2007 World Swimming Cup, Singapore: Roland Schoeman Steals Show With Three Gold Medals

SINGAPORE, October 27. THE second stop of the 2007 FINA World Cup is now underway in Singapore. South Africa's Roland Schoeman owned the night with three gold medals, and nearly captured a fourth in the final race. Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov would have none of it in the 50 fly, however, as he denied Schoeman the medal quartet.

Women's 800 freestyle
Japan's Yurie Yano scored the first title of the evening with a dominant win in the women's distance event. She clocked a time of 8:28.67, while South Africa's Melissa Corfe placed second in 8:39.81. Singapore's Ting Wen Quah rounded out the top three in 8:54.09.

Yano jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as she continued to build on her advantage throughout the race. She clocked splits of 1:01.14, 2:04.28, 3:07.74, 4;11.46, 5:15.48, 6:19.52, 7:23.73 en route to the gold medal.

Yano's time is among the top five in the world in the early portion of the short course season. Kate Ziegler's world record of 8:08.00, Kylie Palmer's 8:14.11, Melissa Gorman's 8:25.60 and Bronte Barratt's 8:26.14 are the only times in front of her.

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Men's 100 freestyle
South Africa's Roland Schoeman kept up the momentum built in Durban with another world-class time in the 100 free this weekend. He claimed an easy victory in the 100 free with a time of 47.34, better than his winning time of 47.40 set at the Durban stop of the World Cup series, and the best time this year so far.

The Aussies went 2-3-4 in the rest of the race as Kenrick Monk finished second in 48.04, Grant Brits took third in 48.66 and Kyle Richardson placed fourth in 48.83.

Schoeman was all business from the get-go as he lodged a 22.32, the only sub-23, at the 50-meter mark. Brits was the closest to Schoeman halfway through the race with a time of 23.18.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 freestyle
Coming off a silver in the women's 800 free, South Africa's Melissa Corfe showed off some top-flight stamina with a win in the 200 free. She hit the wall in 1:57.77 as she overcame Australian Lara Davenport. Davenport settled for silver in 1:58.78, while Japan's Maki Mita took third in 1:59.37.

Corfe trailed Davenport through 150 meters before turning it on with a final 50 split of 29.73. Davenport led the field with splits of 27.72, 57.37 and 1:27.55, leading Corfe 1:27.55 to 1:28.04, before closing out in 31.23.

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Men's 50 breaststroke
Back-to-back Jack, or should we say Roland. Just minutes after securing victory in the 100 free, Schoeman came back with a triumph in the sprint breaststroke event. He stopped the clock in 27.45, while teammate William Diering finished second in 27.99. Russia's Dmitry Komornikov grabbed third in 28.09.

Schoeman improved upon his top time this year of 27.95 set at the Durban World Cup stop, and jumped into the top five this year. Only Brenton Rickard (27.12), Gerhard Zandberg (27.34) and Robin van Aggele (27.35) have been fastest in the early going of the season.

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Women's 100 breaststroke
Sweden's Joline Hostman posted a commanding conquest of the field with a time of 1:07.41. Meanwhile, a pair of Australians rounded out the podium as Olivia Halicek touched second in 1:09.58 and Jennifer Reilly placed third in 1:09.98.

Hostman's time knocked a chunk off her previous season-best set in Durban at 1:08.80 and pushed her into the top 10 in the world early on. Hostman led the entire way with a time of 31.82 at the halfway mark, before coming home in 35.59 to capture the victory.

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Men's 400 IM
Australia's Mitchell Bacon raced to victory in the men's 400 IM with a time of 4:16.68. Meanwhile, Brazil's Lucas Salatta took second in 4:21.12, while New Zealand's Matt Woodrow placed third in 4:27.85.

After trailing Salatta at the 100-meter mark, 59.28 to 59.75, Bacon overcame his Brazilian counterpart by the 150-meter mark, 1:31.66 to 1:31.96 and never looked back.

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Women's 100 butterfly
Natalie Coughlin continued to toy with her competition, this time with a near-World Cup record in the women's 100 fly. She clocked a time of 56.35, just .01 seconds off her 56.34 set at the New York stop in 2002.

Coughlin's time far surpassed her previous best this season of 56.60 set at the Durban World Cup stop just a week ago. If she keeps improving like this, it will be interesting to see if she makes a run at Libby Lenton's world record of 55.95 during Coughlin's final stop on the tour in Belo Horizonte.

Singapore's Tao Li placed second in 57.80, while Slovakia's Martina Moravcova took third in 58.84.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 backstroke
Randall Bal kept on pace for an incredible run on the World Cup circuit with a crushing win in the 100 back. Bal clocked a time of 50.91, while Australia's Ashley Delaney (52.37) and Robert Hurley (52.42) finished well behind in second and third. Additionally, Russian backstroke specialist Arkady Vyatchanin wound up fourth in 52.53.

