2015 World University Games: Day 4 Finals Live Recap

Breaststroke Selfie World University Games 2015

Photo Courtesy: Gwangju Summer Universiade Organizing Committee

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Women’s 400 free finals

USA’s Leah Smith was unable to replicate her Universiade record of 4:04.66 from prelims, but she still managed to lead an American 1-2 in the middle distance event.

Smith hit the wall in 4:05.29 for the win with a time that still stands in the top 10 in the world even after her transcendent effort this morning.

USA’s Lindsay Vrooman turned in a silver-winning time of 4:07.28 to move to 19th in the world rankings. That’s a personal best, beating her 4:07.82 from last summer’s nationals.

Italy’s Martina De Memme finished third overall with a time of $:08.95.

Australia’s Kiah Melverton (4:12.92), Poland’s Justyna Burska (4:13.24), Japan’s Asami Chida (4:13.38), Italy’s Martina Rita Caramignoli (4:15.01) and Canada’s Barbara Rojas-Jardin (4:17.43) rounded out the finale.

Women’s 200 breast semis

Japan responded in the women’s 200-meter breast with a 1-2 of its own.

Keiko Fukudome posted the top qualifying time with a 2:25.80, just off her 19th-ranked season best of 2:25.54 from Japanese Nationals.

Teammate Reona Aoki clocked in with a second-seeded 2:27.04, well back of her 17th-ranked season best of 2:25.43 also from Japanese Nationals.

The duo will have a tough time challenging Rie Kaneto’s meet record of 2:22.32 set in 2009.

USA’s Andrea Cottrell broke through the 2:28 mark for the first time as she posted a third-seeded 2:27.27. That swim beat her preliminary time of 2:28.65 that stood as her lifetime best.

Great Britain’s Olivia White (2:27.45), USA’s Molly Hannis (2:27.72), Czech’s Martina Moravcikova (2:27.73), Italy’s Francesca Fangio (2:28.12) and South Korea’s Suyeon Back (2:28.37) also made their way into the finale to battle for the title.

Women’s 200 IM finals

China’s Zhang Sishi had just too much of a freestyle for USA’s Madisyn Cox as Zhang claimed the women’s 200-meter IM gold.

Although Cox withstood a challenge from Australia’s Ellen Fullerton earlier in the heat, she was unable to hold off Zhang’s freestyle leg of 30.99 as Zhang won in 2:12.31.

Cox fell off her semi time of 2:12.15 to take silver in 2:12.77 as Ava Ohlgren’s meet record of 2:12.07 from 2009 surprisingly remained intact.

Fullerton closed out the podium with a third-place time of 2:13.48.

Australia’s Aisling Scott (2:13.67), South Korea’s Seoyeong Kim (2:13.81), Czech’s Barbora Zavadova (2:14.37), Italy’s Luisa Trombetti (2:14.46) and Japan’s Miho Takahashi (2:15.57) placed fourth through eighth in the championship field.

Men’s 100 free semis

USA’s Jack Conger turned in a lifetime best in the men’s 100-meter semis as he dominated the field.

Conger threw down a 49.04, bettering his previous best of 49.28 from last summer’s nationals.

Conger has some work to do if he wants to challenge Vlad Morozov’s meet record of 47.62 from 2013.

Brazil’s Henrique Martins, the 50 fly winner, and Italy’s Marco Belotti tied for the second seed into finals with 49.37s

USA’s Seth Stubblefield (49.52), Russia’s Oleg Tikhobaev (49.81), New Zealand’s Daniel Hunter (49.82), Turkey’s Kemal Gurdal (49.95) and Japan’s Toru Maruyama (50.02) claimed the other spots in the finale.

Men’s 200 breast finals

In one of the deepest events of the meet, USA’s Josh Prenot had just enough to clip Japan’s Kazuki Kohinata at the wall for the title.

Prenot vaulted into a sixth-ranked tie in the world rankings with a 2:08.90 for the win. That swim matched Ross Murdoch’s 2:08.90 from British Nationals, and lowered Prenot’s lifetime best of 2:09.30 from the Charlotte stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series.

