Competition Wrap – 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Junior World Championships
Photo Credit: Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto / World Aquatics
New Zealand has been represented proudly in Alghero, Italy, at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Open Water Swimming Championships, with our team giving it their all against some of the best young open water swimmers in the world.
The team was led by team coach Mat Woofe (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato) and consisted of four swimmers, with Alex Dunkley (Roskill), Larn Hamblyn-Ough (Coast), Sophie Hay (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato) and Jack Potier (Coast). Each swimmer had some previous experience swimming in international waters, with all four part of our team that raced in Penrith last December.
The pictureque waters of the Italian island of Sardinia played host to plenty of exciting action across the championships. To help celebrate the performances of our team, we have reported upon each of their events below.
Day One
Men’s 10km
Unfortunately for the men and women racing in the 10km events, the weather wasn’t quite matching the location. The start time of the 10km events on day one were delayed by four hours as a result of a storm that came through overnight. The conditions were choppy and challenging by the time the starter set them diving from the pontoon. The course consisted of six laps of 1.66km, with Alex Dunkley (Roskill) and Larn Hamblyn-Ough (Coast) the two Kiwis entered in the Men’s 10km on the first day.
Dunkley and Hamblyn-Ough both went with the lead group over the first lap of the race, both recording 19:02.00 split times from their first lap. The field started to spread during the second lap as the conditions starting to initiate some early fatigue to the swimmers, adding an extra factor to the 46-strong start line. Dunkley took the lead between the New Zealand pair during this second lap as he split 21:02.50, dropping about 35 seconds behind the leaders during the period. Hamblyn-Ough was fighting his way through the conditions, rounding the second lap in 23:20.30 to have lost some water on the leaders now about three minutes ahead.
By the time they reached halfway, the lead group had established a gap over the rest of the field to split just under the one hour mark (59:41.10). Dunkley continued at a solid pace to complete his third lap in 21:44.90, with Hamblyn-Ough further back with a 23:00.80 lap split.
Dunkley’s fourth lap (22:32.90) showed he was continued to put the work in, as was Hamblyn-Ough (23:29.20), as both were making the best of the conditions at hand.
Dunkley picked up the pace during the penultimate lap of the course (22:08.00), before leaving it all in the water with a final lap surge of 22:05.90 to come in nine seconds behind Argentina's Ignacio Stambuk and take 23rd place overall (2:07:58.70).
Hamblyn-Ough also upped his tempo slightly on the fifth lap (23:24.30) and gave it everything left in the tank over the final lap (23:57.90). He finished with a bunch sprint, pipped on the touch by Jarod Bruno (Puerto Rico – 2:16:14.30) but beating Manuel Da Acosta Barboza (Venezuela – 2:16:14.60) to place 35th overall.
Dunkley gave everything he had across the 10km and reflects on the tough conditions.
“Definitely one of the hardest races I’ve ever done in those choppy conditions.”
It was an impressive performance from the two Kiwis amongst a field of 46 competitors, two of which did not finish.
Congratulations to Alex and Larn, their coaches Josh Munro and John Gatfield, and their support teams for their performances in the longest event offered in Italy.
Day Two
The second day of the championships saw the Men’s and Women’s 7.5km. New Zealand had one swimmer in each, with Jack Potier (Coast) and Sophie Hay (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato). The course was set up with four laps of 1870m, with an additional 20m sprint to the finish.
Men’s 7.5km
One swimmer lead this race from start to finish, with Emir Batur Albayrak (Turkey – 1:18:34.30) putting on a clinic to lead all four laps of the course to win on the touch ahead of Davide Grossi (Italy – 1:18:34.50).
Jack Potier set out well to be 22nd at the end of the opening lap (19:43.90). He set into his rhythm during the second lap as a small group was established during the mid-section of the race, with him passing the halfway point in 23rd overall and a 21:45.70 lap split. Potier made a slight move during the third lap up into 20th position in a nearly identical lap split of 21:53.00, gaining a few seconds advantage over the working group.
Potier emptied the tank over the final lap, splitting 22:06.80 to touch 24th overall (1:25:29.40) out of the field of 49 competitors, finishing just behind Mario Granizo (Educador – 1:25:28.20).
