2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: Maria Dobysheva

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Everything you need to follow along with finals live during the 2015 FINA World Championships. Hit refresh for the latest coverage.

Women’s 100 fly semis

Earlier this week, world-record holder Dana Vollmer invited Sarah Sjostrom to join her under 56 seconds in the women’s 100-meter fly and Sjostrom did just that during semis with a world record at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

.@sarasjo, it's lonely under 56! Wishing you all the 55.99 luck ? at #Kazan2015!! I want to race you for the record in #Rio2016!!

— Dana Vollmer (@danavollmer) August 1, 2015

Sjostrom came home in a stunning 29.28 to set the world record with a time of 55.74. That time smashed Vollmer’s previous record of 55.98 set at the 2012 London Olympics as she became just the second woman under 56 seconds.

Splits

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Sjostrom has been toying with a sub-56 swim ever since clocking a world record 56.05 in 2009. She also clocked a 56.04 at the Sette Colli Trophy meet earlier this summer, but tonight was her first time to break the world record.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, shaking off the after-effects of a broken finger due to a road rage attack, qualified second in 57.04 to move to better her season best of 57.15.

China’s Lu Ying raced her way to the third seed in finals with a 57.36, while Canada’s Katerine Savard qualified fourth in 57.52.

Australia’s Emma McKeon (57.59), China’s Chen Xinyi (57.63) and Germany’s Alexandra Wenk (57.77) also secured spots in finals with sub 58-second swims.

Canada’s Noemie Thomas and The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker will swimoff for the eighth spot after clocking matching 58.05.

USA’s Kendyl Stewart missed out on finals with a 10th-place 58.14.

Men’s 400 free finals

China’s Sun Yang put up a world best in the men’s 400-meter free to defend his title at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Sun, who had some doping issues to take care of in the past year, threw down a top time of 3:42.58 to defend his 2013 title. That swim cleared Mack Horton’s 3:42.84 from Australian Nationals as the top time in the world this year.

That’s Sun’s sixth world championship gold medal, and 10th career medal overall.

Great Britain’s James Guy earned silver in a time of 3:43.75. That swim eclipsed his British record of 3:44.16 as he managed to capture his first world championship medal.

Guy bettered his third-best ranking in the world with that swim.

Canada’s Ryan Cochrane, a 26-year-old veteran of the sport, collected bronze in 3:44.59. That’s his third world bronze medal and seventh overall including four silvers.

He’s now ranked fifth in the world with that swim.

USA’s Connor Jaeger (3:44.81), Hungary’s Peter Bernek (3:46.29), Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak (3:46.81), Germany’s Clemens Rapp (3:48.52) and USA’s Michael McBroom (3:51.94) also competed for the world title.

Women’s 200 IM semis

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu became just the second woman ever to break 2:07 in the women’s 200-meter IM with a textile best and European record during semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Hosszu clocked a top time of 2:06.84 to finish more than a second-and-a-half ahead of the rest of the finals qualifiers.

That performance downed her previous textile best and European record of 2:07.30 set during prelims. She also surpassed Stephanie Rice (2:07.03) for second all time in the event behind only Ariana Kukors’ world record of 2:06.15 from 2009.

Comparative Splits

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Great Britain’s Siobhan Marie O’Connor earned the second seed in a time of 2:08.45, just missing her British record of 2:08.21.

Japan’s Kanako Watanabe put up the third seed with a time of 2:09.61 to lower her Japanese record of 2:09.81.

USA’s Maya DiRado (2:09.82), Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (2:10.08), USA’s Melanie Margalis (2:10.61), Great Britain’s Hannah Miley (2:11.19) and China’s Ye Shiwen (2:11.39) also made their way into the finale.

Men’s 50 fly semis

Florent Manaudou tied the French record in the men’s 50-meter fly with the top seed in semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Manaudou blasted the field with a 22.84 to match Fred Bousquet’s 2008 record. He also cleared Nicholas Santos (22.90) for the top time in the world this year as just the second man under 23 seconds. Manaudou is now tied with Bousquet for sixth all time in the event’s history.

All Time 50 Fly

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Santos, meanwhile, cruised into the second seed with a time of 23.05 with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh snaring third in 23.06.

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (23.07), Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov (23.15), Great Britain’s Ben Proud (23.24), Singapore’s Joe Schooling (23.27) and Brazil’s Cesar Cielo (23.29) will also compete for the championship title.

Cielo is the two-time defending champion in the event, and just barely kept his chances of a threepeat alive. Schooling, meanwhile, took down the Asian record in the event.

