2 world junior records fall at FINA WC

Two more world junior records were cracked on the second day of the FINA/airwaves Swimming World Cup 2017 while Vladimir Morozov of Russia, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, Chad Clos of South Africa continued their winning streak here on Saturday.

Morozov took the gold medal in the men's 100m individual medley in 50.36 seconds, 0.06 seconds shy of the world record. Michael Andrew of the United States came to second with a world junior record of 51.86.

Morozov also sprinted to win the 50m freestyle in 20.83, beating Shinri Shioura of Japan 21.27 and Andrii Govorov of Ukraine 21.30.

"My goal is to break the world record in the 100m IM. I got very closed to that and I was happy with that. The 50m butterfly was my best as well as 50m freestyle. I did a lot training before this cluster competition. I will compete 100m freestyle in Tokyo and try to break the world record. I was very close while I will swim 100m IM in Singapore. That is my last chance to try to break that record before the European championships," said Morozov who finished fifth in the 50m butterfly.

Wang Jianjiahe of China came out as the new star as the 15-year-old celebrated her second world junior record at Water Cube by winning the women's 800m freestyle in 8:12.30 while her teammate Hou Yawen took the silver in 8:15.04. The previous mark 8:15.35 was set by Wang last month in Doha.

"I should say I enjoyed the home advantages rather than competing in other countries. I felt excited here in Beijing though I did not train much last month. Since it is my first year to swim the World Cup, I learned a lot from others. I take Katie Ledecky as my idol and I watched her competition on TV and internet. I really want to be a champion like her in the future," said Wang who set a world junior record in the 400m freestyle Friday.

World Cup leader Sjostrom swept in the women's 100m freestyle 51.25 and 100m butterfly 55.60 while Chad Le Clos won the men's 50m butterfly 22.22.

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary claimed victory in her favorite 200m individual medley 2:04.64. She also finished second 26.42 in the 50m backstroke behind Emily Seebohm, Australia, 26.28.

Consisting of Cameron McEnvoy, Alexander Graham, Bronte Campbell and Cate Campbell, the team of Australia clocked 1:30.81 to win the mixed 4X50m freestyle relay.

Ji Xinjie and Qiu Ziao made the home crowd crazy as they finished a one-two in the men's 400m freestyle final, clocking 3:39.20 and 3:41.05.

Yasuhiro Koseki of Japan swam 56.75 in the men's 100m breaststroke and Ryosuke Irie stopped at the wall 1:50.24 in 200m backstroke. Zhuravl Toumarkin of Israel competed his first World Cup and finished second in the 200m backstroke 1:52.04.

"It was my first time to compete in the World Cup and my first time competing in China. I like it very much. I felt fresh and excited. I sometimes train at home in my college and sometimes train with the short-time camps in the US," said the 25-year-old Toumarkin.

Alia Atkinson of Jamaica dominated women's 200m breaststroke 2:19.58.

The 2017 FINA swimming short course World Cup will next come to Tokyo and finish in Singapore.