It was a strong result for the Kiwi who finally got to race at this level, having been selected to compete at a previous World Junior Championships in 2021 but was unable to race due to its postponement during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jack Potier posted on his Instagram (@jack_potier) after the race.
“Very proud to rep the fern at the 2024 World Aquatics Junior Open Water Championships in the 7.5km. It’s been such an awesome experience on the NZ team with great teammates Larn, Alex and Sophie. A big thank you to my coach John Gatfield and team coach Mat Woofe.”
Congratulations to Jack Potier, coach John Gatfield and his support network for his performance on the international stage.
Women’s 7.5km
Paris 2024 Olympic Games silver medallist Claire Weinstein (USA – 1:25:43.30) was the one to beat in the Women’s 7.5km. Having already medalled in the pool on the world's biggest stage last month, the 17-year-old showed her class to lead from start to finish. Clara Martinez de Salinas Pena (Spain – 1:25:46.00) put in a late surge to claim the silver medal ahead of Napsugar Nagy (Hungary – 1:25:49.60).
Sophie Hay found a little group to work with over the opening lap, sitting in 31st position at the first time check (21:58.70). Hay settled into a good rhythm for the following three laps, splitting her second lap in 24:13.80 to be in 34th at halfway. A group of six swimmers continued to stick together into the third lap, with Hay splitting 24:24.40 to be in 33rd with one lap remaining. Hay (1:34.48.90) gave it everything she had to be slightly faster than the second and third lap (24:12.10) to win her sprint to the line ahead of Jimena Figueroa Cruz (Mexico – 1:34.49.00) to finish 33rd overall from the field of 48 competitors.
It was a great performance from Hay, with the 17-year-old continuing to show improvement and positive signs in the longer distance events in both open water and the pool.
Congratulations to Sophie Hay, her coach Mat Woofe and her support team.
Day Three
The third day of competition saw the 3km Knockout Sprint. This event is new to the World Junior Open Water Championships programme, being dubbed the "skins of open water" and consisting of three rounds. The first leg is 1500m, the second leg is 1000m and the final leg 500m. The first round was delivered via two heats, with only 10 swimmers from each heat progressing through to the following round.
Men’s 3km Knock Out
Alex Dunkley was the sole Kiwi on the start line racing in the first heat with 28 swimmers. It was a one lap race of 1500m, with Dunkley touching in 10th position (16:51.40) to qualify through to the next round. It was close, with Dunkley out-touching Simon Fonseca (Canada – 16:51.90) to get the final qualification spot for the next round.
Dunkley’s next challenge was a 1000m lap course. The boys set a cracking pace throughout, with an intense sprint for the line to claim the final qualification spots and only 0.6 seconds separated 9th to 12th. Dunkley (10:32.90) wasn’t far behind to touch 18th in the semi-final round, missing out on progressing to the final 500m sprint for the medals.
Dunkley was a fan of the knock out event concept after his rounds.
“I really enjoyed the knock out swim. It was definitely a great idea and was cool to be up against the best in all age groups.”
With 57 athletes taking part in the event, Dunkley's performance was particularly impressive. Congratulations to Alex, his coach Josh Munro and his wider support network on this superb result.
Women’s 3km Knock Out
Sophie Hay returned the day after her 7.5km race. Hay raced in the second heat alongside 28 swimmers, totalling 55 swimmers in total on the start line. The top 16 were separated by less than 20 seconds in what was a close tussle for the top ten spots to progress. Hay led the second wave into the finish to touch 18th in the heat (18:46.20) and place 37th overall across the two heats.
Congratulations to Sophie, her coach Mat Woofe and her wider support team on taking 37th place in the field of 55 competitors.
You can catch the results and access the livestream on demand via the links below.
Results Summary
Alex Dunkley
Men's 10km - 23rd
Men's 3km Knockout - 18th
Larn Hamblyn-Ough
Men's 10km - 35th
Sophie Hay
Women's 7.5km - 33rd
Women's 3km Knockout - 37th
Jack Potier
Men's 7.5km - 24th
New Zealand Team
Name | Organisation | Selection |
Alex Dunkley | Roskill | Swimmer |
Larn Hamblyn-Ough | Coast | Swimmer |
Sophie Hay | Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato | Swimmer |
Jack Potier | Coast | Swimmer |
Mat Woofe | Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato | Coach |
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