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Teenage US swimming star Missy Franklin claimed her second gold at the swimming world championships yesterday in Barcelona with victory in the women’s 100m backstroke. |
In a commanding performance, Franklin clocked 58.42secs in the final, just missing out on the four-year-old world record, with Australia’s Emily Seebohm 0.64sec adrift and Japan’s Aya Terekawa touching the wall 0.81sec behind.
Minutes after receiving her backstroke gold, 18-year-old Franklin finished second fastest in the 200m freestyle semi-finals to qualify for Wednesday’s final.
After victory with the USA team in Sunday’s 4x100m freestyle relay final, this was Franklin’s second gold medal of the eight world titles she is bidding for at the eight-day world championships, which finish Sunday.
The backstroke medal placings in Barcelona were an exact repeat of those at the 2012 London Olympic final, something not lost on Franklin.
“It feels awesome. Emily, Aya and I were on the podium together last year so to be on the podium again is great,” said Franklin.
“I was really happy with my start. It felt as hard as it always does at the end, but I just kept pushing, I knew it was going to be tough and it was right near my best time so I’m really happy.” Seebohm collected her second silver at Barcelona, after second in Sunday’s freestyle relay, admitted she had wanted to go faster.
“I would like to have gone sub 59 secs but it was not what I got and it is obviously going to motivate me to train harder,” said the 21-year-old.
“I know what I want and I have just got to keep improving bit by bit.
“At least I haven’t dropped in the backstroke since last year and I know I’m not in the shape I was then.
“It gives me that little bit extra to work on and start getting back under 59 again. After the Olympics I had three months off.
“We work really hard to go into shape for the Olympics without many breaks and so after London you just kind of let loose and go a bit crazy and I guess I’m not quite in the same shape.”
American Carlton takes inaugural high diving gold
Barcelona: American Cesilie Carlton became the first
high diving world champion when she claimed gold in a fearsome spectacle at the inaugural championships yesterday.
Launching herself into the void from a platform a mind-boggling 20 metres above the Catalan capital’s harbour, Carlton amassed 211.60 points to top the six-strong field, with compatriot Ginger Huber taking silver on 206.70 and Anna Bader of Germany the bronze with 203.90.
The men, described this week as “totally out of their minds” by 10-metre platform silver medallist David Boudia of the United States, fling themselves
off an even higher platform, 27 metres above the water.
They plummet for three seconds before smacking into the water at around 90 kilometres per hour and both male and female competitors must land feet first to help avert injury.
Four scuba divers, two jet skis and one boat are on hand nearby in the water in case of mishap.
Orlando Duque of Colombia was in first place after three rounds of Monday’s men’s competition, which concludes today, with Artem Silchenko of Russia in second and Mexican Jonathan Paredes third in the 13-strong field.
Ledecky sets 1,500m record, wins world gold
Barcelona: US teenager Katie Ledecky set a new world record in winning the women’s 1,500m freestyle title at the swimming world championships with Denmark’s Lotte Friis second and New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle third.
The 16-year-old, who was neck-and-neck with Friis for most of the race, but accelerated away in the final 100m, clocked a new world record of 15mins 36.53secs, knocking just under six seconds off the previous mark set in 2009.
All of the top three finished faster than the previous best time of 15mins 42.54secs set by Jessica Hardy of the USA.
Friis, the 2011 world champion over the mile distance, finished 2.35 seconds back to set the European record with Boyle at 8.18secs, a new Oceania record.
Meilutyte adds breaststroke gold to world record
Barcelona: Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte won the 100 metres breaststroke gold at the world championships with a time just outside the world record she set in Monday’s qualifying.
The 16-year-old Olympic champion touched in a time of one minute 04.42 seconds, seven hundredths slower than Monday’s blistering effort of 1:04.35.
Yuliya Efimova of Russia took silver in 1:05.02, matching her result from the 2009 championships in Rome, and American Jessica Hardy, who held the world record before Meilutyte, bronze in 1:05.52.