PR52 - Team USA tops the rankings, but swimmers from 18 countries win medals

Yesterday witnessed the completion of the 2nd FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, which was held at the indoor swimming complex of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico from July 8-13, 2008. In the women’s field, distance queen Elena Sokolova (RUS) and medley-ace Dagny Knutson (USA) were among the three best swimmers with three individual wins each, along with the well-rounded Daniel Bell (NZL), who matched their achievement in the men’s field. Meanwhile, butterfliers Natsuki Akiyama (JAP) and Grace Loh (AUS) amongst women, and middle and long-distance freestylers Danila Izotov (RUS), Krzysztof Pielowski (POL) and breaststroker Daniel Sliwinski (GBR) were the other multiple individual winners amongst men, with two victories each. Needless to say, it was the spectacular performances of these young stars that were very often the focus of the event.

Overall, the USA was the best team, both in terms of medals and in the team rankings resulting from the point system. American superiority came mainly from their strong female team, which conquered as many as 17 medals out of an overall total of 21, including 8 gold (9), 5 silver (6) and 4 bronze (6). Russia was second (7, 2, 4) while New Zealand, for once ahead of Australia, was third with 5 gold. In terms of total medals, Japan was third with 12, Australia and Italy fourth with 10 each. Germany won the most silver (7) while Canada took most bronze (6). As for the points, the USA won the Combined Team Scores, with 820.50, ahead of Japan (634), Russia (585), Canada (528.5), Great Britain (431), Germany (402.5), Italy (386), Poland (315.5), Australia (273), France (240), and New Zealand (192).

These Championships were a great display of elite competitive swimming from the sport’s up-and-coming international champions, although some of the participants, including Bell and Izotov, have already qualified for Beijing. Each day of the competition saw many Championships records broken in all stages of the event, from preliminaries to the finals. Several times, such as in the men’s 800m freestyle and the women’s 200m backstroke, all the medallists finished under the previous record. Further outstanding swimmers at these Championships include multi-butterfly medallists Silvia Di Pietro (ITA) and Yui Miyamoto (JPN), Bell’s arch-rival Ivan Lendjer (SRB), backstroker Elizabeth Pelton (USA), and Orinoco Faamausili (NZL), who won the 50m freestyle in 22.37 and was expected to take the 100m as well, but sadly had to bow-out due to illness. With successful completion of the second edition of the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, the event has taken-off in every regard: participation, world representation, and excellence of performances.