U.S. Men Have Last Word, Set World Mark in 400m Medley Relay as Pan Pacs End With a Bang

By Stephen J. Thomas

YOKOHAMA, Japan, August 29. THE 2002 Pan Pacific Championships came to a spectacular close today, with the US winning five of seven events. The Americans saved the best for last, setting a spectacular world record in the men's 400m medley relay — the only world mark set here in Yokohama. Fourteen world marks were set at the last Pan Pacs, in Sydney three years ago.

Men's 400m Medley Relay
The Aussies had just taken gold over the USA in the womenfs event, so Team USA was ready to exact some revenge here. Peirsol splashed a very fast 54.17 to head Aussie Matt Welsh (54.52) and Japanfs Morita headed Janes of Canada. Brendan Hansen took the USA farther ahead with the third fastest all-time breaststroke split 1:00.14, Piper held second for the Aussies and Yamaguchi third from Canadafs Brown.

Then Phelps split the all-time fastest fly – 51.13 – and the USA was now well under world record pace. Huegill split 51.69, Yamamoto 52.38 and Mintenko 51.91.

It was left to Jason Lezak to come home in 48.04 to break the USAfs own world record set in Sydney by just 0.25 seconds – 3:33.48. Thorpe clocked 47.20, tying the second fastest split in history, behind Hoogie, to take silver for the Aussies and Brent Hayden split 48.58 to pick up another bronze for Canada.

Sensational stuff!

USA: 3:33.48 WR
Aaron Peirsol 54.17
Brendan Hansen 1:00.14
Michael Phelps 51.13
Jason Lezak 48.04

Australia: NR
Matt Welsh 54.52
Jim Piper 1:01.43
Geoff Huegill 51.69
Ian Thorpe 47.20

Canada:
Riley Janes 56.07
Mike Brown 1:01.61
Mike Mintenko 51.91
Brent Hayden 48.58

Men's 1500m Freestyle
Given the amount of kiometers Grant Hackett has raced in the past few weeks, it would have been understandable if he had splashed out a solid time and taken home added another gold to add to his collection.

Instead he reinforced his place as the greatest distance swimmer in history, clocking the second fastest time in history 14:41.65, just 0.01 in front of the great Kieren Perkins' best from 1994 but behind his world record of 14:34.56. He now six of the top ten times in history over the distance.

Hackett said after the race, "My performance convinced me I could lower my PB in the future given Ifve completed such a hard program with all the swims at the Commonwealth Games and this meet."

The USA's Erik Vendt took the silver in 15:02.24 and Larsen Jensen the bronze 15:05.17, both just short of their individual PRfs.

Men's 200m Individual Medley
Before the race, Michael Phelps had made it clear that he wanted to take Finn Jani Sievinenfs world mark away from him. He went for it.

Phelps was under world record pace for the fly (25.56 to 26.17), and held it in the dorsal leg (55.36 to 56.61). But the second half was tough and he dropped behind at the 150 (1:31.34 to 1:30.03) and finally finished in a Championship record 1:59.70, the eigth fastest all-time performance, but slower than his American record time of 1:58.68 from the US Nationals.

Japan's Takahiro Mori had a great swim for a national record 2:00.61, moving him to 13th all-time performer. USAfs Tom Wilkens took bronze in 2:01.17 to edge out Canadafs Brian Johns.

Men's 100m Butterfly
USAfs Ian Crocker was keen to go under 52 seconds in this race and with a 50-meter split of 24.61 (WR 24.49) he whad a chance, with world record-holder for the 50 fly, Aussie Geoff Huegill a surprising 0.28 adrift.

The second half was not at world record pace, but Crocker took the money one better than his World Champs silver, clocking 52.45 with Huegill second just 0.03 behind. Olympic finalist Canadafs Mike Mintenko clocked 52.69 to take the bronze.

Women's 100m Freestyle
The USAfs Natalie Coughlin just keeps getting faster and faster. Tonight she was awesome. She exploded off the blocks like greased lightening, then stroked smoothly down the pool, turning in 25.98 (Inkyfs world split is 25.81), half a second ahead of comebacker Jenny Thompson. She powered off the wall and left the field in her wake to slap the pads under 54 seconds – 53.99 – the fourth fastest swim in history, and a new American and Championship record. Only Inge de Bruijn has ever sum faster.

The Aussies' new sprint queen, Jodie Henry, made the most of the fast pace to pass Jenny Thompson and take silver in a new Commonwealth and Australian record 54.55 (15th all-time performer). Thompson took bronze for USA in 54.75, her sixth medal in this event at Pan Pacs. Japan's Tomoko Nagai was 4th in 55.64 ahead of Aussie Sarah Ryan 55.78.

