BUCHAREST, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Yang Peiqi continued her gold medal winning run at the World Junior Swimming Championships, winning the women's 1500-meter freestyle on Saturday to secure her fourth title at the event.
The 18-year-old athlete, who had already claimed victories in the women's 400 and 800m freestyle as well as the 4x200m freestyle relay, demonstrated strong finishing speed to complete the distance in 16 minutes 08.37 seconds, achieving a long-distance freestyle hat-trick.
"It was my first time competing in so many events at the world level, from 100 meters to 1500 meters, including relays. Although exhausted, I never considered giving up. I aimed to fight until the last moment," Yang said.
"I followed my coach's strategy to conserve energy throughout most of the race and accelerate in the final 100 meters. This was not my personal best, but I am pleased to bring another gold for my team," Yang added.
Later, Yang teamed up with 17-year-old Luo Mingyu, 15-year-old Yan Tiaoshan and Chen Yizhou to secure a bronze medal for Team China in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay in a time of 3:40.38. Team USA set a new world junior record in the event, finishing first in 3:35.53.
In the men's 50m butterfly, Britain's Dean Fearn won gold with a time of 23.54 seconds, edging out Nigeria's Abdul Jabar Adama, who finished in 23.64. It marked Nigeria's first medal at the junior worlds.
Australia celebrated its first gold as Ainsley Trotter captured the women's 50-meter backstroke in 27.88 seconds.
Japanese swimmers Raito Numata and Yumeki Kojima took first and second places, respectively, in the men's 400m individual medley. Local favorite Robert-Andrei Badea placed third in front of the full house home crowd.
The six-day World Junior Swimming Championships will conclude on August 24. ■
