Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom swims to women’s 100m butterfly gold at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan yesterday. (AFP) Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu celebrates after winning the 200m individual medley final at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan. Right: Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu celebrates after winning the 200m individual medley final at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan. (AFP)
DPA/Kazan
Sarah Sjostrom claimed 100-metre butterfly gold at the world swimming championships yesterday with another record-breaking performance, and Katinka Hosszu retained the 200m individual medal with a new world best.
Sjostrom, who set a world record of 55.74 seconds in Sunday’s semi-final, cut another tenth off that mark with a new record of 55.64 to win. A distant silver in the race went to Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen with bronze going to China’s Lu Ying.
Hungary’s “Iron Lady,” Hosszu defended her medley title in 2:06.12, shaving three hundredths off Ariana Kukors’ 2009 world record. Kanako Watanabe took second in 2:08.45, narrowly ahead of Briton Siobhan-Marie O’Connor. In the men’s 100m breaststroke, Briton Adam Peaty was below his own world record best of 57.92, but despite trailing Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa at the half-way stage, he fought back to win by seven hundredths in 58.52.
France’s Florent Manaudou won the 50m butterfly in 22.97, edging out Nicholas Santos of Brazil by 0.12 seconds. Bronze was shared between Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak as they both timed in at 23.15.
Earlier, American teenager Katie Ledecky set a new world record in the final heat of the 1500m freestyle with a time of 15:27.71.
The first medal of the evening session went to Peaty, who chased down Olympic champion Van der Burgh. The latter was quick off the blocks, but despite leading with just 25m left, he could not hold on and lost out to Peaty’s long reach in the last metre.
“Cam put up a tough fight - I respect that,” Peaty said. “Next year [at the Olympics],) it will be a really good race to watch around the world, and hopefully, we can put on a good show then.”
Van der Burgh was left to reflect on what might have been as he came up just short: “Very happy with the performance. It was an improvement from last year. It’s bittersweet to lose out on the luck of a touch, but congrats to Adam. The best man won on the day.”
Another Briton, Ross Murdoch, pipped Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin for bronze with a storming comeback of his own, having turned in seventh place. In contrast to Peaty’s struggle, Sjostrom led from the start and eventually triumphed by 1.41 seconds over Ottesen to retain her title from 2013. It is her third win in the event, having also taken gold in 2009.
“I feel good, of course,” Sjostrom said after setting a second world record inside 24 hours. “I’ve been working hard with my 100m fly for some time. It took six years to break my personal best. ... Finally, I’m improving my 100m fly.”
Manaudou added a 50m butterfly world title to his 2012 Olympic gold and 2014 European victory, but there was disappointment for defending champion Cesar Cielo, hampered by injury, who finished sixth. Singapore’s Joseph Schooling finished seventh but has the consolation of an Asian record time of 23.25. Hosszu was in devastating form in the medley and her decision to scratch the backstroke semi-finals - having qualified first early in the day - was more than vindicated with a win of 2.33 seconds.
O’Connor, who was considered her biggest challenger, was beaten into third by the 18-year-old Japanese Watanabe, who collected silver for her first worlds medal. “Before the race, I was just trying to give my best and race as fast as possible, and then there was a record. It was just perfect,” said Hosszu. Early drama was provided by Ledecky, who beat her own previous best time of 15:28.36, set at the Pan Pacific championships in Australia last year, by 0.65 seconds in the final qualifying heat.
“I think breaking that record is just a testament to the work I’ve put in and the shape that I’m in right now,” Ledecky said. “That I was able to do that, I’m in quite a bit of shock right now.”
Ledecky, who has already won the 400m free, is the odds-on favourite to retain her title in today’s final. The men’s 100m backstroke saw defending champion Matt Grevers of the United States win his semi-final heat, but he qualified for the final in third behind Mitch Larkin of Australia and France’s Camille Lacourt. Another Australian, Ben Treffers, was disqualified in the second heat.
Defending world and Olympic champion Missy Franklin reached the final of the 100m backstroke fifth overall with 59.52 as she continues to recover from back problems. Australia’s Emily Seebohm topped the sheets at 58.56
In the women’s 100m breaststroke, there are hopes of a home gold as Russia’s Yuliya Efimovare qualified first for the final in 1:05.60, four hundredths ahead of 2013 winner Ruta Meilutyte.
Germany’s world record holder Paul Biedermann qualified sixth for the finals of the men’s 200m freestyle with the top spot going to America’s Ryan Lochte in 1:45.36.
