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ROME, Italy, July 29. IN the fourth heat of women's 200 fly qualifying, Mary DeScenza blasted the final 50 meters en route to a world record at the FINA World Championships.
DeScenza clocked a time of 2:04.14 to lower the world record of 2:04.18 set by China's Liu Zige at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. DeScenza came home with a blazing fast 31.65 in the final 50 to take the global mark.
Here are the comparative splits:
DeScenza: 28.79, 1:00.57 (31.78), 1:32.49 (31.92), 2:04.14 (31.65)
Liu: 27.80, 59.37 (31.57), 1:31.59 (32.22), 2:04.18 (32.59)
She also crushed the American record of 2:05.88 set by Misty Hyman back in 2000, and dropped the meet record of 2:05.61 set by Otylia Jedrzejczak in 2005.
Australia's Jessicah Schipper finished second in 2:05.50, while Hungary's Katinka Hosszu took third in 2:06.21. Hosszu lowered Emile Kovcas' national mark of 2:06.71 from March 2008.
Australia's Samantha Hamill (2:06.32), Germany's Annika Mehlhorn (2:06.45), France's Aurore Mongel (2:06.66), Canada's Audrey Lacroix (2:06.67) and China's Jiao Liuyang (2:07.01) claimed the top eight spots. Mehlhorn downed her national record of 2:06.97 set in 2001, while Lacroix dipped under her national standard of 2:06.83 from 2007.
Japan's Yui Miyamoto (2:07.13), Great Britain's Ellen Gandy (2:07.33), the United States' Kathleen Hersey (2:07.34), Liu (2:07.55), Italy's Caterina Giacchetti (2:07.84), Denmark's Micha Jensen (2:08.54), France's Magali Rousseau (2:08.57) and Hungary's Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:08.63) completed the semifinal field.
