2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 5 Finals Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

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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 free semis

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom was at it again as she led the way into the women’s 100-meter free finals at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Sjostrom paced a pair of 52-second performances with a 52.78 for the top seed. That’s not far off her national record of 52.67 as she moved closer to the top times in the world of 52.69 shared by Femke Heemskerk and Cate Campbell.

Campbell, meanwhile, put up the easiest 52-second swim potentially in history as she seemed to cruise down the stretch with a second-seeded time of 52.84.

Bronte Campbell hit the wall in 53.00, bettering her fourth-ranked season best of 53.04 as she looks to overtake her sister for the top spot in the world.

Heemskerk checked in with a fourth-seeded time of 53.38, while teammate Ranomi Kromowidjojo wound up fifth in 53.78.

USA’s Simone Manuel (53.81) and China’s Shen Duo (53.91) qualified sixth and seventh.

USA’s Missy Franklin clipped Canada’s Chantal Van Landeghem, 53.92 to 53.93, for the final spot into the finale.

Men’s 200 IM finals

USA’s Ryan Lochte made history as he joined Grant Hackett in the fourpeat club with a win in the men’s 200-meter IM at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Lochte raced his way to victory in a time of 1:55.81, the only sub-1:56 of the year as she smashed the world best of 1:56.30 set by Kosuke Hagino in April.

That’s Lochte’s fourth consecutive victory in the 200-meter IM as he previously won in 2009 (1:54.10), 2011 (1:54.00) and 2013 (1:54.98).

He joins Hackett as the only two people to ever win a world title four straight times in the same event. Hackett won the 1500 free from 1998-2005.

That’s also the sixth world championships during which Lochte has won a gold medal as he pushed his total career medals to 16 golds, four silvers and four bronzes for 24 total. He trails only Michael Phelps’ 33 total medals (26 gold, six silver, one bronze).

Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, fresh off becoming the most decorated athlete ever at the Pan American Games, took silver in 1:56.65. That’s just a second off his Brazilian record of 1:55.55, and gave him his first silver at a world championship meet. He previously earned a pair of bronzes.

China’s Wang Shun snared bronze overall in 1:56.81, breaking his own Chinese record of !:56.86 from 2013 for his third career bronze medal at worlds.

Great Britain’s Dan Wallace (1:57.59), USA’s Conor Dwyer (1:57.96), Poland’s Marcin Cieslak (1:58.14), Brazil’s Henrique Rodrigues (1:58.52) and Sweden’s Simon Sjodin (1:59.06) also competed for the title.

Women’s 200 breast semis

Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen put up a top time in the women’s 200-meter breast semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

The world-record holder Pedersen clocked a time of 2:21.99 to lead the way into the finals. That’s just off her second-ranked season best of 2:21.58 from June.

USA’s Micah Lawrence raced her way into second in the finale with a time of 2:22.04 as she moved to fourth in the world rankings this year, crushing her season best of 2:23.32.

Japan’s Kanako Watanabe, the top-ranked swimmer in the world with a 2:20.90 from April, checked in third with a time of 2:22.15.

200 Breast World Rankings

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Russia’s Vitalina Simonova (2:22.72), Canada’s Kierra Smith (2:22.82), Japan’s Rie Kaneto (2:22.88) and Spain’s Jessica Vall (2:22.90) also qualified into the championship heat.

China’s Shi Jinglin and Iceland’s Hilda Luthersdottir set up a swimoff for eighth with matching 2:23.06s.

Shi beat Luthersdottir, 2:23.75 to 2:25.11, in the swimoff.

Men’s 100 free finals

Ning Zetao became China’s first male sprint world champion as he took home the men’s 100-meter free title at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Ning clocked a top time of 47.84, the best swim in the world this year, for his first world championship medal. That time cleared the previous world best of 47.94 set by Cameron McEvoy yesterday.

It wasn’t enough to break his Chinese record of 47.65, but it was definitely good enough for him to join Sun Yang and Zhang Lin as just the third man from China to ever win a world title.

McEvoy, meanwhile, snared silver in 47.95 for his first world championship medal as well.

Argentina’s Federico Grabich chased down bronze in a time of 48.12 as he just missed his Argentinian record of 48.11.

Canada’s Santo Condorelli (48.19), Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighini (48.27), Russia’s Alexander Sukhorukov (48.28), USA’s Nathan Adrian (48.31) and Belgium’s Pieter Timmers (48.31) comprised the rest of the championship heat.

Adrian, the reigning Olympic champion in the event, fell surprisingly out of the medals.

Women’s 200 fly finals

Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi powered her way to her first world title with a win at the women’s 200-meter fly at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Hoshi, who sat back in the third and fourth-place spots throughout most of the swim, turned on the jets to win the title down the stretch with a 2:05.56.

That swim put Hoshi third in the world rankings behind Franziska Hentke (2:05.26) and Madeline Groves (2:05.41) this year.

Hoshi didn’t need her best for the win as she’s been a 2:04.69 back in 2012 for the Japanese record.

USA’s Cammile Adams chased down her first world championship medal with a silver-winning time of 2:06.40. That’s her lifetime best, clearing a 2:06.52 on her resume as the Pan Pacific Champion clinched silver here on the brightest stage.

China’s Zhang Yufei lowered her own World Junior Record with a bronze-winning 2:06.51. That swim cleared her 2:06.92 set yesterday.

Australia’s Brianna Throssell (2:06.78), Germany’s Hentke (2:06.78), USA’s Katie McLaughlin (2:06.95), Hungary’s Liliana Szilagyi (2:07.76) and China’s Zhou Yilin (2:10.20) closed out the rest of the championship field.

