US Women’s 400 Free Relay Sets WUG Record; Marshall Wins Again

BEIJING, Aug. 26. TEAM USA continues to lead the medal tally in the pool, as the Americans racked up four more medals tonight. Interestingly, Ukraine also won four medals, two gold and two silver.

Overall, Ukraine is tied with the US with five gold medals each. In the men's competiting, Ukraine has three golds to two for the Americans.

Peter Marshall and the women's relay teams continued the American winning streak. The women's 400m free relay team broke the Games record, touching in 3:44.47, topping the Chinese record from 1991 (3:46.41). China, in second place (3:46.24) also bettered the old mark.

Jennifer Crisman (56.49), Tanica Jamison (56.10), Monica Williams (56.27) and Sarah Tolar (55.61) earned the second relay gold for the US women.

"We feel we have a really strong team," said Tolar. "We don't know what we'll be up against in the 400m medley, but we'd really like to sweep them all. It'll be tough, but we're going to try our hardest to do just that."

Once again, the US won two of the three men's backstroke medals. In a close race from the start, Peter Marshall managed to touch in 25.79 to tie Poland's Mariusz Siembida for the gold. Todd Smolinski posted a personal best 25.99 to get the bronze. Marshall's prelim time of 25.55 will stand as the Games record. Marshall now has two of the three backstroke titles at the World University Games and, naturally, is thinking about a sweep.

"I really don't know if I'm necessarily the target," Marshall said of the upcoming 200m back. "I think Bryce (Hunt) and I can put together some strong performances and get back up here on the medal stand."

"I'm very pleased with my swims this week," said Smolinski. "I was so glad to get two medals, and to represent my country well."

The fourth medal for Team USA came from Kevin Clements in the 200m IM. After putting together a strong breaststroke leg, he had command of the race, and looked to win, but was out-touched by .01 by Japan's Takahiro Mori who split a 29.17 on the last 50 to win in 2:02.34. Clements split: 26.48 for the fly, 31.85 for the back, 35.07 for the breast and 28.95 for the free.

"How can you be disappointed when you get a medal?" Clements said of his close loss. "I would love to win the gold, but I went a best time for me, and had a very solid swim. I still have the 400m IM, and I'm looking forward to that."

In the first final of the night, China's Xue Han won the event in 25.62 after opting out of the 50m breaststroke to concentrate on the 50m free. The USA's Sara Platzer finished fourth in 26.03.

In the men's 100m fly, Russia's Igor Martchenko set a Championship record of 52.78, just touching out Ukraine's Andrei Serdinov, who finished a tenth of a second later. For the US, Andy Haidinyak saw a disappointing repeat of the 50m fly where he was out-touched by less than two-tenths, falling to fourth and missing out on a medal. Haidinyak swam a 53.78 (25.27), again posting a personal best. His teammate, Brendan Coyne, swam a 54.64 (25.47) to finish seventh.

Ukraine's Igor Snitko won the 400m free in 3:51.94, three-tenths of a second faster than Dragos Coman of Romania. The US had two men in the final, but failed to medal despite solid performances from Mark Warkentin, the defending champion, who finished fourth (3:55.96) and Brendan Neligan, who was fifth (3:56.67).

Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor took the men's 50m breaststroke in a Games record 27.99, erasing the mark of 28.42 set by Britain's Adam Whitehead in the semis. Whitehead went faster in the finals, 28.33, but it was only good enough for the bronze, as Remo Lutolf won Switzerland's first medal, placing second in 28.08.

Semifinals
Three more World University Games records were set in the semifinals.

Tara Kirk lowered her Games record in the 50m breast to 32.30, so she will be in lane 4 in the final. Kristen Woodring will make her first appearance in finals as she advanced third (32.64).

Japan's Mai Nakamura led the semifinals in the women's 50m back, clocking a record time of 28.96. Susan Woessner (third, 29.38) and Jennifer Crisman (fourth 29.46) both advanced to the final. Each will be looking for her second individual medal as Woessner won silver in the 100m back and Crisman took bronze in the 100m free.

Poland's Bart Kizierowski, who graduated from the University of California and represents the Phoenix Swim Club, posted a record 22.20 in the semis of the men's 50 free. The USA's Christian Hasbach swam a 23.39 to place 14th.

Bethany Goodwin and Rachel Komisarz will try to repeat their 1-2 finish from the 50m fly when they swim the 100m fly final tomorrow. Goodwin posted a 1:00.30 (28.02) to qualify second, with Komisarz, who is having the meet of her life, right behind in 1:00.32 (28.65).

RESULTS

WOMEN

50 meter freestyle
1. Han Xue (CHN) 25.62
2. Olga Mukomol (UKR) 25.72
3. Suze Valen (NED) 26.00

4 x 100 meter freestyle relay
1. USA 3:44.47 CR
2. CHINA 3:46.24
3. JAPAN 3:47.25

MEN
50 meter breaststroke
1. Oleg Lisogor (UKR) 27.99 CR
2. Remo Lutolf (SUI) 28.08
3. Adam Whitehead (GBR) 28.33

50 meter backstroke
1. Peter Marshall (USA) 25.79
1. Mariusz Siembida (POL) 25.79
3. Todd Smolinski (USA) 25.99

100 meter butterfly
1. Igor Martchenko (RUS) 52.78 CR
2. Andrei Serdinov (UKR) 52.88
3. Kohei Kawamoto (JPN) 53.62

400 meter freestyle
1. Igor Snitko (UKR) 3:51.94
2. Dragos Coman (ROM) 3:52.24
3. Shunichi Fujita (JPN) 3:53.65

200 meter individual medley
1. Takahiro Mori (JPN) 2:02.34
2. Kevin Clements (USA) 2:02.35
3. Peter Mankoc (SLO) 2:03.37

Medal Table
Country:Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total
USA-5-7-3-15
JPN-3-3-6-12
UKR-5-2-2-9
CHN-2-3-3-8
FRA-1-0-3-4
ITA-2-1-0-3
CZE-0-1-1-2
ROM-1-1-0-2
GBR-1-0-1-2
POL-1-1-0-2
RUS-1-0-1-2
GER-1-0-0-1
AUS-1-0-0-1
SUI-0-1-0-1
NED-0-0-1-1
SLO-0-0-1-1

Women: Gold -Silver-Bronze-Total
USA-3-3-1-7
CHN-2-2-3-6
JPN-1-1-4-6
UKR-2-1-0-2
CZE-0-1-1-2
GER-1-0-0-1
ROM-1-0-0-1
NED-0-0-1-1

Men: Gold -Silver-Bronze-Total
USA-2-4-2-8
UKR-3-1-1-5
JPN-2-1-2-5
FRA-1-0-3-4
ITA-2-1-0-3
GBR-1-0-1-2
POL-1-1-0-2
RUS-1-0-1-2
AUS-1-0-0-1
SUI-0-1-0-1
ROM-0-1-0-1
SLO-0-0-1-1

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