Budapest: 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.

According to Namibia Press Agency, 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.

Yang expressed her thoughts on the rigorous competition, stating, “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.” She followed her coach’s strategy to conserve energy throughout most of the race and accelerate in the final 100 meters. Although it was not her personal best, Yang was pleased to bring another gold for her team.

Later in the event, Yang collaborated with teammates Luo Mingyu, Yan Tiaoshan, and Chen Yizhou to secure a bronze medal for Team China in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, finishing 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 other events, Britain’s Dean Fearn captured gold in the men’s 50m butterfly with a time of 23.54 seconds, narrowly defeating Nigeria’s Abdul Jabar Adama, who finished in 23.64 seconds, marking Nigeria’s first medal at the junior worlds.

Australia celebrated its first gold as Ainsley Trotter secured victory in the women’s 50-meter backstroke in 27.88 seconds. Meanwhile, Japanese swimmers Raito Numata and Yumeki Kojima achieved first and second places, respectively, in the men’s 400m individual medley. Local favorite Robert-Andrei Badea placed third, much to the delight of the cheering home crowd.

The six-day World Junior Swimming Championships will conclude on August 24.