Pedersen Breaks Records as Best Times Tumble on Day Two

dale493
Aug 21
9 min read

Day Two Wrap of the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships

Our New Zealand team produced another day filled with personal bests and New Zealand age records. Zoe Pedersen (Coast) led the charge with two personal bests and New Zealand age records to qualify through to the final of the women’s 100m freestyle. Milan Glintmeyer (Coast) had a strong showing in the women’s 100m backstroke final after her exploits on the opening day of competition. James Leigh (Coast & Marist) and Daniel Kregting (Roskill) also achieved personal bests on the second day of competition at the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania.

Aquablack Zoe Pedersen got her second World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships campaign off to a brilliant start, breaking a New Zealand age record in the women’s 100m freestyle. Swimming in lane two of the last heat in the morning, she got away to a good start to be with the leaders at the 25m. She turned in third place, with a strong underwater moving her into second place. A close battle ensued in the dying stages, with Pedersen touching fourth in the heat (55.16) behind Championship Record breaker Rylee Erisman (USA – 53.17), Mizuki Hirai (Japan – 54.86) and Luo Mingyu (China – 55.08). Pedersen (55.16) achieved a personal best time that broke the 18 years New Zealand age record previously held by Aquablack #220 and two-time Olympian Hayley Palmer from 2008. She qualified as the eighth fastest into the semi-finals.

In the evening, Pedersen was swimming in lane six of the first semi-final. She got away to another good start and used her early speed to ensure she was with the leaders at the 25m mark and took the lead coming into the turn. She flipped in second, just 0.01 seconds behind the leader. Pedersen looked powerful down the second lap to be battling at the front of the pack. It was close on the touch with Pedersen getting her hand on the wall third in the semi-final (55.03), behind Theodora Taylor (Great Britain – 54.52) and narrowly behind Kira Manokhina (Neutral Athletes – 54.99) in second. The time saw her lower her personal best and the 18 years New Zealand age record set in the heats. Pedersen's perofrmance saw her progress through to the the final as the seventh fastest qualifier.

Pedersen was thrilled with her two personal bests to open her campaign in Romania.

“I’m super happy with that swim. The team environment is so uplifting so it’s cool to be a part of. My goal going into the 100m freestyle was to move up a few places from my seed, so going from 19th to making a final is an epic start to the meet. As well as having the opportunity to break such a long-lived record.”

Pedersen will be back in action on Thursday for day three heats in the women’s 50m butterfly, the event she raced in Singapore a few weeks ago on Aquablack debut, before also competing in the 100m freestyle final at approximately 3.56am NZST on Friday morning.

Also in action in the evening finals was Milan Glintmeyer, who was contesting her first individual final at the World Junior level when she lined up from lane one in the women’s 100m backstroke final. Glintmeyer had a solid reaction time (0.65) from the start to set up her race, turning in fourth and within striking distance of the leaders. Glintmeyer executed another impressive turn and underwater to move into third off the wall and was in the hunt for the medals with 25m left to swim. The field bunched up in the final stages with Glintmeyer getting her hand on the wall in eighth (1:00.90) for the fourth fastest swim of her career. Charlotte Crush (USA – 59.52) was the only swimmer to dip under the one minute mark in the event to take the gold medal, with Daria-Mariuca Silisteanu (Romania – 1:00.02) and Madison Kryger (Canada – 1:00.27) rounding out the podium.

Glintmeyer was delighted to have a lane in the final.

“Super proud to have made my first world junior final, it's a big step up from last time for me. I'm very proud to be repping the fern and very grateful for the support from the team too.”

Glintmeyer will return on day four for her next event – the women’s 50m backstroke.

James Leigh (Coast) was back in action fresh off his massive personal best in the 400m freestyle on day one, this time tackling the shorter 200m freestyle distance. Swimming from lane seven of the eighth heat, he was up and stroking early from the start and quickly set about working his way up alongside the leader Goncalo Azevedo (Portugal) in the next lane. Leigh was third at the first turn, holding his position through the second lap of the race. He clearly made a move off the 100m turn, closing the gap on Azevedo to be second at the final turn, before surging home rapidly to win his heat (1:51.04) ahead of Azevedo (1:51.20). The performance saw him drop 0.66 seconds from his personal best to place 21st overall.

Leigh was pumped with his second personal best from as many swims.

“I was very happy with the personal best and placing. I missed my first wall which was definitely a challenge but I was able to regain control in my race and finish strong. I’m keen to get back into racing for my last event in the 800m freestyle.”