Coughlin was extremely animated when she spoke after her sensational swim, "I am really excited and surprised with the time. As the meet has gone on, I have felt more and more tired but technically I felt I swam a better race than last night, I felt perfect in the water. I feel really pumped for the relay now."

Women's 200m Backstroke
The USA's Margaret Hoelzer was a surprise winner here tonight after hot favorite, Japan's Tomoko Hagiwara, scratched after her warm-up, leaving the race up for grabs.

Hoelzer was in sixth place at the 100 and worked her way through the field with a strong second half to take the race comfortably in a PR 2:11.00 (8th fastest American).

"It was great to swim my best time and win here. I wanted to go out just fast enough and have enough energy for the finish," said Hoelzer of her race.

Japanfs other competitor, Aya Terakawa, along with second fastest qualifier Jennifer Fratesi of Canada, came from the back of the field to take silver and bronze respectively. Terakawa clocked 2:12.28, Fratesi 2:12.71. The USAfs Diana MacManus was 4th in 2:14.01.

Women's 400m Medley Relay
Team USA lost to the Aussies at the World Champs last year, so there was pride on the line here.

Nat Coughlin was pumped for a big swim after her sensational freestyle win and her backstroke was just as good – 1:00.09 – the third fastest time in history. Japan touched just ahead of the Aussies.

Leisel Jones made up some ground to put the Aussies behind USA's Amanda Beard, with Canada's Rhiannon Leier moving to third.

The race changed its course in the fly leg where world champ Petria Thomas swam the fastest fly split in history – 56.94 – to get within 0.36 of a tiring Jenny Thompson, with Canada's Jenny Button holding third.

Then it was down to the Aussie silver medalist from earlier in the night, Jodie Henry, up against the USA's anchor, Lindsay Benko. Benko turned in 26.53 to Henry's 26.49, keeping the USA in front by 0.22.

In the last 50, Henry got on top of Benko to split 54.07 to 54.98, giving the Sheilas from Down Under the gold in a Championship record 4:00.50. The USA touched in 4:101.15 while Laura Nicholls came home in 54.99 to win bronze for Canada (4:05.69).

Australia: 4:00.50 CR
Di Calub 1:01.98
Leisel Jones 1:07.51
Petria Thomas 56.94
Jodie Henry 54.07

USA: 4:01.15
Nat Coughlin 1:00.09
Amanda Beard 1:07.76
Jenny Thompson 58.32
Lindsay Benko 54.98

Canada: 4:05.69
Erin Gammel 1:02.32
Rhiannon Leier 1:09.22
Jenny Button 59.16
Laura Nicholls 54.99

PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Yokohama, Japan
August 24-29

DAY SIX: August 29, 2002
Finals Results

Event 64 1500m Freestyle Men Timed Final

Ranking Results

WR 14:34.56 Grant HACKETT AUS 2001/07/29 FUKUOKA
CR 14:41.65 Grant HACKETT AUS 2002/08/29 YOKOHAMA

Rank HT LN Name first name Nation YB Time (R.T.)

——————————————————————————–

1 2 4 Grant HACKETT AUS 80 14:41.65 CR (0.77)
2 2 5 Erik VENDT USA 81 15:02.24 (0.67)
3 2 3 Larsen JENSEN USA 85 15:05.17 (0.75)
4 2 6 Craig STEVENS AUS 80 15:20.76 (0.84)
5 2 2 Shunichi FUJITA JPN 82 15:21.19 (0.86)
6 2 1 Kurtis MACGILLIVARY CAN 84 15:36.12 (0.85)
7 2 8 Bruno BONFIM BRA 79 15:41.80 (0.74)
8 2 7 Takeshi MATSUDA JPN 84 15:53.75 (0.80)
1 4 Chris THOMPSON USA 78 15:29.27 (0.86)
1 5 Kwok Leung CHUNG HKG 84 16:02.83 (0.87)

Event 73 100m Frestyle Women Finals

Ranking Results

WR 53.77 Inge DE BRUIJN NED 2000/09/20 SYDNEY
CR 53.99 Natalie COUGHLIN USA 2002/08/29 YOKOHAMA

Rank HT LN Name first name Nation YB Time (R.T.)

——————————————————————————–

1 1 4 Natalie COUGHLIN USA 82 53.99 CR, NR (0.67)
2 1 3 Jodie HENRY AUS 83 54.55 NR (0.84)
3 1 5 Jennifer THOMPSON USA 73 54.75 (0.77)
4 1 2 Tomoko NAGAI JPN 81 55.64 (0.73)
5 1 6 Sarah RYAN AUS 77 55.78 (0.73)
6 1 8 Laura NICHOLLS CAN 78 56.41 (0.88)
7 1 1 Kaori YAMADA JPN 81 56.56 (0.74)
8 1 7 Alison FITCH NZL 80 56.91 (0.89)

Event 74 100m Butterfly Men Finals

Ranking Results

WR 51.81 Michael KLIM AUS 1999/12/12 CANBERRA
CR 52.21 Ian CROCKER USA 2002/08/28 YOKOHAMA

Rank HT LN Name first name Nation YB Time (R.T.)

