The Australian team had another great night in the pool on Day 3 of the 4th Fina World Junior Swimming Championships taking two gold and one bronze at Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai on Wednesday to lead the gold medal tally with six, ahead of USA with five and Russia with four.

The US remains in the overall lead with 14 medals. Russia is in second with 10 and Australia third with 8.

Australia’s Mack Horton won his fourth gold medal of the meet with a superb swim in the 800m freestyle, finishing in 7:45.67, taking nearly 10.3 seconds off the Championship record, and winning by over ten seconds from Jan Micka of Czech Republic (7:56.33) who added the silver to his bronze in the 400m freestyle. Pawel Furtek (7:58.33) took the bronze and Poland’s first medal of the meet.

Horton was surprised with his time, which would have been good enough for fifth place at the World Championships in Barcelona in July, saying: “My plan was to go out strong for the first 400, build a good lead then add to it every 100. I didn’t feel that great, I’m a bit tired from all the racing, but I was stoked when I touched the wall. Missing out on qualifying for Barcelona made me push myself harder in training”.

Australia also took gold in the last final of the evening, the crowd favourite 4 x100m freestyle mixed relay. Australia was led out by Luke Percy who had earlier qualified fastest for the 50m freestyle final.

Shayna Jack backed up from her bronze in the 100m freestyle to swim the second leg, followed by Regan Leong who had taken gold in the boys 4x100m relay on Day 1. Australia turned in front for the last 50, but Georgia Miller had a fight on her hands with Caeleb Dressel of the US giving his all to catch her. Miller dug deep and hung on for the victory in a Championship record 3:28.74. The US took silver and Russia the bronze.

Miller said: “I could see him coming but I just tried to concentrate on my own race, I’m just so happy for the team.”

In the girls 200m backstroke final Kylie Stewart of the US turned the tables on the 100m gold medallist Daria Ustinova of Russia, taking gold in 2:09.74, a new Championship record. Her team mate Kathleen Baker stormed home to take silver, while Ustinova had to settle for bronze.

The other two finals saw three nations take medals for the first time in these Championships.
In the boys 100m butterfly Japan’s Takaya Yasue took gold in 53.01, ahead of Pedro Vieira of Brazil in 53.17, with the first dead heat of the event seeing Justin Lynch and Matthew Josa, both of the US, coming in third in 53.27.

In a somewhat surprise result in the girls 100m freestyle final, Ruta Meilutyte was beaten into second by Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey who took her country’s first medal in 54.47, a new Championship record. Australian Shayna Jack was third in 55.23.

It wasn’t quite the upset it seemed though, as the 100m freestyle is not usually on Meilutyte’s programme. “I don’t focus on it in training, and haven’t done a pb (personal best) before so I’m really happy with that. I might add it to my programme now, I think I’m capable of doing it.”

A delighted Haughey said: “I was so nervous, but so happy to swim with an Olympian. Ruta did a good job, I took nearly a second off my pb so I’m very happy. It’s my first international competition so to win the gold is great.”

In semifinal action in the girl’s 50m butterfly, Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova followed up her strong swim in the heats to break the Championship record, finishing in 26.40 and qualifying first for the finals, ahead of Czech Republic’s Lucie Svecena and Australia’s Jemma Schlicht.

The boys 50m freestyle semi saw a tight tussle between Australia’s Luke Percy who qualified fastest for the final in 22.11, a new Championship record, and Russia’s Evgeny Sedov who finished in 22.31. Caeleb Dressel of the US qualified third in what promises to be an exciting final.

In the girls 100m breaststroke semifinals, Ruta Meilutyte not surprisingly won her race in 1:08.49, but a faster second semi has her qualifying third fastest for the final behind Russia’s Viktoriya Solcneva (1:07.72) and Great Britain’s Sophie Taylor (1:07.76).

Despite this result Meilutyte, the current World and Olympic champion in this event, will go into the final as the hot favourite.

In the last semi of the evening, the boys 50m backstroke, Gustavo Louzada of Brazil bettered his heat time to record 25.87 and qualify ahead of Danas Rapsys of Lithuania and Simone Sabbioni of Italy.

Nearly 800 swimmers from 91 nations have gathered in Dubai to contest the Championships which is for the top juniors in the world, girls aged 14-17 and boys aged 15-18, making this the largest World Junior Swimming Championships since its inception in 2006.

The Championships run till August 31, with heats each day from 10am – 1.00pm, and semi finals and finals each night from 6-8.30pm. Tickets are Dh20 per day or Dh80 for the week, and are available at the door during the event. The Hamdan Sports Complex is on Emirates Road (previously Dubai Bypass Road). A free bus service will operate each day from the Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall for the morning and evening sessions. All details are on the event facebook page.

All the information about the Championships can be found at www.fina-dubai2013.com, and on the Facebook page FINAWJSCDubai2013.