|
|
|
| July 26, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 18, 1426 |
Hackett cruises to 400m freestyle gold
MONTREAL, July 25: Michael Phelps’s shocking flop in the 400m freestyle heats on Sunday left Australian Grant Hackett to cruise to his expected coronation at the 11th World Swimming Championships.
Phelps, whose eight medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics included six golds, had hoped to challenge Hackett in the less familiar freestyle event, but could only post the 18th-fastest time in the morning preliminaries.
Hackett, who had taken silver behind compatriot and world record-holder Ian Thorpe at the last three world meets, said he was sorry he didn’t get a chance to take on Phelps, but he was delighted with his own performance in both the heats and final.
He said he didn’t feel extra pressure in the absence of Thorpe, who decided to skip the worlds in this post-Olympic year.
Hackett said he tired in the final 100m, but put that down to too little rest between the heats and the final. Overall, he said, his opening day performance augured well for his remaining events, the 200m, 800m and 1,500m free, as well as the 4x200m free relay.
In the 1,500m free, Hackett will be bidding to become the first swimmer to win the same event at four consecutive world championships.
Phelps, in contrast, made a disastrous start to the meet, although he bounced back to lead-off America’s victorious 4x100m freestyle relay.
Yuri Prilukov was second in the men’s 400m free in 3:44.44, a time that Hackett said led him to expect a tough challenge from the Russian in the 800m and 1,500m races. Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli grabbed the bronze in 3:46.08.
In the only other individual final of the night, France’s Olympic champion Laure Manaudou bounced back from a poor preliminary swim to win the women’s 400m freestyle.
Manaudou, who claimed the eighth and final qualifying spot, swam a courageous final to win in 4:06.44 ahead of Japan’s Ai Shibata (4:06.74) and Briton Caitlin McClatchey (4:07.25).
In the men’s relay, the United States achieved their aim of regaining the title they had lost at the last two world championships.
US men’s head coach Dave Salo was full of praise for Phelps’s effort in the relay.
Canada, buoyed by the home crowd, was second in 3:16.44, with Australia taking third in 3:17.56.
Australia’s women lived up to their billing in the women’s 4x100m free as Jodie Henry, Alice Mills, Shayne Reese and Lisbeth Lenton followed up the nation’s world record-setting, gold medal-winning performance in Athens with a victory in a championship record of 3:37.32.
Germany battled to the silver ahead of the United States.
South Africa’s Roland Schoeman enlivened semi-final action on the opening night of swimming competition by breaking the 50m butterfly world record with a time of 23.01sec.
Schoeman improved on the previous record in the non-Olympic event of 23.30, set by American Ian Crocker in Austin, Texas, on February 29, 2004.
Results
Swimming
Men:
400m freestyle final: 1. Grant Hackett (AUS) 3:42.91 - gold medal; 2. Yuri Prilukov (RUS) 3:44.44 - silver medal; 3. Oussama Mellouli (TUN) 3:46.08 - bronze medal
4x100m freestyle relay final: 1. United States (Michael Phelps, Neil Walker, Nate Dusing, Jason Lezak) 3:13.77 - gold medal; 2. Canada (Yannick Lupien, Rick Say, Mike Mintenko, Brent Hayden) 3:16.44 - silver medal; 3. Australia (Michael Klim, Andrew Mewing, Leith Brodie, Patrick Murphy) 3:17.56 - bronze medal
Women:
400m freestyle final: 1. Laure Manaudou (FRA) 4:06.44 - gold medal; 2. Ai Shibata (JPN) 4:06.74 - silver medal; 3. Caitlin McClatchey (GBR) 4:07.25 - bronze medal
4x100m freestyle final: 1. Australia (Jodie Henry, Alice Mills, Shayne Reese, Lisbeth Lenton) 3:37.32 - gold medal; 2. Germany (Petra Dallmann, Antje Buschschulte, Annika Liebs, Daniela Gotz) 3:38.24 - silver medal; 3. United States (Natalie Coughlin, Kara Lynn Joyce, Lacey Nymeyer, Amanda Weir) 3:38.31 - bronze medal
Diving
Men’s 10m synchronized platform
Final: 1. Dmitry Dobroskok/Gleb Galperin (RUS) 392.88 - gold medal; 2. Yang Jinghui/Hu Jia (CHN) 374.79 - silver medal; 3. Peter Waterfield/Leon Taylor (GBR) 367.95 - bronze medal
Women’s 3m synchronized springboard
Final: 1. Li Ting/Guo Jingjing (CHN) 349.80 pts - gold medal; 2. Ditte Kotzian/Conny Schmalfuss (GER) 319.05 - silver medal; 3. Kristina Ishchenko/Olena Fedorova (UKR) 308.82 - bronze medal.—AFP
|
|
|
|
