The 16-year-old won the girls' 7.5k at Junior Open Water Worlds in Seychelles by more than two minutes, averaging 1:06 per 100 meters. Archive photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography

Still just 17, Ribeiro made history at the World Junior Championships, becoming the first junior-aged swimmer under 23 seconds in the 50 butterfly.

One of the swims that flew under the radar at Euros was Djakovic’s 400 free, where he dropped nearly two seconds for silver in a time of 3:43.93.

Nandor Nemeth, Richard Marton, Balazs Hollo and Kristof Milak combined to win Hungary’s first male European relay title in 68 years on Thursday.

Clareburt stormed over the closing meters to upset three-time defending champion Chad Le Clos in the final of the men’s 200 fly in Birmingham.

Vargas improved by five seconds over the course of the day to move into ninth all-time among Americans in the men’s 400 IM.

September 16th, 2022 Arena Swim of the Week, News, Open Water

Swim of the Week is brought to you by arena, a SwimSwam partner.

Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

It’s an eerily quiet time in the world of swimming, as the championship meets of the summer have wrapped up and athletes are getting back into the swing of things for the school year and club season, meaning there’s a lack of racing going on.

But the World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships are doing their part to fill that void, as the three-day competition kicked off on Friday from the Seychelles, an island nation located in the Somali Sea (700 miles northeast of Madagascar).

The opening day of competition featured the 5k and 7.5k events, which were exclusively for swimmers aged 13-15 and 16-17, respectively.

In the girls’ 7.5k, it was an absolute tour de force from American Katie Grimes, who bulldozed the field with a final time of 1:22:38.50.

In open water, conditions dictate times, making it impossible to truly compare someone’s clocking from one competition to another. However, we can look at margin of victory, and Grimes’ was significant.

The 16-year-old led runner-up Narin Burcunaz of Turkey by a full two minutes and 18 seconds, or nearly two seconds per 100 meters.

Granted, Grimes has experienced success at the highest level of the sport, including a pair of silver medals at the 2022 World Championships in the women’s 1500 free and 400 IM, while her competitors in Seychelles are still on the way up. But nonetheless, this open water effort was impressive.

Day 1 podiums with a lot of shiny medals and big smiles 💪🥇🥈🥉#openwater pic.twitter.com/Y02UZVXPDJ

Her time of 1:22:38.5 averages out to 1:06.1 per 100 meters. Holding that pace in the pool would result in a 16:31.5 1500, which is just two seconds shy of the FINA ‘A’ cut implemented for the 2022 World Championships (16:29.57).

However, the times across the board on Day 1 were incredibly fast—Claire Weinstein‘s winning time in the girls’ 5k averages out to 1:02.2 per 100 meters, and the top boys in the 7.5k averaged sub-1:01 pace.

For comparison, Grimes finished in 1:41:44 when she won the 7.5k at U.S. Nationals in April (in tough conditions).

It’s possible the courses are a bit short, given these results, but that doesn’t take away from Grimes’ dominance.

Post-race, Grimes said the conditions weren’t optimal, but she managed to maintain her poise and execute a successful race.

“I didn’t come in with too much of a tactic; I just didn’t really know what to expect at the junior worlds,” she told FINA. “Every day we’ve been out here before, the conditions have looked like a lake and today it was pretty rough, so I just really went with the flow of everything and stay calm.”

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At the age of 16, Katie Grimes is a machine.

As for not too early predictions, Katie Grimes will qualify in the women’s 200 meter freestyle relay with a top six time at the 2023 USA Swimming International Team Trials.

Katie Grimes at the 2023 USA Swimming International Team Trials: W 200 FR – 5th or 6th W 400 FR – 3rd or 4th W 800 FR – 2nd W 1500 FR – 2nd W 400 IM – 1st or 2nd

Does anybody know what her training is like? How much does she train in open water?

I find all open water swimmers super impressive (I like walls! The more the better!) but especially when they’re also really good in the pool.

I am on the other side of the world to Katie (so, no direct knowledge of her routine) but I feel 45-50 miles/week would be a normal week for her and almost all of that would likely be in the pool. Openwater swimmers that train in pools often have more than 1 athlete in a lane (say 2 or 3 athletes across) to simulate the “pack swimming” of Openwater.

At least, that is what happens here in Australia.

Impressive winning margin by Katie at this World Junior Openwater but I must admit it come as no surprise to me, super impressive athlete 👏👏👏.

A truly impressive swim! I’m excited for her future in both open water and the pool.

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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