Women’s 400 free finals

Out under world-record pace at the 300-meter mark, USA’s Katie Ledecky settled for a meet record with the third-best time ever in the women’s 400-meter free at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Ledecky, who already has a pair of 3:58s to her credit with the world record 3:58.37 from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships as well as a 3:58.86 from the 2014 USA Swimming Summer Nationals, just missed her third 3:58 with a meet-record time of 3:59.13.

That swim clipped Federica Pellegrini’s former meet mark of 3:59.15 from the 2009 World Championships as Ledecky defended her 2013 title when she posted a 3:59.82 for the win.

All Time 400 Frees

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Before Ledecky came around, Pellegrini had the only sub 4:00 swim in the history of the sport. Ledecky has now accomplished the feat five times.

The Netherlands’ Sharon Van Rouwendaal earned a distant silver with a 4:03.02. That swim still broke her national record of 4:03.76 from 2014 as she moved to second in the world behind Ledecky.

Australia’s Jessica Ashwood grabbed bronze in 4:03.34 with an Oceania record time, downing Kylie Palmer’s Australian record of 4:03.40.

Great Britain’s Jaz Carlin (4:03.74), New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle (4:04.38), Spain’s Melani Costa (4:06.50), Italy’s Diletta Carli (4:07.30) and Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (4:08.22) rounded out the championship finale.

Men’s 100 breast semis

World-record holder Adam Peaty clocked the second-fastest time all time in the men’s 100-meter breast to lead semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Peaty powered his way to a time of 58.18 in semifinal 2 after South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh posted a meet record 58.49 during semifinal 1.

Van der Burgh’s effort downed’ Peaty’s preliminary meet record of 58.52, but Peaty nearly tracked down his world record of 57.92 from the 2015 British Nationals with his sizzling swim.

All Time 100 Breast

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Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis (58.96), Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin (59.39), Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (59.60), Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (59.63), Australia’s Jake Packard (59.66) and Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (59.75) also earned spots into finals.

USA’s Cody Miller (59.86) and Nic Fink (1:00.14) finished ninth and 12th, outside the finals field.

Women’s 400 free relay finals

Led by a stunning split by Bronte Campbell, the Australia foursome took down The Netherlands’ meet record in the women’s 400-meter free relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Emily Seebohm (53.92), Emma McKeon (53.57), Bronte Campbell (51.77) and Cate Campbell (52.22) smoked the finale with a time of 3:31.48. That swim clipped The Netherlands’ 2009 record of 3:31.72 with Bronte definitely serving as the MVP of the relay.

The Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.30), Maud van der Meer (54.50), Marrit Steenbergen (53.88) and Femke Heemskerk (51.99) tracked down silver in a time of 3:33.67.

USA’s Missy Franklin (53.68), Margo Geer (54.14), Lia Neal (53.70) and Simone Manuel (53.09) clinched bronze with a time of 3:34.61.

That’s Franklin’s 12th career world medal along with nine golds, a silver and another bronze. She just needs 1 gold medal to break the all-time tie with Libby Trickett, but her 12th overall medal inched her closest to the most-lauded rankings.

Most World Medals

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Sweden (3:35.71), Canada (3:36.44), Italy (3:37.16), China (3:37.64) and France (3:38.46) also competed in the finale.

Men’s 400 free relay finals

France managed to hold off a hard-charging home team of Russia to win the men’s 400-meter free relay and defend its 2013 title at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

France’s Mehdy Metella (48.37), Florent Manaudou (47.93), Fabien Gilot (47.08) and Jeremy Stravius (47.36) had too much in the tank for Russia, winning in 3:10.74.

Russia’s Andrey Grechin (48.60), Nikita Lobintsev (47.98), Vlad Morozov (46.95!) and Alexander Sukhorukov (47.66) put up a second-place time of 3:11.19 as Morozov powered the Russia into silver-contention.

Italy’s Luca Dotto (48.75), Marco Orsi (47.75), Michele Santucci (48.48) and Filippo Magnini (47.55) earned bronze in 3:13.53.

Brazil (3:13.22), Poland (3:14.12), Japan (3:15.04), China (3:15.41) and Canada (3:15.94) also swam for the title in the finale.

Noticeably absent from finals were Australia and the United States. For the first time since USA won the first world title in the event in 1973, neither Australia nor the United States made finals after both failed to make the top eight in prelims.

2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 1 Finals – Results

SCHEDULED EVENTS

Women’s 100 fly semis
Men’s 400 free finals
Women’s 200 IM semis
Men’s 50 fly semis
Women’s 400 free finals
Men’s 100 breast semis
Women’s 400 free relay finals
Men’s 400 free relay finals

HEAT SHEETS

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