SINGPAORE - The fifth edition of the Fina World Junior Swimming Championships got off to a blistering start as two world junior records fell on Tuesday morning.
Russia's Anton Chupkov, a double world junior record holder entering the meet held at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, set the pace early on as he lowered his 100m breaststroke mark.
The 18-year-old timed 1min0.12sec, topping the heats and qualifying for the semi-final. The time bettered his previous mark of 1:00.84, set at last year's Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.
Australia's Minna Atherton then cracked the one-minute barrier in the 100m backstroke heats, topping the heats in 59.83sec. It shattered the previous world junior mark of 1:00.25 set by Russia's Daria Ustinova last year.
There was a national Under-17 record for Singapore's 4x100m boys relay team, comprising Darren Lim, Darren Chua, Dylan Koo, and Francis Fong. The quartet clocked 3:28.56, lowering the previous record of 3:30.08 set in 2009.
Also in action in the morning heats for the host were Darren Chua (400m freestyle), Christie Chue, Kathlyn Laiu (50m breaststroke), Quah Jing Wen, Tan Jing-E (400m individual medley), Francis Fong, Malcolm Low (100m backstroke), Samuel Khoo, Chua Wei Feng (100m breaststroke), Hannah Quek, Tan Jing-E (100m backstroke).
None of them made the semi-finals or final. Only the top-16 swimmers qualify for the semis, and the top-eight of the heats for the 400m events will progress into the final.
The evening session starts at 6pm on Tuesday, and will feature eight races, including four finals - the men's 400m freestyle and 4x100m free relay, and the women's 400m individual medley and 4x200m free relay.