Men’s 200 breast semis

Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki made a run at the world record in the men’s 200-meter breast semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Koseki, out well under world record pace at the 150 with a 1:34.02, wound up fading back to a top-seeded time of 2:08.03. That’s a bit off his lifetime best of 2:07.77 that stands as the top time in the world this year.

Koseki has compatriot Akihiro Yamaguchi’s world record of 2:07.01 from 2012 in his sights heading into finals.

Germany’s Marco Koch charged his way to the second seed in 2:08.34, tying Adam Peaty for the second best time in the world this year. Peaty, surprisingly, missed semis this morning during prelims.

Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta qualified third in 2:08.53. He’s looking to join Grant Hackett and Ryan Lochte as fourpeat winners as he previously won the 200 breast in 2009 (2:07.64), 2011 (2:08.41) and 2013 (2:07.23).

USA’s Kevin Cordes claimed fourth in 2:08.69 with Great Britain’s Andrew Willis taking fifth overall in 2:08.72.

Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin (2:09.22), China’s Mao Feilian (2:09.54) and Russia’s Anton Chupkov (2:09.64) also made the finale.

Chupkov broke the World Junior Record of 2:09.75 set by Ippei Watanabe back in May at the Japan Open.

Women’s 50 back finals

Fu Yuanhui took down her textile best in the women’s 50-meter back yet again with a winning time at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Fu raced her way to a 27.11, just off the world record of 27.06 set by Zhao Jing back in 2009. Fu nearly set the world record, but crashed into the lane line at the finish.

Fu’s time lowered her textile best of 27.18 from semis and produce her first career world title. She took silver in this event back in 2013.

That’s the third out of four worlds where someone from China has won the event. Zhao topped the sprint back in 2009 (27.06) and 2013 (27.29).

Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros turned in a silver-winning time of 27.26, breaking the Brazilian and South American record of 27.37 she set back in 2014.

China’s Liu Xiang snatched bronze in a time of 27.58 as she lowered her own personal best of 27.67.

Australia’s Emily Seebohm (27.66), Denmark’s Mie Nielsen (27.73), Australia’s Madison Wilson (27.92), Great Britain’s Lauren Quigley (27.99) and Greece’s Theodora Drakou (28.17) finished fourth through eighth in the finale.

Men’s 200 back semis

Australia’s Mitch Larkin broke 1:55 for the first time with an Oceanic record in the men’s 200-meter back semis at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Larkin topped the semifinal heats with a time of 1:54.29. That swim blasted his record of 1:55.26 as he vaulted to the top of the world rankings. That swim cleared Ryosuke Irie’s world-best time of 1:54.62 from the BHP Super Series.

USA’s Ryan Murphy, who nearly broke a world record in the 100-meter backstroke as a mixed 400 medley relay leadoff earlier this week, raced his way to the second seed in 1:55.10. That’s a personal best for Murphy, who lowered his previous top time of 1:55.73.

China’s Xu Jiayu checked in with a third-seeded effort of 1:55.13, just off his lifetime best and Chinese record of 1:55.05.

Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (1:55.54), Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki (1:55.54), Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (1:55.76), USA’s Tyler Clary (1:56.58) and China’s Li Guangyuan (1:57.12) also managed to make their way into the championship eight.

200 Back World Rankings

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Women’s 800 free relay finals

Team USA captured its third straight women’s 800-meter freestyle relay title at the 2015 FINA World Championships with a strong anchor leadoff and anchor from Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky.

The USA foursome of Franklin (1:55.95), Leah Smith (1:56.86), Katie McLaughlin (1:56.92) and Ledecky (1:55.64) won the world title by three seconds with a 7:45.37.

While not quite so dominant as some of the previous U.S. iterations that had Team USA in world-record contention in the 7:42 range, it was more than enough to give Ledecky her fourth gold medal here at the 2015 Worlds.

That’s Ledecky’s eighth career world title now as she trails only Franklin and Libby Trickett in the all time gold medal chart as Franklin broke a tie with Libby Trickett with her 10th career world title as Trickett owns nine.

All Time World Titles

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Franklin also continues to march up the career world championship medal chart. By the end of the week, Franklin should stand behind only Natalie Coughlin as the most decorated female swimmer in worlds history.

Most World Medals

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Italy’s Alice Mizzau (1:57.50), Erica Musso (1:58.66), Chiara Masini Luccetti (1:57.52) and Federica Pellegrini (1:54.73) were pulled into a silver by Pellegrini’s ridiculous anchor leg as Italy clocked a second-place 7:48.41.

China’s Qiu Yuhan (1:56.88), Guo Junjun (1:57.55), Zhang Yufei (1:58.73) and Shen Duo (1:55.94) collected bronze in 7:49.10.

Sweden finished fourth overall in 7:50.24 with Sarah Sjostrom lighting up the leadoffs with a world-best time of 1:54.31. That would have beat Ledecky last night in the women’s 200-meter free finals and is the second-fastest time in textile ever.

Great Britain (7:50.60), Australia (7:51.02), Japan (7:54.62) and France (7:55.98) also swam in the championship event.

2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 5 Finals – Results

SCHEDULED EVENTS

Women’s 100 free semis
Men’s 200 IM finals
Women’s 200 breast semis
Men’s 100 free finals
Women’s 200 fly finals
Men’s 200 breast semis
Women’s 50 back finals
Men’s 200 back semis
Women’s 800 free relay finals

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