SINGAPORE - Australian wonderkid Minna Atherton continued her dominance in the backstroke events at the Fina World Junior Championships on Friday morning, clocking a world junior record in the 50m backstroke heats.
The 15-year-old Brisbane teenager topped the heats in 28.00sec at the OCBC Aquatic Centre. It is the 10th fastest time this year.
It came moments after New Zealand's Gabrielle Fa'amausili threw down what was then a new world junior mark in an earlier heat - 28.09sec, to lower her previous best of 28.14sec set in 2013.
The result meant Atherton stayed on course to sweep the backstroke events at the world meet, having won the 200m and 100m back events earlier. She also holds the world junior record for the 100m back, which she set on Wednesday.
Atherton and Fa'amausili will renew their rivalry in the 50m back semi-finals which, take place on Friday evening. A total of eight medals are up for grabs, including the race to be the fastest man in the pool - the 50m freestyle final.
Singapore's swimmers were also in action in the 50m back (Hannah Quek, Hoong En Qi), 50m butterfly (Dylan Koo, Teong Tzen Wei), 400m free (Rachel Tseng, Christie Chue), 200m breaststroke (Chua Wei Feng, Samuel Khoo), 200m individual medley ( Quah Jing Wen, Chue), and the men's 4x200m free relay (Darren Chua, Koo, Chua Wei Feng, and Francis Fong). They did not advance to the next round.