——————————————————————————–

1 1 4 Ian CROCKER USA 82 52.45 (0.70)
2 1 5 Geoff HUEGILL AUS 79 52.48 (0.75)
3 1 3 Michael MINTENKO CAN 75 52.69 (0.69)
4 1 6 Takashi YAMAMOTO JPN 78 52.88 (0.72)
5 1 7 Adam PINE AUS 76 52.97 (0.77)
6 1 2 Thomas HANNAN USA 80 53.00 (0.72)
7 1 1 Kohei KAWAMOTO JPN 79 53.79 (0.65)
8 1 8 Hao JIN CHN 79 54.43 (0.76)

Event 75 200m Backstroke Women Finals

Ranking Results

WR 2:06.62 Krisztina EGERSZEGI HUN 1991/08/25 ATHENS
CR 2:10.79 Anna SIMCIC NZL 1991/08/25 EDMONTON

Rank HT LN Name first name Nation YB Time (R.T.)

——————————————————————————–

1 1 5 Margaret HOELZER USA 83 2:11.00 (0.63)
2 1 3 Aya TERAKAWA JPN 84 2:12.28 (0.58)
3 1 4 Jennifer FRATESI CAN 84 2:12.71 (0.66)
4 1 6 Diana MACMANUS USA 86 2:14.01 (0.62)
5 1 7 Elizabeth WARDEN CAN 78 2:14.15 (0.63)
6 1 2 Clementine STONEY AUS 81 2:14.37 (0.67)
7 1 1 Hannah MCLEAN NZL 81 2:14.74 (0.60)
8 1 8 Melissa MORGAN AUS 85 2:16.36 (0.60)

Event 76 200m Individual Medley Men Finals

Ranking Results

WR 1:58.16 Jani SIEVINEN FIN 1994/09/11 ROME
CR 1:59.83 Michael PHELPS USA 2002/08/28 YOKOHAMA

Rank HT LN Name first name Nation YB Time (R.T.)

——————————————————————————–

1 1 4 Michael PHELPS USA 85 1:59.70 CR (0.73)
2 1 3 Takahiro MORI JPN 80 2:00.61 (0.68)
3 1 6 Thomas WILKENS USA 75 2:01.17 (0.79)
4 1 2 Brian JOHNS CAN 82 2:01.25 (0.84)
5 1 5 Jiro MIKI JPN 83 2:01.67 (0.65)
6 1 7 Dean KENT NZL 78 2:02.88 (0.80)
7 1 1 Justin NORRIS AUS 80 2:03.03 (0.74)
8 1 8 Robert VAN DER ZANT AUS 75 2:04.91 (0.68)

Event 77 4x100m Medley Relay Women Timed Final

Ranking Results

WR 3:58.30 USA USA 2000/09/23 SYDNEY
CR 4:00.50 AUS yana CALUB 2002/08/29 YOKOHAMA

Rank Nation Name first name YB TOTAL TOTAL (R.T.)
LN/HT
Time 50m 50m 100m 100m T.O.