Leigh will be back in the competition pool on day three for the men’s 800m freestyle timed final.

Ariel Muchirahondo (Swim Rotorua) continued his busy schedule with the men’s 200m individual medley. Swimming from lane seven of the fifth heat, he executed a great start to surface ahead from the dive. He looked smooth through the opening butterfly leg to establish a strong lead at the first turn, further pulling away into the backstroke leg. Muchirahondo continued to pull away during the breaststroke leg to establish a three second margin at the final turn, before powering home to win the heat from start to finish (2:04.70) comfortably ahead of van Hoang Quy Duong (Vietnam – 2:06.48) in second. Muchirahondo achieved the third best time of his career as he finished the event in 24th overall.

Muchirahondo will have a couple of days to prepare for his next event on day five where he will race the men’s 400m individual medley.

Daniel Kregting (Roskill) made his first appearance of the championships, taking on the men’s 100m butterfly. Racing from lane nine of the sixth heat, Kregting had an excellent reaction time (0.60 seconds) to get away smartly from the blocks to work the opening lap, utilising some clear water given there was a vacant lane alongside him. Kregting turned fourth before touching in equal fourth (55.43) alongside Lev Shteinberg (Israel – 55.43). Kregting achieved a massive personal best by 0.88 seconds to finish 33rd overall.

Kregting was pleased with his debut performance at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships.

“I was really nervous going into the race, but the atmosphere was amazing and I was able to put together a nice personal best.”

Kregting will return for the men’s 50m butterfly on the fourth day of competition.

The youngest member of our New Zealand team, Alyssa Lawson (Hamilton Aquatics & St Andrew’s), also made her first appearance of the championships – racing the women’s 100m freestyle. The 15-year-old started from lane zero of the second fastest heat, where she made a good start and moved up through the field in the opening stages to turn behind the leaders in seventh. A solid underwater helped close the gap in third phase of the race before getting her hand on the wall in ninth (56.93). She produced the fourth fastest performance of her career to place 28th overall.

Lawson will return to the competition pool on day five for the women’s 50m freestyle.

Day Three Preview

Pedersen will return to the action on day three for her favoured women’s 50m butterfly, where she enters as the fourth fastest seed, she will also be in action in the women's 100m freestyle final. Monique Wieruszowski (North Shore) returns for the women’s 100m breaststroke. Igor Russanov (Coast) will make his first appearance of the championships in the men’s 50m freestyle, before Leigh returns for his last individual events of the championships in the men’s 800m freestyle timed final.

The heats session start at 6.30pm NZST and finals from 3am NZST the following morning.

You can stay up-to-date with the action by following our social media channels for updates and our website for day wraps of the action taking place in Romania.

Entries & Results

You can watch the livestream through the World Aquatics Recast platform by purchasing access from the link below.

Watch Here

We have provided an overview of the action taking place in each of the remaining days in the daily schedule below. We have also listed the entries and results for each athlete and the team selected to ensure you know everything ahead of the competition in Romania.

Daily Schedule

*Start times are subject to change, while semi-finals and finals are subject to athlete progression

Thursday 21 August

Day Three Heats – from 6.30pm NZST

Women’s 50m butterfly (Pedersen)
Women’s 100m breaststroke (Wieruszowski)
Men’s 50m freestyle (Russanov)
Men’s 800m freestyle timed final (Leigh)

Friday 22 August

Day Three Semis/Finals (Potential) – from 3am NZST

Women’s 50m butterfly semi-final (Pedersen*)
Men’s 50m freestyle semi-final (Russanov*)
Women’s 100m breaststroke semi-final (Wieruszowski*)
Women’s 100m freestyle final (Pedersen)

Day Four Heats – from 6.30pm NZST

Women’s 50m backstroke (Glintmeyer)
Men’s 50m butterfly (Kregting)
Women’s 400m freestyle (Tapper)

Saturday 23 August

Day Four Semis/Finals (Potential) – from 3am NZST

Women’s 50m backstroke semi-final (Glintmeyer*)
Women’s 50m butterfly final (Pedersen*)
Women’s 100m breaststroke final (Wieruszowski*)
Men’s 50m butterfly semi-final (Kregting*)
Women’s 400m freestyle final (Tapper*)
Men’s 50m freestyle final (Russanov*)

Day Five Heats – from 6.30pm NZST

Men’s 100m freestyle (Russanov)
Women’s 100m butterfly (Glintmeyer)
Men’s 400m individual medley (Muchirahondo)
Women’s 50m freestyle (Pedersen & Lawson)

