Thorpe Takes 5th Gold, USA Wins 4 More Gold on Day 5 of Pan Pacs

By Stephen J. Thomas

YOKOHAMA, Japan, August 28. THE incomparable Ian Thorpe won his fifth gold medal of the Pan Pacs, while the US juggernaut continued to roll, sweeping gold in four of the five finals tonight. Only Thorpe held off an American sweep.

With only one day left in the meet, the USA holds an overwhelming lead over Australia, 16-9 in gold medals and 42-23 in overall medals. Japan is third with 12 medals, two of them gold.

Men's 100m Freestyle
Missing from the action tonight were the USA's big guns, Anthony Ervin and Jason Lezak, leaving the door open for Aussie Ian Thorpe to fire yet another gold medal performance. And that he did.

Turning in fourth place behind the USA's Nate Dusing, fellow Aussie Ashley Callus and the USA's Scott Tucker — who had the fastest time through both prelims and semis — the Thorpedo came home with his familiar six-beat kick to touch in 48.84, just outside his PR 48.73 set earlier this month in winning at the Commonwealth Games – his fifth gold medal.

It was one-two for the Aussies with world short course champ, Ashley Callus finishing just behind in a PR 49.26 to touch out Dusing (49.47). Canada's Brent Hayden had another good swim with his third national record and PR of the meet 49.53 to finish in front of Tucker (49.56).

After his race Thorpe said, "I was pretty happy with my swim tonight, it was close to my PR. I have focused much of my training on the 100. It was good to go under 49 seconds again and to go one-two with Ashley for Australia."

Men's 200m Backstroke
The USA's Aaron Peirsol, the world record-holder in this event, added the Pan Pacific title to his growing collection, leading at every turn, to notch a stylish victory in 1:56.88. It was the eighth fastest all-time performance over the dorsal four-lapper.

Peirsol was chased all the way by Aussie 100-meter World Champ Matt Welsh, who touched just 0.10 outside his PR in 1:57.69. Canada's 19-year-old newcomer, Keith Beavers, swam a PR 1:59.35 to take his country's third bronze medal of the meet.

Women's 200m Breaststroke
Amanda Beard completed the breaststroke double when she held off a determined last lap from Aussie teen Leisel Jones. China's Luo Xuejuan led for the first 100 meters, but was passed at the 150 by Beard and teammate Kirsty Kowal, with Jones just in arrears. Jones, who swam an uneven race, put in a powerful effort to go past Kowal and finish just 0.11 behind Beard at the wall. In a relatively slow race, Beard clocked 2:26.31, Jones 2:26.42 and Kowal, who took silver in this event in 1999 and at the 2000 Olympics, 2:27.59.

Women's 800m Freestyle
Diana Munz won her third individual gold medal at the Pan Pacs, leading from start to finish with a so-so time of 8:30.45.

The USA's Hayley Peirsol, kid sister of Aaron Peirsol, had a fight on her hands for the minor medals with Japan's Sachiko Yamada. Yamada had already taken silver in the 1500 and bronze in the 400.

Peirsol held second spot for fifteen of the sixteen laps and at the final turn led Yamada by 0.60 seconds only to see the Japanese swimmer, urged on by the enthusiastic home crowd, beat her to the wall by 0.38 seconds. Peirsol clocked 8:32.27 to Yamada's 8:31.89.

Women's 800m Freestyle Relay
This was another classic relay battle between the two archrivals – Yanks versus Aussies. The Yanks had lost their first-ever freestyle relay on the first night — the 4×100 meters — so there was plenty to prove here.

Nat Coughlin gave the Yanks a sensational start, splitting 1:58.21 — just one-hundredth slower than her PR –to Petria Thomas' PR of 1:59.77. Then it was the turn of new kid on the US team, Mary Hill (2:00.92), who just fell behind by 0.22 seconds after a determined charge from silver medalist Elka Graham (1:59.14).

Then bronze medalist, Giaan Rooney (1:59.72), kept the Aussies in front by just 0.08 seconds with an excellent performance from Diana Munz (1:59.58), who had won gold in the 800 free just an hour earlier.

As expected, it came down to the gold medalist in the 200 free, the USA's Lindsay Benko, versus Aussie rookie, Alice Mills. Benko called on her experience and strength to swim a fast 1:58.25, clinching gold for the USA in a new championship record 7:56.96. The Aussies took the silver in 7:59.25 with Mills clocked 2:00.62. The Japanese team of Tomoko Nagai, Sachiko Yamada, Norie Urabe and Maki Mita took the bronze in 8:04.01.

Semifinals

Men's 200m Individual Medley
Michael Phelps broke Dave Wharton's 1989 championship record with a polished 1:59.83. Phelps said after the race he had plenty in the tank to shoot for Finn Jani Sievinen's world mark of 1:58.16. Tom Wilkens was the second American to the finals with the fourth fastest time, 2:01.52, and he also said he felt he could get near his PR of 2:00.45 tomorrow night.

Japan's Takahiro Mori (2:01.50) and Jiro Miki (2:01.35) should also be fighting for the minor medals.

Men's 100m Butterfly
First Aussie Geoff "Skippy" Huegill broke his own championship record from Sydney in 52.38, and then the USA's Ian Crocker went lower in the second semifinal, 52.21. Canadian Olympic finalist Mike Mintenko was third in with 52.61 and Takashi Yamamoto, the 200 meter bronze medalist, touched fourth in 52.64.

World record-holder Michael Klim has been out of the pool with a serious back injury for twelve months had recently said he thought his 100 fly world mark would have gone at the European championships in Berlin to Rupprath. So it will be interesting to see whether Klim's time of 51.81 will go in tomorrow night's final. Klim is expected to be back in the pool in Melbourne next week for the Australian Short Course Champs, where he will only swim the freestyle sprints.

Women's 100m Freestyle
The USA's new superstar, Nat Coughlin, took 0.10 of a second off Jenny Thompson's championship mark to a record a swift 54.72 but JT wasn't far back, qualifying second in 55.05. Aussies Jodie Henry (55.47) and Sarah Ryan (55.58) were the next fastest qualifiers.

Americans Lindsay Benko, 55.36, and Gabrielle Rose, 55.51, missed out as only two from each country can contest the final. Rose set a PR of 55.15 in prelims.

Women's 200m Backstroke
Japan's Tomoko Hagiwara was fastest qualifier in 2:11.27 followed by Jenifer Fratesi of Canada, at 2:11.96, American Margaret Hoelzer in a PR 2:12.20 and Japan's Aya Terakawa 2:12.68. Hagiwara must be considered the favorite for tomorrow night's final.

Medal Standings after Day 5:
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
USA 16 14 12 42
Australia 9 11 3 23
Japan 2 2 8 12
Canada 0 0 3 3
China 0 0 1 1

PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Yokohama, Japan
August 24-29

DAY FIVE: August 28, 2002
Semifinals and Finals Results

Event 50 800m Freestyle Women Timed Final

Ranking Results

WR 8:16.22 Janet EVANS USA 1989/08/20 TOKYO
CR 8:16.22 Janet EVANS USA 1989/08/20 TOKYO