ZUMO Performance of the Week: Franko Grgic Fastest 16 Year Old Ever in 1500 Free

Franko Grgic of Croatia became the fastest 16-year-old distance freestyler in history with a 1500m time of 14:46.09 and setting a world junior record in the process.

To put his swim in perspective, Kieren Perkins clocked 14:58.05 at age 16. Grant Hackett swam a 15:03.67 at age 16 and Gregorio Paltrinieri swam a 15:04.90 at the same age. All three are Olympians.

The previous fastest-ever time for a 16-year-old belonged to Sun Yang, of China, at the 14:48.39 when he swam it at the Olympic Games in Beijing back in 2008.

Grgic’s splits: 56.52; 1:55.88; 2:55.57; 3:55.53; 4:54.84; 5:54.31; 6:53.66; 7:53.07; 8:52.49 ; 9:51.66; 10:50.93; 11:50.21; 12:49.43; 13:48.71; 14:46.09.

The time ranks him in the top six for swims in 2019 and 22 on the all-time list:

1 14:36.54 Wellbrock, Florian, GER World champion
2 14:37.63 Romanchuk, Mykhailo, UKR
3 14:38.34 Paltrinieri, Gregorio, ITA Olympic champion
4 14:44.72 Aubry, David, FRA
5 14:45.35 Christiansen, Henrik, NOR
6 14:46.09 Grgic, Franko, CRO
7 14:46.51 Jervis, Daniel, GBR
8 14:47.75 Noergaard, Alexander Aslak, DEN
9 14:48.52 Micka, Jan, CZE
10 14:51.15 Finke, Robert, USA

Congratulations to Franko Grgic on earning ZUMO’s Performance of the Week!

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