Sunday 24 August

Day Five Semis/Finals (Potential) – from 3am NZST

Men’s 100m freestyle semi-final (Russanov*)
Women’s 100m butterfly semi-final (Glintmeyer*)
Men’s 50m butterfly final (Kregting*)
Women’s 50m freestyle semi-final (Pedersen* & Lawson*)
Women’s 50m backstroke final (Glintmeyer*)
Men’s 400m individual medley final (Muchirahondo*)

Day Six Heats – from 6pm NZST

Men’s 200m backstroke (Muchirahondo)
Women’s 200m breaststroke (Wieruszowski)
Men’s 200m butterfly (Muchirahondo & Kregting)
Women’s 200m freestyle (Tapper)
Women’s 4 x 100m medley relay

Monday 25 August

Day Six Finals (Potential) – from 3am NZST

Men’s 100m freestyle final (Russanov*)
Women’s 200m breaststroke final (Wieruszowski*)
Men’s 200m backstroke final (Muchirahondo*)
Women’s 100m butterfly final (Glintmeyer*)
Women’s 50m freestyle final (Pedersen* & Lawson*)
Men’s 200m butterfly final (Muchirahondo* & Kregting*)
Women’s 200m freestyle final (Tapper*)
Women’s 4 x 100m medley relay*

Swimmer Entries & Results

Milan Glintmeyer

Women’s 50m backstroke (entry time: 28.83)
Women’s 100m backstroke (result: 8th in final - 1:00.90, 1:00.56 in semi-final - PB and 17 years NZ age record, 1:01.07 in heat - 17 years NZ age record)
Women’s 100m butterfly (entry time: 1:00.16)

Daniel Kregting

Men’s 50m butterfly (entry time: 25.59)
Men’s 100m butterfly (result: 55.43 - 33rd overall - PB)
Men’s 200m butterfly (entry time: 2:02.55)

Alyssa Lawson

Women’s 50m freestyle (entry time: 26.03)
Women’s 100m freestyle (result: 56.93 - 28th overall)

James Leigh

Men’s 200m freestyle (result: 1:51.04 - 21st overall - PB)
Men’s 400m freestyle (result: 3:55.55 - 19th overall - PB)
Men’s 800m freestyle (entry time: 8:19.61)

Ariel Muchirahondo

Men’s 100m backstroke (result: 56.51 - 25th overall - PB and 16 years NZ age record)
Men’s 200m backstroke (entry time: 2:01.89)
Men’s 200m butterfly (entry time: 2:06.30)
Men’s 200m individual medley (result: 2:04.70 - 24th overall)
Men’s 400m individual medley (entry time: 4:24.46)

Zoe Pedersen

Women’s 50m freestyle (entry time: 25.43)
Women’s 100m freestyle (result: into final, 55.03 in semi-final - PB and 18 years NZ age record, 55.16 in heat - PB and 18 years NZ age record)
Women’s 50m butterfly (entry time: 26.15)

Igor Russanov

Men’s 50m freestyle (entry time: 23.02)
Men’s 100m freestyle (entry time: 50.64)

Alyssa Tapper

Women’s 200m freestyle (entry time: 2:02.58)
Women’s 400m freestyle (entry time: 4:15.76)

Monique Wieruszowski

Women’s 50m breaststroke (result: 32.48 - 21st overall)
Women’s 100m breaststroke (entry time: 1:09.49)
Women’s 200m breaststroke (entry time: 2:31.92)

Women’s 4 x 100m medley relay (no entry time)

Athletes and order TBC

Team Selected

The swimmers selected to represent New Zealand:

Name	Club	Coach	Role
Milan Glintmeyer	Coast	John Gatfield	Swimmer
Daniel Kregting	Roskill	Josh Munro	Swimmer
Alyssa Lawson	Hamilton Aquatics & St Andrew's	Brad Hillier	Swimmer
James Leigh	Coast & Marist	James Boyce	Swimmer
Ariel Muchirahondo	Swim Rotorua	Aidan Withington	Swimmer
Zoe Pedersen	Coast	John Gatfield	Swimmer
Igor Russanov	Coast	John Gatfield	Swimmer
Alyssa Tapper	St Peter's & Griffith University	Tom Fraser-Holmes	Swimmer
Monique Wieruszowski	North Shore	Graham Hill	Swimmer

The coaches and support staff selected to guide our New Zealand are:

Name	Organisation	Role
John Gatfield	Coast	Head Coach
Aidan Withington	Swim Rotorua	Assistant Coach
Amanda White	Swimming NZ	Team Manager