Pedersen & Wieruszowski Highlight Impressive Showing on Day Three

dale493
Aug 22, 2025
9 min read

Day Three Wrap of the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships

Our New Zealand team continued their fine form on day three of the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Romania, with more record-breaking and personal best performances. Zoe Pedersen (Coast) put on an impressive display across the day, racing in two evening events that included smashing her personal best and breaking the 18 years New Zealand age record in the 50m butterfly to qualify fastest for the final. Monique Wieruszowski (North Shore) also found her record-breaking form as she qualified through to the final in the women’s 100m breaststroke. James Leigh (Coast) rounded out his campaign with his third personal best from as many events.

In the women’s 100m freestyle final towards the end of the evening session, Pedersen was swimming from lane one for her third race of the day. Pedersen was with the leaders after the first 25m with the first four lanes leading the field through the opening lap, with Pedersen sitting in fourth. The field started to surge through the second 50m, with Pedersen in fifth with 25m left to swim. Pedersen pushed to the finish to touch eighth in the second-best time of her career (55.06) just 0.03 outside her performance from the semi-final the day prior. Rylee Erisman (USA – 52.79) broke the Championships Record again to claim the gold medal with Lily King (USA – 54.19) and Theodora Taylor (Great Britain – 54.20) rounding out the podium.

Earlier in the day, Pedersen was back in the pool for the morning session after her two New Zealand age records the previous day. Entering the women’s 50m butterfly as the fourth fastest seed, Pedersen was swimming from lane five of the fastest heat. Pedersen had an excellent underwater and breakout to move through the field to be leading by halfway, with the Aquablack powering through the final 25m to comfortably take the heat (26.17) ahead of Mena Boardman (USA – 26.46) and Mariia Osetrova (Neutral Athletes – 26.73). Pedersen progressed through to the semi-finals as the second fastest qualifier.

Pedersen got her evening session off to a flier with the women’s 50m butterfly semi-final, swimming from lane four in the first semi-final. Pedersen got away to a good start, getting to the surface to be up and stroking quickly. She was with the pack at halfway before moving through the field to hit the lead with 15m left to swim. She powered through to comfortably take the semi-final victory (25.79) ahead of Olivia Hine (Australia – 26.21) and Mena Boardman (26.25). Her time smashed her personal best and the 18 years New Zealand age record to progress through to the final as the fastest qualifier for tomorrow’s final. Pedersen becomes the second New Zealand women to break the 26-second barrier in the 50m butterfly, recording the second fastest time in history for a New Zealander behind only Hazel Ouwehand's national record of 25.43.

Pedersen was thrilled with her performances across the day.

“Today has been epic. Having the opportunity to do a semi and a final in the same session is something super special. An added bonus to the day was going sub-26 seconds in the 50m butterfly. Not only that but the time I qualified for the 50m freestyle at the previous World Juniors was 25.75.”

Pedersen returns to the competition pool during the evening session of day four where she will contest the 50m butterfly final, scheduled for 3.17am NZST on Saturday morning.

Monique Wieruszowski was back in the pool for the women’s 100m breaststroke. The 18-year-old got away to a good start and set the early pace to lead the field at the 25m mark. She held this placing into the turn, splitting in 31.80. Smilte Plytnykaite (Lithuania – 1:08.46) pulled up alongside in the third 25m as they went stroke for stroke, before the other centre lanes closed in. Wieruszowski was fourth on the wall (1:09.69), just narrowly behind Lily Koch (Australia – 1:09.49) and local Daria Asaftei (Romania – 1:09.66). The result saw her comfortably move through to the semi-finals as the tenth fastest qualifier. In the process, Wieruszowski broke the 18 years New Zealand age record at the 50m split (31.80).

