Junior swimmers bask in Inca gold

The Videna Aquatic Centre in Lima has seen a number of world records fall at the 8th FINA World Junior Championships this past week in the Peruvian capital.

Hungarian Nikolett Padar became one of the most decorated female athletes in the history taking home five gold medals. David Popovici of Romania also capped off an impressive summer that included victories in the World, European, and Juniors championships in the 200m and 100m freestyle.

Pieter Coetze of South Africa set a new world record in the 200-meter backstroke. Coetze was able to hold off Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk, who earlier had swept gold in the 50m and 100m back.

“I was nervous because it’s the last day, and it was my last race, and my body is more than a bit fatigued,” Coetze said. “I’m very happy to have won this event on the last day of the meet. I was not expecting to swim that fast so it’s an amazing way to finish. I am so happy that I got this win.”

Coetze on his rivalry with Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk: “I have been following Ksawery Masiuk’s swimming results for more than a year and I know that he’s very fast. I think we motivated each other to swim faster and I am sure that we will race each other many times in the future.

“I hope to do big things in swimming in the future.”

Masiuk tallied four golds and two bronze medals for his Polish team’s medal count. Masiuk led Poland to a gold medal in the 4x100 medley relay along with Krzysztof and Michael Chmielewski. Krzysztof and Chmielewski also also took the top two places in the 200m butterfly, with Krzysztof taking gold.

Krzysztof will leave Peru with three gold medals, two in relays, and a bronze in the 400m freestyle. In addition to his individual silver, Michal swam the butterfly leg on the winning medley relay.

Japan was atop the medal table with 19 , including seven golds, eight silvers, and four bronze. Hungary and Poland also matched Japan’s gold total, while Italy won the aggregate medal total with 20 in all.