Ruta Meilutyte, Katinka Hosszu, Hannah Miley Provide Night One Fireworks With Meet Marks

ISTANBUL, Turkey, December 12. NIGHT one produced a total of four meet records at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey. A trio of records fell in individual events, while Vlad Morozov shot down the 100 free mark as Russia's relay leadoff.

Additionally, $50,000 in prize money has already been earned. Due to NCAA eligibility issues, we are only reporting what has been earned, and not what has been accepted.

FINALS
Men's 200 free
USA's Ryan Lochte became just the second swimmer to win the event at short course worlds twice as he touched out world-record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany, 1:41.92 to 1:42.07.

“I am happy with my race,” Biedermann said. “In short course, the guy with the better turns will win, which is (Ryan) Lochte. I was surprised that it was this close.”

Lochte's title defense matches Gustavo Borges of Brazil, who won the event in both 1995 and 1997. Lochte and Biedermann moved to second and third in the event this year behind France's Yannick Agnel's top time of 1:41.46 from the European Short Course Championships. France, however, withheld most of its top swimmers this year.

USA's Conor Dwyer rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 1:43.78.

“It hurt a lot. I just wanted to go out there and have fun. I had a break after the (London) Olympics, but now I'm ready.,” Dwyer said. “The atmosphere was good, much better than in the morning. In the morning it was a little quiet and it was hard to get up.”

The gold is Lochte's 15th in short course world championship history, a record, and his 23rd medal of any kind.

Australia's Jarrod Killey (1:44.04),Paraguay's Ben Hockin (1:44.24), New Zealand's Matt Stanley (1:44.55), Russia's Viatcheslav Andrusenko (1:44.68) and Germany's Dimitri Colupaev (1:45.38) completed the championship finale.

Women's 200 fly
Mireia Belmont Garcia's meet record of 2:03.59 from 2010 didn't stand a chance as the entire top three podium surged past that time. FINA World Cup Queen Katinka Hosszu, who won more than $150,000 in cash on the FINA World Cup circuit, continued her short course mastery with a 2:02.20 to 2:02.28 touchout triumph over China's Jiao Liuyang. The swim smashed Hosszu's national record of 2:04.19 from prelims, and shot her to second all time in the event's history behind China's Liu Zige (2:00.78).

“I was pretty happy but I was a little bit dead in the final meters,” Hosszu said. “I was still eight hundredths of a second faster so it was a pleasure to set a European (championship) record. It didn't even cross my mind that I had to race the 400m IM. But it would be the cherry on the cake if I did well (she eventually won bronze).”

Jiao is now third in the all time rankings with her sterling time, crushing her previous best of 2:04.35. Great Britain's Jemma Lowe, who went out hard, leading at the 100 in 58.98, wound up taking third in 2:03.19 to move to sixth all time in the event.

“I did not expect it before coming here because I didn't have enough time to train for this event. I was busy with too many activities,” Jiao said. “I didn't have a good feeling before this morning. But (in the heats) I felt well and afterwards I thought I may win a gold medal tonight. I will compete in the 50m tomorrow (Thursday), but that is not my best distance. I am better in the 100m.”

Liu, meanwhile, wound up fourth overall in 2:03.99, a full three seconds off her world record, while USA's Kathleen Hersey (2:05.90), Canada's Katerine Savard (2:06.56), Japan's Kona Fujita (2:06.57) and Japan's Nao Kobayashi (2:08.95) also vied for the world title.

Women's 400 IM
Great Britain's Hannah Miley went out hard, and held off China's Ye Shiwen in the freestyle with a meet-record time of 4:24.13. That swim bettered the 4:24.21 set by Mireia Belmonte Garcia in 2010, and cleared Miley's world-leading time of 4:23.47 from the European Short Course Championships. With the swim, Miley also lowered her third-ranked time all time, getting closer to Julia Smit (4:21.04) and Kathryn Meaklim (4:22.88).

China's Ye, meanwhile, also cleared the previous meet record with a 4:23.33 to move to fourth all time in the event, while Hungary's Katinka Hosszu raced to her second podium of the evening with a third-place 4:25.95.

Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (4:26.99), USA's Maya Dirado (4:28.55), Japan's Miho Takahashi (4:31.55), Japan's Emu Higuchi (4:35.59) and Czech's Barbora Zavadova (4:37.30) rounded out the rest of the finale.

Men's 400 free relay
Veteran Matt Grevers delivered Team USA the gold medal after a sterling anchor leg as Anthony Ervin (47.28), Ryan Lochte (45.64), Jimmy Feigen (47.25) and Grevers (46.23) pulled into the top of the podium with a sterling time of 3:06.40. That swim finished just off the American record of 3:06.10 set by Nathan Adrian, Garrett Weber-Gale, Ricky Berens and Lochte at the 2010 World Short Course Championships. The fastest time by Americans, however, is a 3:03.30 from 2009.