Wieruszowski started from lane two of the first semi-final. She got away from the blocks with a good reaction time, using her early speed once again to be with the leaders through the first 25m and take the lead at the turn. Smilte Plytnykaite (1:07.64) took the lead off the wall, with Wieruszowski in the chasing pack through the second lap. Wieruszowski surged late to get her hands on the wall third in the semi-final (1:09.01) behind Moon Sua (Korea – 1:08.46) and importantly ahead of Lily Koch (1:09.02). Her result broke the 18 years New Zealand age record previously held by clubmate Melissa Cowen from 2023 as she qualified through to the final as the fifth fastest.

Wieruszowski will return to the competition pool on day four for the final, with it scheduled for 3.28am NZST on Saturday morning.

James Leigh was racing in his third event in as many days in Romania, taking on the longest of his programme with the men’s 800m freestyle. Swimming from lane seven of the fourth timed final, Leigh set about his business quickly to be second at the first turn. He appeared to use the confidence from his two personal bests in the opening days to drive the pace early, leading through the opening 200m of the race. Xu Haibo (China – 8:08.24) in lane three started to close the gap in the third 100m to take the lead at the 300m mark. Leigh was flanked on either side as the trio paced each other to the halfway point. The Vietnamese swimmer in lane eight, van Nguyen Quoc Tran (8:12.71) made his move from the 400m turn, lifting his pace to move into outright second. Leigh held third place until the 600m turn, where lane two’s Ian Gonzalez Nunez (Mexico – 8:12.84) went by. The centre lanes were trying to bridge the gap in the last 200m, but Leigh responded in the final 150m to pull away into outright fourth in the timed final (8:13.96). The 18-year-old continued his form, dropping nearly six seconds from his previous personal best. The result saw him place 22nd overall once the timed final results from morning and evening sessions were collated.

Leigh was thrilled with another personal best for the week.

“I was super happy to finish off my first international meet under the fern with a big personal best. The race was definitely challenging both mentally and physically, especially after being my third day in a row of hard racing, so I was happy to swim as well as I did. Overall happy with the meet and how it all went. I’m keen to come back next season for more hard racing.”

That rounds out Leigh’s campaign in Romania, with the Coast swimmer achieving three personal bests from as many events. Congratulations to Leigh and his coach James Boyce for producing their best on the international stage.

Igor Russanov (Coast) made his first appearance of the championships in the men’s 50m freestyle. Swimming from lane zero of the second last heat, Russanov got away smartly from the blocks to be with the field at the 25m. Nikita Sheremet (Ukraine – 21.82) left the field behind in the second half of the race with an impressive time of under the 22 second barrier to win the heat. The pack was close from third to ninth in the heat, with just 0.60 seconds separating them. Russanov got his hand on the wall in the third best time of his career (23.29) to be eighth in the heat. He finished 29th overall in his first race at the world level.

Russanov will return for his other event of the championships, the men’s 100m freestyle, which will be held on day five.

Day Four Preview

The fourth day of action has slightly less athletes featuring in the morning heats session, with Milan Glintmeyer (Coast) competing in the women’s 50m backstroke after making the final in the 100m distance. Daniel Kregting (Roskill) will appear in the men’s 50m butterfly after his personal best in the 100m distance. Alyssa Tapper (St Peter’s & Griffith University) will open her championship campaign in the women’s 400m freestyle.

Pedersen will return in the evening session for the women’s 50m butterfly final scheduled for 3.17am NZST on Saturday morning, with Wieruszowski in the women’s 100m breaststroke scheduled for 3.28am NZST shortly after.

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

Friday 22 August

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*)

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 (result: 8:13.96 - 22nd overall - PB)

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: 8th in final - 55.06, 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 (result: into final, 25.79 in semi-final - PB and 18 years NZ age record, 26.17 in heat)

Igor Russanov

Men’s 50m freestyle (result: 23.29 - 29th overall)
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 (result: into final, 1:09.01 in semi-final - 18 years NZ age record, 1:09.69 in heat - 18 years NZ age record at 50m split - 31.80)
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