Flash! Thorpe Swims Second-Fastest 200 Free Ever!

CANET, June 7. AUSTRALIA'S Ian Thorpe "thorpedoed" the opposition today on the third and final day of competition at the Mare Nostrum meet in Canet, France, clocking the second fastest 200 meters freestyle in history.

The 18 year-old Aussie 'wonderboy" touched in 1:44.97, just 0.28 seconds off the world record of 1:44.69 he set on March 27. Even more impressively, he did it without opposition: his nearest pursuer, teammate Bill Kirby, was almost five seconds in arrears.

Thorpe split 24.84, 51.85, 1:18.58 before finishing in 1:44.97.

By 50s, he split: 24.84, 27.01, 26.73, 26.39.
by 100s: 51.85 – 53.12.

Thorpe was not the only swimmer burning up the lane lines under the warm Mediterranean sun. Holland's Inge de Bruijn turned in the world's fastest time this year in the 50 free, clocking 24.85–more than a second ahead of Slovakia's Martina Moravcova (25.96).

De Bruijn beat Moravcova again in the 100 fly – another event in which she was Olympic champion and holds the world record – but this time it was much closer. Inky finished in 58.78, a fingernail ahead of Martina at 58.80.

Russia's Alex Popov, winner of the 100 yesterday in 49.75, showed there's still some raw speed in his 30 year-old body. The Czar took the 50 free easily in 22.18 seconds.

–Phil Whitten

RESULTS

MEN

50 METER FREESTYLE
1 22.18 POPOV Alexander 71 RUS
2 22.96 ILES Salim 75 ALG
3 23.12 NEETHLING Ryk 77 RSA
4 23.41 SICOT Julien 78 FRA
5 23.48 FOLKER Nicholas 76 RSA
6 23.55 PEARSON Todd 77 AUS
7 23.57 KHOKHLOV Leon 80 RUS
8 23.83 TEINTURIER Davy 79 FRA

200 METER FREESTYLE
1 1:44.97 THORPE Ian 82 AUS
2 1:49.64 KIRBY William 75 AUS
3 1:49.70 MATKOVICH Antony 77 AUS
4 1:51.46 TCHERNYCHEV Dimit.75 RUS
5 1:52.42 JOHNS Brian 82 CAN
6 1:52.60 PEARSON Todd 77 AUS
7 1:53.03 SELERI Nicola 81 ITA
8 1:53.70 DUNCAN Jonathan 82 NZL

100 METER BREASTSTROKE
1 1:02.52 LISOGOR Oleg 79 UKR
2 1:02.70 KOMORNIKOV Dimitri81 RUS
3 1:02.92 KNABE Morgan 81 CAN
4 1:03.03 PIPER Jim 81 AUS
5 1:03.33 ROGULJ Vanja 82 CRO
6 1:04.05 CALHOUN Pat 80 USA
7 1:04.17 PIHLAVA Jarno 79 FIN
8 1:05.57 THOMSON Chad 83 CAN

100 METER BUTTERFLY
1 52.61 FROLANDERS Lars 75 SWE
2 53.25 SYLANTYEV Denis 76 UKR
3 53.45 KULIKOV Vladislav 71 RUS
4 53.64 MINTENKO Michael 75 CAN
5 53.86 HARD Jere 78 FIN
6 53.88 VALIMAA Tero 78 FIN
7 54.00 MARTCHENKO Igor 75 RUS
8 54.86 POLIAKOV Anatoli 80 RUS

200 METER BACKSTROKE
1 1:59.26 KOZULJ Gordan 76 CRO
2 2:01.71 HASS Ray 77 AUS
3 2:03.81 STRAHIJA Marko 75 CRO
4 2:04.98 GIBSON Cameron 82 NZL
5 2:05.33 AMINOV Vladislav 77 RUS
6 2:06.99 MORI Yasuaki 83 JPN
7 2:07.64 GREENER Andrew 85 USA
8 2:10.86 CROS Sylvain 80 FRA

200 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1 2:03.21 JOHNS Brian 82 CAN
2 2:03.57 MC GREGOR Grant 78 AUS
3 2:03.69 VAN DER ZANT Rob 75 AUS
4 2:04.68 MYDEN Curtis 73 CAN
5 2:05.84 TAKEUCHI Toshifumi83 JPN
6 2:08.02 CAC Kresimir 76 CRO
7 2:08.21 HALIKA Mickey 78 ISR
8 2:09.02 SANO Hidemasa 84 JPN

WOMEN

50 METER FREESTYLE
1 24.85 DE BRUIJN Inge 75 NED
2 25.96 MORAVCOVA Martina 75 SVK
3 26.13 RIGNALL Vivienne 73 GER
4 26.17 SEPPALA Hanna 84 FIN
5 26.28 CHIUSO Cristina 73 ITA
6 26.45 ROLLAND Nadine 75 CAN
7 26.93 HEIKKILA Marja 77 FIN
8 26.95 WITTSTOCK Charlene78 RSA

200 METER FREESTYLE
1 1:59.35 POLL Claudia 72 CRC
2 2:00.46 JACOBSEN Mette 73 DEN
3 2:02.75 GRAHAM Elka 81 AUS
4 2:04.08 CHEMEZOVA Nadezhda80 RUS
5 2:05.05 MACKENZIE Linda 83 AUS
6 2:06.47 CHIUSO Cristina 73 ITA
7 2:06.66 HEIKKILA Marja 77 FIN
8 2:09.16 TAIT Karen 83 NZL

100 METER BREASTSTROKE
1 1:08.80 POEWE Sarah 83 RSA
2 1:08.95 BEARD Amanda 76 USA
3 1:10.85 LUO Nan 86 CHN
4 1:11.21 LEIER Rhiannon 77 CAN
5 1:11.53 TAMURA Nanaka 87 JPN
6 1:11.68 KAMINSKA Beata 81 POL
7 1:12.59 THORUP Majken 79 DEN
8 1:12.90 CAMERON Kristy 81 CAN

100 METER BUTTERFLY
1 58.78 DE BRUIJN Inge 75 NED
2 58.80 MORAVCOVA Martina 75 SVK
3 1:00.82 BESPALOVA Irina 81 RUS
4 1:00.90 WATANABE Kozue 86 JPN
5 1:00.93 LOOTS Mandy 78 RSA
6 1:01.16 SKOU Sophia 75 DEN
7 1:01.45 LACROIX Audrey 83 CAN
8 1:01.76 HAM Julia 80 AUS

200 METER BACKSTROKE
1 2:13.48 STONEY Clementine 81 AUS
2 2:13.95 ZHIVANEVSKAYA Nina77 ESP
3 2:15.85 ABE Toshie 83 JPN
4 2:17.21 KOIVISTO Anu 80 FIN
5 2:17.42 MURAKAWA Arisa 83 JPN
6 2:17.50 WITTSTOCK Charlene78 RSA
7 2:17.80 LI Yuanging 86 CHN
8 2:20.52 MICIUL Aleksandra 82 POL

200 METER INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
1 2:14.75 KLOCHKOVA Yana 82 UKR
2 2:17.86 LIMPERT Marianne 72 CAN
3 2:18.28 LIANG Shuang 83 CHN
4 2:19.82 HJORTH HANSEN Juli84 DEN
5 2:21.91 CAMERON Kristy 81 CAN
6 2:22.15 MARACINEANU Roxana75 FRA
7 2:23.65 DERONCHI Sophie 85 FRA
8 2:24.62 BURGOYNE Carrie 81 CAN

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

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

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x