Streamlined News: Competition Wrap-ups; USA Swimming’s New Program


PHOENIX, Arizona, June 18. THE Sette Colli meet wrapped up on Saturday in Rome at Foro Italico, home of the 2009 World Championships. A handful of meet records fell on the final day, starting in the women's 800 free, where Lotte Friis and Wendy Trott put up two of the top five times in the world. Friis won the race in 8:22.10 for second in the world, while Trott came in next at 8:25.71, the fifth-fastest time in the world. Later on, Germany's Marco Koch dueled Japan's Ryo Tateishi in the men's 200 breast. Koch took the win in 2:08.74, which is the fourth-fastest time in the world, while Tateishi posted a 2:08.85.

Japanese swimmers dominated the women's and men's 200 back in Rome. Aya Terakawa won the women's in 2:07.73 for third in the world this year, and Ryosuke Irie put up a 1:55.05 in the men's race, a time no one else has beaten yet this year. The Italian crowd watched one of its favorites take to the pool in the women's 200 free, where Federica Pellegrini swam past Femke Heemskerk on the last lap to take the win in 1:56.32. Pellegrini, the reigning Olympic and world champion and world record holder, moved up to sixth in the world this year.

The U.S. Paralympic Trials wrapped up in Bismarck this weekend, and Jessica Long added to her world record tally with new marks in the 100 fly and 200 IM in the S8 division. She set a mark of 1:10.77 in the 100 fly, besting her old mark of 1:11.14. Long also cleared her own 50 fly world record of 32.98 as a split, but that time won't count as a record after Long failed to apply to set 50 splits. Long twice downed the 200 IM world record on Saturday, taking the mark down from 2:38.15 to 2:37.71 to 2:36.00 in the final.

Mallory Weggemann and Justin Zook each won the 100 back in their respective divisions. Weggemann won in the women's S7 division, setting a 50 back world record of 39.16 on the way out. Zook, meanwhile, set S9 records in both the 50 and 100 back in one race. He put up a 29.73 in the 50 and a 1:01.85 in the 100. One more world record fell in the women's S6 100 free, where Victoria Arlen posted a time of 1:14.74 for the win. Additionally, some 18 other swimmers set American records to set up a strong U.S. team of 34 bound for London and the Paralympic Games.

Over the weekend, the U.S. men's water polo team took fourth in the FINA World League Super Final in Kazakhstan. The U.S. team lost to Croatia on Saturday in the semi-final round by a score of 11-10 before falling to Italy in the bronze medal match, 7-6. Croatia ended up winning an 18-17 thriller over Spain to claim the title in the gold medal final.

USA Swimming announced that it will today launch an online Safe Sports programming in order to raise awareness regarding the sexual abuse scandals that have recently rocked the sport. The national governing body had already mandated such training for non-athlete members of USA Swimming, and programs will be available for athletes in the fall.

Nick McCrory and David Boudia look like they're in a comfortable place to earn the Olympic spot in the synchro platform event this week at the U.S. diving trials in Seattle. The pair leads by more than 100 points over their closest competitor after yesterday's prelims and semifinals. The competition for the roster spot in the women's three-meter synchro isn't so cut-and-dry. Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston led after semis by about six points over Christina Loukas and Kassidy Cook. Finals for both of these events takes place on Thursday. Today's events include prelims and semis in the men's three-meter synchro and women's platform synchro.

David Rieder contributed to today's Streamlined News.

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