2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 2 Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

Coverage of the 2015 FINA World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Visit our coverage page for more.

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

Men’s 100 breast finals

Great Britain’s Adam Peaty, the world-record holder in the event, powered by South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh to win the men’s 100-meter breast at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Peaty, who set the world record with a stunning 57.92 at British Nationals in April, turned up the heat down the stretch to win the final in 58.52. That’s just a bit off his meet record 58.18 from semifinals.

Van der Burgh made a huge push for gold, going out in 26.79, but settled for silver with a time of 58.59. That’s just off his national record of 58.46 as he claimed his eighth career world championship medal. Van der Burgh now has two golds, two silvers and four bronzes in his career.

Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch chased down bronze with a scorching final 50 meter 31.14 as he clocked a 59.09 for third overall.

Splits

[table “” not found /]

Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin (59.42), Australia’s Jake Packard (59.44), Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis (59.56), Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (59.84) and Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (1:00.16) also competed in the finale.

Women’s 100 fly finals

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom did it again as she shaved off a tenth from her world record in the women’s 100-meter fly at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Heading into this meet, only Dana Vollmer had ever broken 56 seconds as she owned the world record with a 55.98. Sjostrom crashed the party with a world-record time of 55.74 during the semifinal heats.

Tonight, Sjostrom took the time even lower to 55.64 to give Vollmer a new goal to chase as she’s returned to the pool with eyes on battling Sjostrom at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Comparative Splits:

[table “” not found /]

Tonight, Sjostrom changed up the game plan by going out much faster and holding on for the victory. That’s her third world title and fourth world championship medal overall.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen, finding her form after a broken finger from a road rage attack last month, earned silver in a time of 57.05. That’s just off her semifinal swim of 57.04, but was good enough for her third world championship medal. She already has two golds in her career.

China’s Lu Ying rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 57.48, her fourth career world medal with two silvers and two bronze.

Australia’s Emma McKeon (57.67), Canada’s Katerine Savard (57.69), China’s Chen Xinyi (57.85), Germany’s Alexandra Wenk (57.94) and Canada’s Noemie Thomas (58.22) also competed in the finale.

Men’s 100 back semis

Australia’s Mitchell Larkin lowered the Oceanic record again with a speedy time during the men’s 100-meter back semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Larkin raced his way to a 52.38 to break his preliminary record of 52.50. Tonight’s swim pushed him to eighth all time in the event’s history. He’s also not far off Aaron Peirsol’s meet record of 52.19 from the 2009 World Championships.

All Time Top 10
[table “” not found /]

France’s Camille Lacourt picked up the second seed in a time of 52.70 for the second-best time of the year this year.

USA’s Matt Grevers moved to third in the world with a third-seeded 52.73.

Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (53.13), Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (53.14), China’s Xu Jiayu (53.15), Great Britain’s Liam Tancock (53.19) and Great Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebborn (53.39) grabbed the rest of the spots in the championship final.

David Plummer of the U.S. just missed with a ninth-place 53.54 as he’s battling a stomach illness.

Women’s 100 breast semis

Russia’s Yuliya Efimova and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte set up a potentially epic battle in finals during the women’s 100-meter breast semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Efimova topped the second semifinal in 1:05.60 to move to second in the world rankings behind Meilutyte’s world-best 1:05.46 from the Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum.

Meilutyte earned the second seed heading into finals with a time of 1:05.64.

The two took gold and silver in the 2013 edition of this meet with Meilutyte defeating Efimova, 1:04.42 to 1:05.02.

The bronze medalist in 2013, Jessica Hardy, looked to be a lock for the finals after a 31.19 front half, but she faltered down the stretch with a 36.03 as she faded to 10th overall in 1:07.22 to miss finals.

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson qualified third in 1:06.21 to down her Jamaican record of 1:06.59 and move to fourth in the world rankings.

China’s Shi Jinglin (1:06.28), Japan’s Kanako Watanabe (1:06.64), Sweden’s Jennie Johansson (1:06.76), Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni (1:06.95) and Iceland’s Hilda Luthersdottir (1:07.11) also moved on to the finale.

Men’s 50 fly finals

France’s Florent Manaudou cracked 23 seconds again to stand tall as the men’s 50-meter fly world champion at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Manaudou hit the wall in 22.97 for the gold medal, off his French record of 22.84 from the semifinal heats.

That’s Manaudou’s third career world title as he continues to pile up a strong resume heading into the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Brazil’s Nicholas Santos took home silver with a time of 23.09. He’s been faster this year with a 22.90 from the Maria Lenk Trophy meet.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak shared bronze with 23.15s.

Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov placed fifth overall in 23.18, while two-time defending champion Cesar Cielo took sixth with a 23.21 as he’s been battling a shoulder injury.

Singapore’s Joe Schooling lowered his Asian record with a 23.25 for seventh overall, while Great Britain’s Ben Proud took eighth overall in 23.39.

Women’s 100 back semis

A pair of 58s went up on the board in the women’s 100-meter back semis with Emily Seebohm, and Mie Nielsen claiming the top seeds at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Seebohm clocked a time of 58.56 for the top seed to move to the top of the world rankings. She’s looking for her second world title and sixth career world championship medal.

Nielsen, meanwhile, clocked in second with a time of 58.84 to move to third in the world rankings. That’s a Danish record for Nielsen, breaking her previous record of 59.14 from March of this year.

Australia’s Madison Wilson captured the third seed in 59.05, off her 58.94 from April as her season best.

China’s Fu Yuanhui (59.33), USA’s Missy Franklin (59.42), Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova (59.55), USA’s Kathleen Baker (59.63) and Great Britain’s Lauren Quigley (59.63) also made the championship heat.

The stunner was that Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu broke 59 seconds for the first time in prelims with a blazing 58.78, but decided to scratch her semifinal swim to focus on the 200-meter IM final later in the evening.

That’s a stunning turn of events for Baker. Baker initially missed semis with a 17th-place effort in prelims, but was pulled into semifinals after Hosszu and Sweden’s Michelle Coleman scratched after prelims.

Baker certainly walked right through that open door as she made the finale alongside American teammate Franklin.

Men’s 200 free semis

After being written off this morning when qualifying 13th, USA’s Ryan Lochte showed he isn’t done yet as he led the way in the men’s 200-meter free semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Lochte threw down a top time of 1:45.36 for the top seed. That swim moved him to the top of the world rankings, better than Paul Biedermann’s 1:45.60 from German Nationals.

Lochte pulled off the feat from out in lane 1 as he is looking for his 24th career world championship medal and potentially his 16th gold medal in long course competition.

Great Britain’s James Guy qualified second in 1:45.43 as he broke Robbie Renwick’s British record of 1:45.99 from 2009. He moved to second in the world rankings with the swim.

Australia’s Cameron McEvoy chased down the third seed in 1:46.09, while South Africa’s Chad le Clos clocked in with a fourth-seeded 1:46.10.

China’s Sun Yang, the 400-meter free winner, qualified in fifth in 1:46.17.

Germany’s Paul Biedermann (1:46.20), The Netherlands’ Sebastiaan Verschuren (1:46.43) and Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh (1:46.45) made up the rest of the championship field.

USA’s Conor Dwyer just missed the final with a ninth-place 1:46.64.

Women’s 200 IM finals

The Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu broke the most infamous world record of the techsuit era as she clipped Ariana Kukors’ amazing women’s 200-meter IM global mark at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Hosszu, who broke down in tears after the tremendous feat, did what no one thought would be done anytime soon as she blazed her way to a scorching time of 2:06.12.

That performance clipped the previous world record of 2:06.15 set by Kukors at the 2009 World Championships.

Before Hosszu began her focused attack on the record this year, Stephanie Rice was the closest swimmer to Kukors’ record with a 2:07.03 from the 2009 meet as well. The textile best also had stood to Ye Shiwen with a 2:07.57 from the 2012 London Olympics, a full second-and-a-half off Kukors’ time.

No one thought the record would fall – other than Hosszu. Hosszu, so focused on breaking the record, changed up her typical Iron Lady schedule by scratching the top seed in the 100-meter back semis as she definitely sacrificed a medal in that event for the world record in the 200 IM.

That’s Hosszu’s fourth career world title as she is looking to make history this year heading into the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Comparative Splits

[table “” not found /]

In the mythical swim against Kukors, one can see that Hosszu pushed the pace as hard as she possibly could through 150 meters and did what she had to do to overcome the techsuit-aided final freestyle charge of Kukors.

Japan’s Kanako Watanabe finished second in 2:08.45 to crush her Japanese record of 2:09.61. That swim moved her up to second in the world alongside Siobhan Marie O’Connor’s 2:08.45 from yesterday.

O’Connor grabbed bronze in a time of 2:08.77, just off her British record of 2:08.21.

USA’s Maya DiRado took fourth in 2:08.99 with Great Britain’s Hannah Miley placing fifth in 2:10.19.

Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (2:10.32), USA’s Melanie Margalis (2:10.41) and China’s Ye (2:14.01) closed out the rest of the championship heat.

2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 2 Finals – Results

SCHEDULED EVENTS

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

HEAT SHEETS

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use