USA Swimming decided that American records set in techsuits after Oct. 1, 2009 — when USA Swimming implemented the techsuit ban domestically – would not be ratified. This is the case even for times swum legally in international events where ban was not in effect yet.

The win gave the U.S. the title once again after falling to France at the Dubai stop. France elected not to send much of a squad this year, and did not attempt to defend its title.

Italy's Luca Dotto (46.84), Marco Orsi (45.94), Michele Santucci (47.46) and Filippo Magnini (46.83) placed second in 3:07.07, while Australia's Tommaso D'Orsogna (46.68), Kyle Richardson (46.92), Travis Mahoney (47.32) and Kenneth To (46.35) pulled past Russia for bronze. Russia had led throughout most of the race, sparked by a meet-record leadoff of 45.52 from Vlad Morozov, but wound up falling to fourth in 3:08.01. Cesar Cielo held the previous record with a 45.74 from 2010 Dubai, with Morozov jumping to fifth all time in the event.

Japan (3:09.15), Brazil (3:10.72), China (3:12.66) and Turkey (3:13.73) completed the championship heat.

Women's 800 free relay
Team USA had a bit of competition early on, but held it together to power to victory as Megan Romano (1:56.03), Chelsea Chenault (1:54.78), Shannon Vreeland (1:55.43) and Allison Schmitt (1:53.01) raced to the win with a 7:39.25.

Russia's Veronika Popova (1:55.36), Elena Sokolova (1:55.61), Daria Belyakina (1:55.73) and Ksenia Yuskova (1:56.07) picked up silver with a time of 7:42.77, while China's Qiu Yuhan (1:57.30), Pang Jiaying (1:56.72), Guo Junjun (1:55.91) and Tang Yi (1:53.33) claimed bronze with a 7:43.26.

Katinka Hosszu concluded an iron-woman night, just missing her third podium of the evening, as Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (1:56.96), Eszter Dara (1:58.60), Zsuzsanna Jakabos (1:54.48) and Hosszu (1:54.66) placed fourth in 7:44.70. Great Britain took fifth in 7:45.85, while Italy finished sixth in 7:46.01. Denmark wound up seventh in 7:47.04 even though youngster Mie Nielsen scorched a 1:53.73 anchor leg. Japan brought the race to a close with a 7:51.96.

PRIZE MONEY BREAKDOWN
With her two medals, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu is in the early lead for prize money, with $7,000 of the $50,000 already given out on day one. First place earns $5,000, while second place earns $3,000 and third place gets $2,000 for $10,000 per finale.

The national federation decides the relay split, but for simplicity sake we are listing the money earned as those in finals. Meanwhile, $15,000 is awarded to world-record breakers.

Gender	Name	Country	1st	1st Total	2nd	2nd Total	3rd	3rd Total	Total
Female	Katinka Hosszu	HUN	1	$5,000	0	$0	1	$2,000	$7,000
Male	Ryan Lochte	USA	1.25	$6,250	0	$0	0	$0	$6,250
Female	Hannah Miley	GBR	1	$5,000	0	$0	0	$0	$5,000
Female	Jiao Liuyang	CHN	0	$0	1	$3,000	0	$0	$3,000
Female	Ye Shiwen	CHN	0	$0	1	$3,000	0	$0	$3,000
Male	Paul Biedermann	GER	0	$0	1	$3,000	0	$0	$3,000
Female	Jemma Lowe	GBR	0	$0	0	$0	1	$2,000	$2,000
Male	Conor Dwyer	USA	0	$0	0	$0	1	$2,000	$2,000
Female	Megan Romano	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Female	Chelsea Chenault	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Female	Shannon Vreeland	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Female	Allison Schmitt	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Male	Anthony Ervin	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Male	Jimmy Feigen	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Male	Matt Grevers	USA	0.25	$1,250	0	$0	0	$0	$1,250
Female	Veronika Popova	RUS	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Female	Elena Sokolova	RUS	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Female	Daria Belyakina	RUS	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Female	Ksenia Yuskova	RUS	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Male	Luca Dotto	ITA	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Male	Marco Orsi	ITA	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Male	Michele Santucci	ITA	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Male	Filippo Magnini	ITA	0	$0	0.25	$750	0	$0	$750
Female	Qiu Yuhan	CHN	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Female	Pang Jiaying	CHN	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Female	Guo Junjun	CHN	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Female	Tang Yi	CHN	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Male	Tommaso D'Orsogna	AUS	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Male	Kyle Richardson	AUS	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Male	Travis Mahoney	AUS	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500
Male	Kenneth To	AUS	0	$0	0	$0	0.25	$500	$500

SEMIFINALS
Women's 50 breast
Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte dropped her meet record even further with a 29.51 in the semifinal heats. That swim clipped her national record time of 29.56 set during prelims this morning, and moved her to third all time in the event's history. Only Jessica Hardy (28.80) and Sarah Katsoulis (29.50) have been faster.

