Latest News & Updates

13th FINA World Championships: Day 8 Finals

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:46:29 EDT

The final day of the 13th FINA World Championships began with the men's 50 Back final. Great Britain's Liam Tancock lowered his own World Record, set yesterday, to 24.04 to win the gold. Junya Koga claimed the silver with a 24.24 swim, followed by Gerhard Zandberg's brone medal-winning 24.34.

Competition shifted to the women's 50 Breast, with Yuliya Efimova taking the gold in 30.09, another World Record. Rebecca Soni's 30.11 was good for silver, while Sarah Katsoulis, of Australia, rounded out the podium in 30.16. All 3 medalists were under the previous mark, set last month by Amanda Reason of Canada.

Ryan Lochte used the breaststroke leg of the men's 400 IM to solidify his lead, which he never relinquished, winning gold in 4:07.01. Teammate Tyler Clary took the silver in 4:07.31, out touching Laszlo Cseh (4:07.37).

The women's 50 Free crown was won by the sprint freestyle queen of this meet, Germany's Britta Steffen She added another World Record to her collection, with a 23.73 finish. Therese Alshammar grabbed the silver in 23.88, while Cate Campbell and Marlene Veldhuis hit with identical 23.99s.

Moving on to the 1500 Free, and Olympic Champion Ous Mellouli finished strong to take gold in 14:37.28, pulling away from Canada's Ryan Cochrane, who touched second in 14:41.38. The bronze went to Yang Sun, who made it to the wall in 14:46.84.

The final individual event of these championships was the women's 400 IM, where Hungary's Katinka Hosszu
bested the field with a 4:30.31 effort to win gold. Kirsty Coventry (4:32.12) touched just ahead of World Record Holder Stephanie Rice (4:32.29) for the silver. Americans Elizabeth Beisel and Julia Smit finished 5-6 with times of 4:34.90 and 4:35.33, respectively.

The 13th FINA World Championships closed with the men's 400 Medley Relay. Team USA's squad -- which featured Aaron Peirsol, Michael Phelps, Eric Shanteau, and Dave Walters -- were the favorites and lived up to the hype, taking gold in World Record fashion; 3:27.28. Germany finished second in 3:28.58, with Australia snagging the bronze in 3:28.64. Matt Grevers swam in the prelims, to help Team USA qualify for the final. He will receive a gold medal as well.

View the full results of these Championships online, coutesy of OmegaTiming.

Comments (0)

13th FINA World Championships: Day 6 Finals

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:18:00 EDT

The theme of the 13th FINA Championships, daily World Records, continued during Day 6 action. Today's finals saw the men's 200 Back, women's 100 Free, women's 50 Fly, men's 100 Fly, and men's 800 Free Relay records go down.

It all got started with the women's 100 Free. Current World Record Holder Britta Steffen, of Germany, lowered her mark to 52.07 as she scooped up the gold medal ahead of Fran Halsall (52.87) and Libby Trickett (52.93). The American duo of Amanda Weir and Dana Vollmer went 4-5 with respective times of 53.12 and 53.30.

Next event was the men's 200 Back final, which featured a hotly contested race for the gold between Aaron Peirsol, Japan's Ryosuke Irie, and Ryan Lochte. Peirsol redeemed himself for his 100 Back final and took the gold as he lowered his own WR to 1:51.92. Irie touched second in 1:52.51, while Lochte snared the bronze in 1:53.82. He would later take the pool for the 800 Free Relay final.

The women's 50 Fly semis was the day's 3rd straight event with a record-setting finish, thanks to Therese Alshammar's 25.07 finish. She will be pushed in the final my Marleen Veldhuis (25.28), Ingvild Snildal (25.53), as well as Marieke Guehrer (25.58), and 100 Fly WR holder Sarah Sjostrom (25.76).

The men's 50 Free broke the day's World Record-palooza, but there was no shortage of excitement. Fred Bousquet set a new meet record to qualify first with a 21.21 swim in the 2nd semi. In the 1st semi, Croatia's Duje Draganja hit in 21.29, to score the 2nd seed. Amaury Leveaux (21.32) and Cesar Cielo (21.35) advance as does Cullen Jones, whose 21.40 established a new American Record. Fellow American Nathan Adrian will also challenge for a medal, qualifying 7th in 21.46.

Up next was the women's 200 Breast final. After qualifying first with a WR mark, Canada's Annamay Pierse settled for silver (2:21.84) as Serbia's Nadja Higl claimed the title with a 2:21.84 effort. Mirna Jukic snagged the final spot on the podium after a 2:21.97 race. Rebecca Soni, who was seeded 2nd, just missed the podium, finishing 4th in 2:22.15; well off her semifinal time.

The men's 100 Fly semifinal was the focal point of the day as the rivalry between Michael Phelps and Mike Cavic heated up even more.Phelps took the first semi in 50.48, and was immediately one-upped by Cavic, who shattered Phelps' World Record with a 50.01 that nearly broke the 50 second barrier. It sets up quite the battle during the final!

In the women's 200 Back, Kirsty Coventry set the tone with a 2:05.86 championship record performance that was well ahead of the rest of the semifinalists. Anastasia Zueva had the next qualifying time of 2:07.00, followed by Elizabeth Simmonds (2:07.21), Team USA's Elizabeth Beisel (2:07.48), and 100 Back World Record holder Gemma Spofforth (2:07.64). America's Liz Pelton grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 2:09.57 swim.

The final individual event of the session was the men's 200 Breast final. Hungary's Daniel Gyurta (2:07.64) out touched USA's Eric Shanteau (2:07.65) for the gold by .01 of a second. There was a tie for third between Giedrius Titenis and World Record Holder Christian Sprenger (2:07.80).

The United States kept their stranglehold on the men's 800 Free Relay title by improving their Beijing WR to 6:58.55 thanks to Michael Phelps, Ricky Berens, Dave Walters, and Ryan Lochte. Peter Vanderkaay and Davis Tarwater swam in the prelims to help Team USA qualify first for the final.

Full results can be found on the OmegaTiming website.

Comments (0)

Check out old news in the archive