incredible to do it on a stage like this and to do a personal best it’s just amazing,” said Anderson.
The women’s backstroke events have now been shared across three swimmers with Anderson winning the 50m Backstroke tonight, Jaclyn Barclay the 100m Backstroke, and USA’s Teagan O’Dell the 200m Backstroke.
Men's 400m IM | Matsushita denies back-to-back titles for teammate Yamaguchi
The Men’s 400m Individual Medley gold medal is returning to Japan, although this year with Tomoyuki Matsushita and not defending champion Riku Yamaguchi. The race changed leaders four times on the first four walls until Yamaguchi pulled away in the breaststroke leg to lead the field through the 250m and 300m turns.
However teammate Matsushita remained close enough behind the champion from Lima 2022 and then kicked away over the final two laps to record his first junior world title in a new Championship Record time of 4:10.97.
The People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Zhanshuo (4:12.44) had remained outside the placings on every one of the seven turns but closed out the race with a 27.38 to touch second. Canada’s Lorne Wigginton (4:12.81), who led at the end of the butterfly leg, finished third making it eight bronze medals for Team Canada in their ten medal haul in Netanya.
Women's 4x100m Freestyle | Wunsch goes 52.61 to bring home gold for the green & gold
Australia have managed to prevent the dominant United States of America from taking another relay gold at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, although it took a ridiculously fast final leg by young gun Olivia Wunsch to shut out the USA and deliver the relay world junior title to the team from ‘down under’.
Wunsch entered these championships with a personal best time in the 100m Freestyle of 54.05. She won gold earlier this week in the same event with a 53.71. Her relay split to bring home gold tonight was 52.61 – an outrageously fast time by the Australian 17 year-old.
When told her splits in the post-race interview Wunsch and her teammates looked at each other in disbelief.
“It felt really fast I guess, we had a lot of fun out there, we all love each other, we love this team, I’m really proud of the girls tonight and I had a great time,” she told the crowd.
That relay leg ended up being the difference between the two teams with Australia (3:36.52) first, ahead of the United States of America (3:37.71), and perennial bronze medallists Canada (3:40.40) third.