——————————————————————————–

Timed Final
1 AUS Dyana CALUB 75 30.11 30.11 1:01.98 31.87 0.63
5/1 Leisel JONES 85 1:33.45 31.47 2:09.49 36.04 +0.18
4:00.50 Petria THOMAS 75 2:36.31 26.82 3:06.43 30.12 +0.31
CR Jodie HENRY 83 3:32.92 26.49 4:00.50 27.58 +0.49
@
2 USA Natalie COUGHLIN 82 29.47 29.47 1:00.09 30.62 0.55
4/1 Amanda BEARD 81 1:31.70 31.61 2:07.85 36.15 +0.17
4:01.15 Jennifer THOMPSON 73 2:34.49 26.64 3:06.17 31.68 +0.20
Lindsay BENKO 76 3:32.70 26.53 4:01.15 28.45 +0.27
@
3 CAN Erin GAMMEL 80 30.36 30.36 1:02.32 31.96 0.62
6/1 Rhiannon LEIER 77 1:34.49 32.17 2:11.54 37.05 +0.32
4:05.69 Jennifer BUTTON 77 2:39.23 27.69 3:10.70 31.47 +0.36
Laura NICHOLLS 78 3:36.94 26.24 4:05.69 28.75 +0.33
@
4 JPN Noriko INADA 78 30.33 30.33 1:01.85 31.52 0.62
3/1 Fumiko KAWANABE 84 1:35.46 33.61 2:12.13 36.67 +0.48
4:06.91 Yuko NAKANISHI 81 2:40.09 27.96 3:11.59 31.50 +0.29
Tomoko NAGAI 81 3:38.56 26.97 4:06.91 28.35 +0.27
@
5 NZL Hannah MCLEAN 81 30.63 30.63 1:03.29 32.66 0.60
2/1 Jane COPLAND 84 1:38.16 34.87 2:17.56 39.40 +0.66
4:16.97 Megan ALLAN 82 2:46.49 28.93 3:20.64 34.15 +0.47
Alison FITCH 80 3:47.61 26.97 4:16.97 29.36 +0.41
@
6 HKG Hiu Wai Sherry TSAI 83 31.07 31.07 1:03.75 32.68 0.60
7/1 Ka Lei LIU 85 1:37.95 34.20 2:18.39 40.44 +0.52
4:22.25 Wing Suet CHAN 86 2:48.40 30.01 3:23.30 34.90 +0.59
Chi Kwon Jennifer NG 85 3:51.47 28.17 4:22.25 30.78 +0.58
@
SIN 0.00 —–
1/1 0.00 0.00
0.00 0.00
DNS 0.00 0.00
@

Event 78 4x100m Medley Relay Men Timed Final

Ranking Results

WR 3:33.48 USA USA 2002/08/29 YOKOHAMA
CR 3:33.48 USA USA 2002/08/29 YOKOHAMA

Rank Nation Name first name YB TOTAL TOTAL (R.T.)
LN/HT
Time 50m 50m 100m 100m T.O.

——————————————————————————–

Timed Final
1 USA Aaron PEIRSOL 83 26.34 26.34 54.17 27.83 0.62
5/1 Brendan HANSEN 81 1:22.45 28.28 1:54.31 31.86 +0.35
3:33.48 Michael PHELPS 85 2:18.31 24.00 2:45.44 27.13 +0.29
WR Jason LEZAK 75 3:07.97 22.53 3:33.48 25.51 +0.16
@
2 AUS Matthew WELSH 76 26.35 26.35 54.52 28.17 0.66
4/1 Jim PIPER 81 1:22.84 28.32 1:55.95 33.11 +0.29
3:34.84 Geoff HUEGILL 79 2:19.80 23.85 2:47.64 27.84 +0.36
Ian THORPE 82 3:09.96 22.32 3:34.84 24.88 +0.08
@
3 CAN Riley JANES 80 26.61 26.61 56.07 29.46 0.60
6/1 Mike BROWN 84 1:25.11 29.04 1:57.68 32.57 +0.19
3:38.17 Michael MINTENKO 75 2:21.47 23.79 2:49.59 28.12 +0.26
Brent HAYDEN 83 3:12.55 22.96 3:38.17 25.62 +0.27
@
4 JPN Tomomi MORITA 84 26.97 26.97 55.16 28.19 0.50
3/1 Yoshihisa YAMAGUCHI 82 1:23.97 28.81 1:56.76 32.79 +0.30
3:39.06 Takashi YAMAMOTO 78 2:21.08 24.32 2:49.14 28.06 +0.21
Daisuke HOSOKAWA 82 3:12.89 23.75 3:39.06 26.17 +0.10
@
5 BRA Cleber S. PIMENTA COSTA 79 27.78 27.78 57.69 29.91 0.60
7/1 Henrique RIBEIRO M. BARBOSA 84 1:27.65 29.96 2:01.58 33.93 +0.21
3:48.00 Hugo Jose DUPPRE 75 2:26.97 25.39 2:56.56 29.59 +0.39
Andre OLIVEIRA CORDEIRO 74 3:20.82 24.26 3:48.00 27.18 +0.21
@
6 NZL Scott TALBOT 81 27.50 27.50 57.28 29.78 0.59
2/1 Kieran DALY 81 1:27.86 30.58 2:02.64 34.78 +0.41
3:49.53 Moss Burmester 81 2:27.76 25.12 2:57.94 30.18 +0.32
Cameron GIBSON 82 3:22.54 24.60 3:49.53 26.99 +0.41

——————————————————————————–
Get up close and personal with many of the top women on the U.S. team now competing at the Pan Pacific Championships. The book, "By a Fraction of a Second," chronicles the stories of current Pan Pac team members; Megan Quann, Lindsay Benko, Diana Munz and others. Read how the latest world record setter on the Pan Pac team had her 2000 Olympic dreams shattered.

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A great book that will motivate swimmers of all ages. Anyone interested in the drama of great swimming competition will enjoy "By a Fraction of a Second."

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