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The 3rd night of the 13th FINA World Championships started out with a bang as Michael Phelps went head-to-head with Germany's Paul Biedermann in the 200 Free final. The result was a new World Record and gold medal for Biedermann, while Phelps settled for a silver medal for the first time in years. It brought even more attention to the high-tech suit wars that have been going on for quite some time.
But there was more fast swimming ahead! And that continued with the women's 100 Back and Britain's Gemma Spofforth's own World Record performance. She stopped the clock at 58.12 for the new mark, just ahead of Anastasia Zueva's 58.18, while Emily Seebohm took bronze in 58.88. American Hayley McGregory finished 6th overall in 59.42.
Action shifted to semifinal action with the men's 50 Breast as South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh broke the WR with a 26.74 sprint. Other qualifiers for the final include Hendrik Feldwehr (26.83), Felipe Franca Silva (26.92), Brenton Rickard (27.13), and Team USA's Mark Gangloff (27.24).
Italy's Alessia Filippi delighted the home crowd with a 15:44.93 win in the 1500 Free. Lotte Friis (15:46.30) and Camelia Alina Potec () joined Filippi on the podium.
An Aaron Piersol-less field saw the men's 100 Back gold medal go to Japan's Junya Koga with a Championship Record finish of 52.26. Helge Meeuw touched in 52.54 for the silver, followed by Aschwin Wildeboer, who won bronze in 52.64. Swim Star Matt Grevers placed 7th in 53.14.
The women's 200 Free semifinals were headlined by Italy's own Federic Pellegrini and American's Dana Vollmer. Pellegrini shattered her own global standard with a 1:53.67 race, while Vollmer's 1:55.29 registered a new American Record. Britain's Joanne Jackson qualified 3rd overall (1:55.54) and Team USA's Allison Schmitt also advances after posting the 4th fastest time of 1:56.11.
The men's 200 Fly semis were up next, featuring Michael Phelps' return to the pool after his rare loss. He went on to qualify second overall with a 1:53.48, behind Japan's Takeshi Matsuda (1:53.35). Pawel Korzeniowski (1:53.75) and Dinko Jukic (1:54.42) qualified 3-4, respectively, while America's Tyler Clary (1:54.75) grabbed the 8th and final lane in the final.
The final event of the day was the women's 100 Breast final. Team USA showed well, grabbing the gold and bronze medals. Rebecca Soni won her fist World Championship gold, hitting the wall first in 1:04.93. Russia's Yuliya Efimova took the silver in 1:05.41, with youngster Kasey Carlson garnering her first major international medal with a 1:05.75 swim.
The men's 100 Breast led off the Day 2 finals of the 13th FINA World Championship as Australia's Brenton Rickard took the gold in World Record fashion with a swim. The silver went to Hugues Duboscq in 58.64. South Africa's Cameron Van Der Burgh completed the podium with a 58.95 swim. Eric Shanteau, the top seed, just missed a medal, finishing 4th in 58.98.
Up next was the women's 100 Fly. Sara Sjostrom lowered her own World Record from yesterday's semis to win in 56.06. Australia's Jessicah Schipper grabbed silver in 56.23, followed by Jiao Liuyang's bronze medal-winning 56.86. Dan Vollmer finished in a tie for 5th, setting a new American Record with her 56.94 swim.
After helping Team USA win gold in the 400 Free Relay Matt Grevers returned to race his lone inividual event, the 100 Back, along with teammate Aaron Peirsol. In the first semi, Grevers posted a best time of 52.82 to finish 4th. The heat's top time came from Japan's Junya Koga (52.39), just ahead of Germany's Helge Meeuw (52.49). Peirsol touched 6th in 53.22 and shockingly does not advance to finals to defend his final. His time was 9th overall.
The World Championships Day 1 semifinals got underway with the women's 100 Fly. Dana Vollmer won the first semi with a 57.19 effort, just ahead of Jiao Liuyand's 57.25. The top time in the second semi was posted by Sarah Sjostrom who set a new World Record in 56.44 . Australia's Jessicah Schipper's 57.08 was second in the heat and overall as she also advances to the final. Team USA's other swimmer in this event, Christine Magnuson, just missed the cut, finishing 10th overall in 57.59. [FULL RESULTS]
The first final of these Championships is the men's 400 Free featuring Swim Star Peter Vanderkaay, who finishes just off the podium again in 4th place (3:43.20). Another World Record went down as Paul Biedermann's 3:40.07 erased the longest standing men's WR from the books. Ous Mellouli took the bronze with a strong 3:41.11 swim, followed by China's Li Zhang's 3:41.35. [FULL RESULTS]
Up next was the women's 200 IM semis. Julie Hjorth-Hansen 2:09.87. Kirsty Coventry and Evelyn tied for second in the first semi with a 2:09.91 swim. In the second semi, Team USA's Ariana Kukors smashed the World Record with a blistering 2:07.03 performance! Olympic Champion, and now former WR holder Stephanie Rice finished second in 2:08.68. The final looks to be very competitive! Britain's Hannah Miley will also race in the final after a 2:09.46 swim. American Julia Smit, just missed qualifying by one spot. [FULL RESULTS]
FINA Bans "Super Suits", Announces New Standards for 2010
The advances in suit manufacturing, from the past year and a half, have torn through swimming's record books. Controversy has reached a fever pitch in recent months and FINA is now responding. The governing body has decided that the latest era of suit technology shall be banned beginning in 2010.
To many, Speedo's LZR Racer opened the floodgates for the current situation, with other companies following suit -- no pun intended -- and developing similar racing suits using polyurethane.
Under the new rules, men will only be permitted to wear suits that go from the waist to the knees; commonly known as "jammers". Women's suits can only go from the shoulders to just above the knees. There will be no more full body suits and they made from "textiles". There is not yet a specific definition for textiles, but one can assume that the word was chosen to communicate that polyurethane will no longer be an acceptable fabric.
A quick look around the internet and it seems most US swimmers and coaches applaud the move, as do the majority of the sport's fans. Not having to inquire as to who was wearing what, after a record is broken, will be a welcome change come 2010.
We're left now to wonder what happens to the records that were established using the high-tech suits. Will there be an asterisk or simply a goal that swimmers will continue to work towards in their daily training. Also, what will become of some of the newer companies that have surfaced? We look to the future for the answers to these questions.
Swim Stars will be on the scene in Indy for the World Championship Trials. I will mostly be providing coverage via the Swim Stars Twitter account, but I am also working on feeding those tweets into a live blog that will appear on the Swim Stars Live website.
For the absolute latest, check Twitter as I update from the IUPUI Natatorium. Pictures will also be added as the week progresses.
Good luck to all the Swim Stars!
ETA: This post should have gone live on Tuesday morning, but did not due to server error. My apologies!
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.
The 3rd night of the 13th FINA World Championships started out with a bang as Michael Phelps went head-to-head with Germany's Paul Biedermann in the 200 Free final. The result was a new World Record and gold medal for Biedermann, while Phelps settled for a silver medal for the first time in years. It brought even more attention to the high-tech suit wars that have been going on for quite some time.