“I had a good race, better than this morning,” Meilutyte said. “We'll see what happens, you cannot predict such a meet. My confidence comes from the work I do. I work hard. I had a long break (after winning in London), spent a lot of time at home. I missed my normal routine, it was nice to see my friends and family. But I'm still motivated. Not much has changed, I'm still the same. Obviously the attention (about me) changed. Back in Lithuania everyone knows me now, I'm a celebrity, the attention I get is amazing.”

Jamaica's Alia Atkinson downed her national record from prelims with a sterling time of 29.62 to qualifying second tonight to move to fifth all time, while Hardy cruised into third with a 29.82. Hardy is looking to become the first swimmer to ever win this event twice.

“I felt great. I went a faster than expected considering I did little training this season for this event because of the Olympics,” Hardy said. “But I didn't fix the technical things so I need more discipline and this is what I will focus on for tomorrow.”

Czech's Petra Chocova (30.05), Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen (30.19), Australia's Sarah Katsoulis (30.19), Sweden's Rebecca Ejdervik (30.25) and China's Zhao Jin (30.33) also earned spots in the championship finale.

Men's 100 back
Defending champion Stanislav Donets of Russia led the way into the finale with a top time of 49.98 to crack 50 seconds. That swim is off his world-leading season best of 49.49 set at the Tokyo stop of the FINA World Cup where he dominated the 50 and 100 backstroke events the entire circuit. Donets is vying to become the first person to defend the title in this event. Rodolfo Falcon of Cuba (1995, 1999) and Matt Welsh of Australia (2002, 2006) have each won the title twice, but never defended.

USA's Matt Grevers topped semifinal one with a time of 50.24 as he cruised through the swim, but should have much more in the tank heading into the finale. Australia's Ashley Delaney (50.70) and Robert Hurley (50.70) qualified third and fourth. Iskender Baslakov popped the partisan crowd with a fifth-ranked time of 50.77 to qualify for Turkey.

Poland's Radoslaw Kawecki (50.88), Brazil's Guilherme Guido (50.98) and Germany's Christian Diener (51.06) all made their way into the finale.

Men's 100 breast
Italy's Fabio Scozzoli turned on the heat in the semifinal heats with a 57.66 to lead the way into the finale. Scozzoli is a favorite in the event, having won the 100 breast with a 57.25 at the European Short Course Championships. He took second in the event in 2010 behind Cameron van der Burgh. Estonia's Martti Aljand touched second this evening in 57.82, while Russia's Viatcheslav Sinkevich placed third in 57.83.

USA's Kevin Cordes (57.92), Brazil's Felipe Lima (58.05), Japan's Akihiro Yamaguchi (58.15), Slovenia's Damir Dugonjic (58.18) and USA's Mike Alexandrov (58.35) also made the championship heat. Heat two was where it was at as only the top two swimmers from heat one, Dugonjic and Alexandrov, earned spots in the finale.

Women's 100 back
Denmark's youngster Mie Nielsen ripped off a 57.15 in semis to pace the way into the finale. That swim pushed her to third in the world this year behind a pair of 57.00s from Rachel Goh (57.02) and Daryna Zevina (57.07). Nielsen smashed her previous national-record best of 57.57, and shot to 20th all time in the event's history.

Goh, meanwhile, won the second semifinal with a time of 57.39, but has more in the tank with a 56.99 to her credit to put her 16th all time. Great Britain's Georgia Davies raced to third in 57.41, while Czeh's Simona Baumrova and Australia's Grace Loh tied for fourth with matching 57.62s.

Ukraine's Daryna Zevina, who has won the last three European Short Course Championships in this event, having already clocked that 57.07 this year for a win, wound up sixth in 57.66. USA's Olivia Smoliga snared a championship finale spot with a 57.74, while Spain's Duane Da Rocha picked up the final transfer spot with a 58.15.

Men's 100 fly
USA's Tom Shields led the way in the semifinal heats with a 50.14, while South Africa's Chad Le Clos placed just behind with a 50.16. Le Clos leads the world with a 49.60 from the Doha stop of the World Cup this year, while Shields bettered his season best of 50.42 to move to third in the world rankings behind Evgeny Korotyshkin's 49.98 from the European Short Course Championships. The Netherlands' Joeri Verlinden wound up third in 50.43. USA's Ryan Lochte qualified fourth in 50.59 to move into the top 10 mix as he did just enough to make the finale.

Hungary's Laszlo Cseh (50.72), Spain's Rafael Munoz Perez (50.73) and Poland's Konrad Czerniak (50.73) qualified fifth through seventh, while China's Wu Peng and Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov set up a swimoff with matching 50.77s. Skvortsov downed Wu in the swimoff, 50.60 to 50.78, to end the night.

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