KAZAN: James Guy of Britain defeated a strong field to win the 200m freestyle at the world swimming championships on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old swimmer out-sprinted China’s Sun Yang to the wall, touching first in 1 minute, 45.14 seconds.

Sun settled for silver in 1:45.20 and world record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany earned bronze in 1:45.38.

It was Guy’s first career gold medal at worlds after he earned silver in the 400m freestyle on Sunday.

Another British swimmer, Adam Peaty, followed Guy’s glory with a feat of his own.

Peaty set a world record in the 50m breaststroke, winning the first semifinal heat in 26.42 seconds. He bettered the mark of 26.62 set by Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa in the morning preliminaries.

It was the second men’s world record to fall at the worlds.

Katie Ledecky of the United States made it five world records on the women’s side after taking down her own mark in winning the 1,500 freestyle final.

Ledecky lowered her own world record by 2.23 seconds as she touched in 15:25.48, improving her mark of 15:27.71 set in the preliminaries of the non-Olympic event on Monday.

Lauren Boyle of New Zealand finished second in 15:40.14. Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took third in 15:47.09.

Lotte Friis of Denmark, runner-up to Ledecky two years ago in Barcelona, finished fourth.

Emily Seebohm led a one-two finish for Australia in the 100m backstroke, with all eight women going under 1 minute in the final. She won in 58.26 to earn her first individual gold at worlds, having finished second to American Missy Franklin in Barcelona.

Aussie Madison Wilson was second in 58.75 and Mie Oe Nielsen of Denmark was third in 58.86.

Mitchell Larkin extended Australia’s domination of the backstroke, winning the men’s 100m in 52.40.

Camille Lacourt of France was second in 52.48 and current Olympic champion Matt Grevers finished third in 52.66. Grevers won the world title two years ago.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2015

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