Juniors Score Silver on Night One

20 August 2019
Thomas Neill claims a silver medal on the opening night.

Australia’s junior team have kicked started their campaign at the Duna Arena in Budapest, after claiming two silver medals on the first night of the 2019 World Junior Swimming Championships.

Rackley’s Thomas Neill opened Australia’s medal account in the maiden event of the night – the Men’s 400m Freestyle – snaring silver in a personal best time 3:46.27. Firing up the team’s vocal cords, Neill battled hard to the finish line against local Gabor Zombori, but couldn’t quite catch the Hungarian, who took the gold in a championship record time of 3:46.06. Russian swimmer Aleksandr Egorov won the bronze (3.47.36).

Neill is happy with his performance.
Neill is delighted as he touches for silver.

The Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay also added silverware to the Aussie’s tally on the opening night, taking home silver in 7:57.87. Qualifying in second spot heading into the final, the team finished narrowly behind the USA who recorded 7:55.49. Lani Pallister led the team from the start (1.58.61), followed by Michaela Ryan (1.59.11) and Rebecca Jacobson (2.00.71), who held the team strong, while Jenna Forrester (1.59.44) brought the team home. The Canadians finished third in 8:01.14.

St Peters Western’s Mollie O’Callaghan scored herself a lane in tomorrow night’s Women’s 100m Backstroke final after comfortably qualifying as the third fastest swimmer in 1:00.29 and smashing her personal best. Bronte Job finished 13th overall in the semi-finals in 1:02.28 and just short of the final top eight.

Neill backed up from his silver medal swim in the 400m freestyle earlier in the program to anchor the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay. The team, also comprising of lead swimmer Angus McDonald (51.04), Alex Quach (49.35) and Edwards-Smith (50.67), placed 6th overall. Posting an overall time of 3:20.48, they were around 4.5 seconds behind gold medallists, the USA (3:15.80). Russia (3:16.26) and Italy 3:16.29, placed second and third respectively.

The Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay claims silver.
Off to a good start: The Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay claims silver.

Other Aussie Results:

Men’s 400m Freestyle – Brisbane Grammar’s Alexander Grant (3:53.15) finished 15th overall in the morning heat session.

Women’s 50m Breaststroke - Georgia Powell swam a 31.84 to finish in 9th position overall in the semi-finals, while Tara Kinder (33.20) placed 25th overall in the heats.

Men’s 100m Backstroke - Joshua Edwards-Smith placed 13th in the semi-finals (55.37), while Kalani Ireland finished 16th after his semi-final swim (55.90). Both falling outside the top eight for the final tomorrow. 

Women’s 400 Individual Medley – Jenna Forrester narrowly missed the final placing 9th overall in 4:48.22, while Charli Brown was close behind finishing 11th overall in 4:51.01.

Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Joshua Yong (1:02.67) placed 17th overall and Cameron Jordan (1:03.23) finished 24th overall in the heats.

To stay up to date with the latest results and news from #TheNextWave at the World Junior Swimming Championships make sure you follow @SwimmingAustralia on social media – TwitterFacebook and Instagram.

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