2007 World Swimming Cup, Belo Horizonte: Randall Bal, Therese Alshammar Firm Up World Cup Leads

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, November 24. IN the final stop of the FINA World Cup circuit, organizers at the Belo Horizonte meet pulled out a morning finals format that featured some solid swims.

The United States' Randall Bal continued his march to the World Cup overall win with his 19th title, while Sweden's Therese Alshammar put her stamp on the women's leaderboard with a winning effort in the 50 free.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Roland Schoeman picked up a pair of gold medals while Brazil's Joanna Maranhao also doubled up on the day.

Women's 800 freestyle
Brazil made it a clean sweep in the women's 800 freestyle event, although only one swimmer in the event did not hail from Brazil (Singapore's Pei Shan Tan).

Mariana Brochado touched first in 8:51.60, while Barbara Jatoba clocked a second-place effort of 8:59.73. Izabela Fortini rounded out the podium with a time of 9:03.51.

Brochado's time earn her a winning World Cup check, but fell well short of the Brazilian national record of 8:32.17 set by Joanna Maranhao in 2004.

Men's 100 freestyle
South Africa's Roland Schoeman dominated the men's 100 free as he jumped out to an early lead and held on for nearly a body-length win when he clocked a time of 46.85.

That performance put Schoeman third in the world this year behind the world-record time of Stefan Nystrand (45.83) set in Berlin and a 46.82 by Eamon Sullivan at the Stockholm stop. Schoeman's previous season best had been a 47.20 from Berlin.

Teammate Lyndon Ferns placed well behind for second place in 47.79 to move into the top 10 in the world this year behind ninth-place Gerhard Zandberg (47.78), while Brazil's Rodrigo Castro notched a third-place time of 48.53.

Women's 200 freestyle
In another near Brazilian Short Course Championships heat, Sweden's Josefin Lillhage posted a commanding victory in the event as she won by almost two body lengths. At the end of the race, Lillhage punched the wall in 1:55.32 for the gold medal.

While still well ahead of the pack, the time fell short of Lillhage's Swedish record time of 1:54.22 set at the Berlin World Cup stop.

Meanwhile, Brazil's Tatiana Barbosa placed second in 1:58.80, while Paula Riberio clocked a third-place time of 2:00.59.

Barbosa's time proved to be fairly fast in her home country, but wound up shy of the Brazilian national standard of 1:57.84 set by Monique Ferreira in 2005.

Men's 50 breaststroke
South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg utilized a strong final 10 meters to salt away victory in the sprint breaststroke event with a time of 27.37, just .03 seconds short of his season-best effort of 27.34 set at the Stockholm World Cup stop.

Meanwhile, Brazil's Eduardo Fischer captured silver in a time of 27.62, while teammate and Brazilian national record holder in the event, Felipe Lima, snuck past South Africa's Roland Schoeman with a bronze-winning time of 27.67.

Fischer and Lima both came up short of Lima's national record of 27.31 set at the Sydney stop this year.

Women's 100 breaststroke
In what looked like a Brazilian Short Course Championship heat, Brazil's Tatiane Sakemi used an incredible start to move out to a body-length lead by the first turn. By the end of the race, she claimed a two-body length victory in 1:08.98, which destroyed the Brazilian national record of 1:09.39 previously held by Mariana Katsuno since Sept. 2004.

Meanwhile, teammates Renata Sander and Natalia Favoreto snagged silver and bronze, respectively. Sander placed second in a time of 1:12.06, while Favoreto took third in 1:13.03.

Men's 400 IM
With a partisan crowd voicing boisterous support with chants of "Thi-a-go", Brazil's Thiago Pereira gave it his all but fell short of the world record of 4:00.37 set by Hungary's Laszlo Cseh. Pereira coasted in for an easy victory in 4:08.49. The performance fell well short of his World Cup record of 4:00.63 set in Berlin, probably due to the amount of travel and heats Pereira has swum over the past few weeks in the circuit.

In what amounted to be one of the most international heats, Australia's Adam Lucas clocked a second-place 4:18.41 while South Africa's Jay-Cee Thomson took third in 4:18.59.

Women's 100 butterfly
After several weeks to rest up due to personal commitments, the United States' Natalie Coughlin returned to the World Cup scene in the women's 100 fly with a triumphant time of 56.39, just .05 seconds off her World Cup record time of 56.34 set early in the circuit.

South Africa's Lize-Mari Retief was the beneficiary of having Coughlin to compete against in the 100 fly as she broke through the 57-second barrier for the first time en route to a South African record time of 56.98. That performance lowered her own national record of 57.30 set at the Durban stop of the World Cup last month. She also became just the third person under 57 this year behind Coughlin and Inge Dekker (56.88).

Her teammate Keri Shaw, meanwhile, closed down the top three with a time of 59.19.

