Italy’s Ludovica Terlizzi won gold in commanding fashion in the Girls 18-19 yrs 10km, touching home first by nearly ninety seconds. Polina Koziakina followed up her recent European Junior title in this event with silver, while Napsugar Nagy earned Hungary’s second medal of the meet with bronze.
Terlizzi was in a league of her own in the first Girls’ event of these championships, establishing a substantial early lead on the first lap that would only grow as the race progressed.
Having recently finished sixth at the European Junior Championships, her plan was to ‘race bravely’. Terlizzi did exactly that, setting the tone of the race from the first few metres.
“I’m very happy, this is my first medal and my last World Junior Championships. At all my previous European and World Championships, I’ve always been around 5th, 6th, 8th and never better than that,” she said.
“A month before this race, I trained with my team and something changed in my mind. I said to myself ‘Ludo, it's your last World Championships as a Junior, you have to do everything you can.
“I worked with my coach, my psychologist and all my team and we said, enjoy it, be happy and go and race hard.”
Race hard was the tactic and race hard she did, carving out a 26-second lead over the rest of the pack after just one lap.
“I saw that the other girl was a little behind me, and I said, go, go, go, escape! I wasn't scared because I knew that I could do it.”
Terlizzi went from strength to strength throughout the race and touched home 1:20.3 ahead of silver medallist Koziakina (1:55:35.0).
She credited her extensive support network for helping her reach the heights she has today, adding: “I want to thank my coach, Alessio, he's like my second father.
“And of course my parents, my grandmother, grandfather, and all my friends, especially Emma and Alicia, my best friends and all my team, because without them, I don't know how I could have done this.”
Koziakina Follows up European Title with Silver
Russia’s Polina Koziakina swam her way to another international podium in Santa Fe after recently becoming European Junior Champion in this event.
She was at the front of the chase pack for the entire race and maintained a silver medal position from the third lap onwards.
That made for a relatively solo-effort swim for the Russian, who said after the race: “Honestly, I was happy. After winning at the European Junior Championships, I thought a lot of expectations would fall on me - I tried to do my best. The race was very tough, but I think I met my expectations.
“There was a big lead formed at the start of the race, and it was very hard to break away from the chasing group and form a gap.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect I could pull ahead like that, but once I managed to get ahead a little, I tried to extend the lead.”
Koziakina did just that, eventually touching home in 1:56:55.4. Her attention now turns to the Mixed 4x1500m Relay which herself and Team Russia are hoping to medal in.
“My pressure won’t decrease now [after personal events]. I still work for the team, think about the team during the race, about my mom, dad, coach - everyone, believing in me, my whole country. I really hope we win.”
Nagy Secures Hungary’s Second Medal
It was two from two on the podium for Hungary on the first day of competition as Napsugar Nagy equalled her best result on the world stage to take bronze in the 10km.
Nagy already holds a bronze from the 2024 World Junior Championships which she won in the 7.5km.
She followed up teammate Mate Karpati’s earlier gold medal in the same event, and said after the race: “It was a very difficult race but I’m really happy with the bronze medal. The finish was very hard but I was strong. I’m really proud of Mate and I’m really proud of myself.”
Similar to the closing speed we saw from Jacobs in the men’s event, Nagy surged down the final straight to move from eighth to third position.
The battle for bronze was the closest contest of the race, with Australia’s Bianca Monaco (seventh) France’s Manoli Cassar (fifth), Hungary’s Mira Miszlai (fourth) and Russia’s Varvara Kharchenko (sixth) all looking like potential medallists through the closing stages.
Nagy’s speed resulted in her finishing five seconds clear of fourth place; something she will no doubt look to draw on again in the 3km Knockout Sprint event later this week.
Action will continue in Santa Fe tomorrow with the Boys 16-17 yrs 7.5km race, which gets underway at 9:00am local time. The Girls’ edition will follow at 11:30am, while the 5km events will take place at 2:00pm and 3:30pm tomorrow afternoon.
All the action will be streamed lived via the World Aquatics Youtube page.