Bal clipped her previous personal best time of 50.92 set during the 2006 FINA World Cup series, and dropped under the 51-second mark for the first time this season. His previous season best came with a 51.13 to win the Durban 100 back.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 backstroke
Australia's Sophie Edington and Tayliah Zimmer went head-to-head in the sprint backstroke event, with Edington surfacing triumphant. Edington hit the wall first in 27.62, while Zimmer clocked a 27.71 for second. Singapore's Jia Yi Shana Lim wound up third in 28.71.

Edington's time cut her previous season-best time of 27.90 set in Durban, while Zimmer already owned the fastest time this year with a 27.44 at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 butterfly
Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov crushed the field with a dominant time of 1:53.26, the quickest time in the world early in the season. The previous top time had been held by Australia's Nick D'Arcy, who touched in 1:54.35 at the Australian Short Course Championships held in August.

Skvortsov kept all of his splits under 30 seconds, with times of 25.32, 53.96, 1:23.40 along the way to his winning effort.

Meanwhile, Australia's Grant Brits finished second in 1:57.74, while Brazil's Lucas Salatta placed third in 1:58.28.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 IM
Australia's Samantha Hamill shaved a half-second off her season-best time of 2:12.67 with a winning effort of 2:12.04. Thus far this year, only compatriots Shayne Reese (2:09.85) and Stephanie Rice (2:10.42) as well as South Africa's Amanda Loots (2:10.97) have better performances in the event.

Hamill posted splits of 28.52, 1:01.79, 1:40.20 on the way to winning the gold medal.

Singapore's Tao Li continued her strong meet with another silver-medal, this time with a 2:14.52 readout. Australian Jennifer Reilly comprised the rest of the top three with a time of 2:14.68.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 400 freestyle
Kenrick Monk claimed the men's middle-distance event for Australia with a time of 3:49.31. He had to overcome teammate Robert Hurley in an incredibly close battle, as Hurley stopped the clock in 3:49.48.

Hurley led throughout most of the race with leads at the 100 (55.43 to 55.84), 200 (1:55.00 to 1:55.22) and 300 (2:53.64 to 2:53.87). Monk, however, had more left in the tank in the final 100 as he overtook Hurley at the 350 mark (3:22.37 to 3:22.77), then held on for dear life as Hurley put on the steam in the final 50. Hurley had a quicker final 50 (26.71 to 26.94), but Monk had enough of a lead heading into the final stretch.

Meanwhile, Brazil's Rodrigo Castro snared bronze in 3:52.14.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 50 freestyle
Sweden's Therese Alshammar nearly dipped under 24-point with a winning effort of 24.02 in the splash-and-dash. The world record holder claimed a rare win over Natalie Coughlin in this circuit, as Coughlin settled for silver in 24.66. Australia's Sophie Edington finished third in 25.19.

Alshammar's time clipped her previous season-best effort of 24.17 set in Durban. She only trails Libby Lenton (23.77) and Marleen Veldhuis (23.98) for the fastest times in the world thus far this season.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 200 breaststroke
South Africa's William Diering cruised with an easy victory when he clocked a time of 2:09.36. Meanwhile, Indonesia's Billy Arfianto placed second in 2:16.08, while Singapore's Jinwen Mark Tan claimed third in 2:17.97.

Even without much competition, Diering managed to slip under his previous season best of 2:09.38 set at the South African Short Course Championships earlier this month.

Diering notched splits of 29.20, 1:02.05 and 1:35.67 on his way to his season-best readout.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 100 IM
South Africa's Roland Schoeman tripled his pleasure on the evening, this time with a victory in the sprint medley event. He hit the wall in 53.87 to clinch the gold medal, while the United States' Randall Bal finished second in 54.98. Australia's Kyle Richardson placed third in 55.54.

Schoeman chopped a large amount of time off his season-best performance of 56.24 set in Durban last weekend. He moved into the top five in the world thus far this season, as only five swimmers have eclipsed the 54-second mark so far.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Women's 200 backstroke
Australia completely owned the women's 200 backstroke with a 1-2-3-4 sweep. Sophie Edington matched her 50 back title with one in the 200 when she notched a 2:07.30 in the longer event. Meagen Nay finished second in 2:08.35, while Tayliah Zimmer (2:10.70) and Jennifer Reilly (2:16.26) rounded out the top four.

Edington turned in the third-swiftest time of the year so far, knocking more than two seconds from her previous season-best of 2:09.72 recorded in Durban last weekend. Only Fran Adcock (2:05.37) and Joanna Fargus (2:06.81) have faster times this year, both set at the Australian Short Course Championships in August.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

Men's 50 butterfly
Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov doubled up after winning the 200 fly earlier in the evening. He clocked a winning readout of 23.48 to deny South Africa's Roland Schoeman his fourth gold medal of the night as Schoeman touched in 23.58. Australia's Adam Pine completed the podium with a bronze-winning 23.65.

Skvortsov now owns the fourth-best time of the year so far, with Matt Welsh (23.26), Schoeman (23.45) and Andrew Lauterstein (23.47) the only men faster thus far.

Click here to view event results PDF file.

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