Men's 100 backstroke
The United States' Randall Bal kept on rolling in the backstroke events at the World Cup as he went 19-for-19 in the stroke with a win in the 100 back. He put a scare into the World Cup record of 50.58 set by Thomas Rupprath in 2002.

Brazil's Guilherme Guido made a run at his national record with a time of 52.38, just a bit shy of the 52.24 set by Alexandre Massura in 2000. Meanwhile, Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin settled for bronze with a time of 53.54.

Women's 50 backstroke
South Africa's Lize-Mari Retief came back from her national record swim in the 100 fly to scare the South African record in the sprint back with a time of 28.39. Charlene Wittstock currently owns that standard with a 28.00 set in 2002.

Meanwhile, Germany's Christin Zenner clocked a second-place time of 28.64, while Brazil's Etiene Medeiros pocketed bronze in 28.67.

South Africa's Chanelle Van Wyk turned in the best start of the race as well as some of the best underwater work, but could not build from that foundation as the top three overtook her with the rest of their swims.

Men's 200 butterfly
Brazil's Kaio Almeida, the national record holder in the event with a 1:53.27 to his credit from 2005, moved into the top five in the world this year with a time of 1:54.39. He now trails Nick D'Arcy's 1:54.00 set at the Berlin stop this year.

Finishing behind him, Australia's Christopher Wright placed second in 1:56.05, while Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin touched third in 1:58.03.

Women's 200 IM
Brazil's Joanna Maranhao put together a commanding win with a time of 2:14.27. The performance cut more than five seconds from her prelim time of 2:19.63. Maranhao made a bit of a run at the Brazilian record of 2:12.42 set in 2005.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Keri Shaw placed second in 2:17.93, while Brazil's Danielle Santos moved into third place with a time of 2:18.47 from our in lane two.

Men's 400 freestyle
With Brazil's Lucas Salatta easing through most of the race, he didn't see Australia's Adam Lucas out in lane six until it was too late. Lucas back-halfed the race en route to a gold-medal winning time of 3:51.88.

Meanwhile, Luiz Arapiraca stayed within striking distance before he overtook Salatta in the final touch with a second-place time of 3:53.00. Salatta, meanwhile, who had been taking it easy off the walls throughout the race wound up third in 3:53.46.

Women's 50 freestyle
Therese Alshammar probably clinched the World Cup overall standings award with a first-place time in the women's splash-and-dash when she clocked a time of 24.23. While still off her season-best time of 23.79 set in Stockholm, Alshammar probably did enough to capture the big $100,000 check as the overall winner on the women's side just ahead of the United States' Natalie Coughlin, who sat out half of the meets.

Alshammar's teammate Josefin Lillhage ripped off a 25.04 for second place, while Brazil's Tatiana Barbosa placed third in 25.36 – a full second behind the national record of 24.36 set by Flavia Delaroli in 2005.

Men's 200 breaststroke
In a hotly-contested distance breaststroke event, Sweden's Jonas Andersson surfaced triumphant with a time of 2:13.19. He had to overtake Russia's Dmitry Komornikov, who led throughout the bulk of the race. Komornikov, however, wound up settling for second in 2:13.58.

Brazil's Tales Cerdeira, meanwhile, picked up third place in 2:13.79, while teammate Thiago Parravicini placed fourth in 2:14.04.

Men's 100 IM
South Africa's Roland Schoeman earned some boos from the crowd after touching out hometown favorite Thiago Pereira for the win in the sprint medley event. Schoeman nabbed another gold medal with a season-best effort of 53.13, improving on his 53.26 set at the Berlin stop.

Schoeman's teammate Gerhard Zandberg also tracked down Pereira in the breaststroke with a second-place time of 53.51, while Pereira, who battled with Schoeman throughout the race, but fell back to third with a time of 53.60.

Women's 200 backstroke
Brazil's Joanna Maranhao doubled on the day with a win in the longer distance backstroke when she hit the wall in 2:13.16, two body-lengths ahead of Germany's Christin Zenner.

Zenner was the early leader, but Maranhao's superior wall work let her work past Zenner, who wound up finishing second in a time of 2:15.35.

Meanwhile, Fernanda Alvarenga of Brazil rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 2:15.75.

Men's 50 butterfly
South African record holder Lyndon Ferns stopped his countryman's attempt at a gold-medal trifecta as Roland Schoeman fell back to third. Ferns clocked a top time of 23.40 to move into the top 10 in the world this year behind Ukraine's Sergiy Breus (23.38).

While Schoeman led throughout some of the race, Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin picked him off with a second-place readout of 23.83 in an incredibly close race for second. Schoeman, who already had won a pair of races earlier in the day, placed third in 23.84.

Brazil's Kaio Almeida, the world record holder with a time of 22.60 in 2005, was the hard-luck finisher with a fourth-place time of 23.85.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x