World Junior Championships, Day Four Prelims: Kennedi Dobson Chasing Pan Pacs Berth; USA DQ’d in Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay
The second half of the World Junior Championships kicked off on Friday morning, following three days of competition that have been superb. Night Three action in Otopeni, Romania featured a world junior record from Ukraine’s Nikita Sheremet in the semifinals of the 50-meter freestyle while American 16-year-old Rylee Erisman went sub-53 en route to the gold medal in the 100 freestyle.
The fourth day of prelims opened with a pair of sprint events, the women’s 50 backstroke and the men’s 50 butterfly. Those events were followed by the women’s 400 freestyle, men’s 200 breaststroke, women’s 200 individual medley and men’s 800 freestyle relay. The 200 breaststroke matched Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki vs. Japan’s Shin Ohashi, who earlier won gold and silver in the 100 breaststroke.
Here is an event-by-event recap of the Day Four prelims:
Women’s 50 Backstroke
Australian Ainsley Trotter navigated the first round of the 50 backstroke comfortably, clocking a time of 28.14 for the top seed in the semifinals. Korea’s Kim Seungwon was next in 28.19, followed by South African Jessica Thompson with a swim of 28.32.The United States’ Julie Mishler was fourth in 28.34.
Men’s 50 Butterfly
Great Britain’s Dean Fearn entered the meet as the favorite for gold in the 50 butterfly, and nothing has changed on that front. Fearn raced to a prelims mark of 23.47, which was .14 faster than the 23.61 of Nigeria’s Abdul Jabar Adama for the second seed. In addition to the semifinals of the 50 fly, Adama will race in the final of the 50 freestyle on Friday night. The Czech Republic’s Jan Foltyn was third in 23.70.
Women’s 400 Freestyle
Chasing a spot at next summer’s Pan Pacific Championships, American Kennedi Dobson was easily the fastest qualifier in the 400 freestyle, going 4:08.53. If Dobson can go faster than 4:07.11 in the final, she will likely displace Bella Sims for a Pan Pacs slot. Argentina’s Agostina Hein went 4:10.52 in prelims while Yang Peiqi of China is lurking as the fourth seed, after a morning swim of 4:11.12.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
Already the titlist in the 100 breaststroke, Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki is now targeting gold in the 200 breast. Nowacki was the only sub-2:11 performer in the morning, going 2:09.76 for Lane Four in the final. Russia’s Daniil Pisetskii was second in 2:11.00 while world junior record holder Shin Ohashi of Japan was 2:11.32. Ohashi holds the WJR at 2:06.91 from earlier this year.
Women’s 200 Individual Medley
The United States’ Audrey Derivaux will look for her third gold medal of the competition in the final of the 200 medley. The 16-year-old went 2:12.51 in prelims and has already prevailed in the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke. Japan’s Misuzu Nagaoka (2:13.32) and Shuna Sasaki (2:13.41) qualified second and third, while Argentina’s Agostina Hein was fourth in 2:13.58. Hein earlier qualified for the final of the 400 freestyle and will tackle a difficult double at night.
Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay
Behind a 1:47.84 split from Mikhail Shcherbakov, Russia led the way into the final of the 800 freestyle relay, clocking a 7:15.53. Japan (7:18.30) and China (7:18.78) also advanced, but the United States did not. Team USA was disqualified when its fourth swimmer left the blocks early on the final exchange. The U.S. had received 1:49 splits from the first three legs.