Prenot’s time just missed Igor Borysik’s meet mark of 2:08.73 from 2009.

Kohinata charged his way to silver in a time of 2:09.08 to move from fifth to second in the final 50 with a 32.82 split. That swim put Kohinata into ninth in the world rankings.

Great Britain’s Craig Benson rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 2:09.10 to grab 10th in the world rankings.

Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (2:09.97), Great Britain’s Calum Tait (2:10.57), Italy’s Luca Pizzini (2:11.17), Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin (2:11.34) and Italy’s Flavio Bizzarri (2:11.70) also challenged for the title.

Women’s 100 fly semis

Italy’s Elena Di Liddo, the pre-meet favorite, followed through on the hype with the top seed out of semis.

Di Liddo, who is ranked sixth in the world in the 100 fly with a 57.75 from the Sette Colli Trophy meet, posted a 58.21 for the top seed.

Di Liddo will likely take a run at Katerine Savard’s meet record of 57.63 from 2013 during finals tomorrow.

China’s Zhou Yilin (58.49) and Lu Ying (58.54) qualified second and third. Lu has been faster this year with a 57.96 from Chinese Nationals.

Slovakia’s Katarina Listopadova (58.65), USA’s Felicia Lee (58.93), Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova (59.01), Japan’s Rino Hosoda (59.05) and Canada’s Samantha Corea (59.26) picked up the rest of the transfer spots into finals.

USA’s Christina Bechtel took 10th overall in 59.47.

Men’s 50 back finals

Japan’s Junya Hasegawa turned in a winning time of 25.25 in the sprint backstroke finale here in Gwangju.

That swim is just off his 18th-ranked season best of 25.19.

Italy’s Stefano Pizzamiglio claimed silver overall in a time of 25.43, while Russia’s Nikita Ulyanov grabbed bronze in 25.49.

South Korea’s Seonkwan Park just missed the podium with a fourth-place time of 25.56.

Brazil’s Henrique Martins (25.57), Italy’s Matteo Milli (25.61), Indonesia’s Gede Sudartawa (25.66) and South Korea’s Heewoong Shin (25.88) placed fifth through eighth in the finale.

Women’s 100 back finals

Canada’s Kylie Masse vaulted herself into the top 10 in the world in the 100-meter back after she found an extra gear down the stretch to hold off a pair of hard-charging Americans.

Masse surged her way to a 59.97 for the win to move to ninth in the world rankings, up from 16th overall with a 1:00.26.

Tonight’s effort nearly cracked Anastasia Zueva’s meet record of 59.83 from 2013.

USA’s Elizabeth Pelton overtook teammate Rachel Bootsma for silver, 1:00.65 to 1:00.78, in what proved to be a pretty high profile finale.

Czech’s Simona Baumrtova (1:00.92), Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova (1:00.95), Kazakhstan’s Yekaterina Rudenko (1:01.61), Russia’s Polina Lapshina (1:02.18) and Australia’s Holly Barratt (1:02.37) also swam in finals.

Men’s 200 fly finals

Russia’s Evgeny Koptelov surged from fourth to first in the final 50 to put up one of the fastest 200 fly swims of the year.

Koptelov dropped the hammer to win in 1:54.79. That swim tied him with Tamas Kenderesi for second in the world rankings, and just missed Pawel Korzeniowski’s meet record of 1:54.30 from 2009.

200 Fly World Rankings

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Japan’s Yuya Yajima picked up silver in 1:55.73 to move into a 12th-ranked tie with Joe Schooling, while Masayuki Umemoto grabbed bronze in 1:56.12 for 18th in the world.

Italy’s Francesco Pavone (1:56.18), France’s Jordan Coelho (1:56.47), Australia’s Nicholas Brown (1:57.37) and Russia’s Aleksandr Pribytok (1:57.63) placed fourth through seventh.

USA’s Andrew Seliskar, a pre-meet favorite with a season best of 1:55.92 coming into the meet, fell apart in the final 50 meters.

Seliskar led the field with a 1:24.80 at the 150-meter mark, but wound up with a 32.87 final split to finish eighth in 1:57.67.

According to Swimming Canada’s Tom Rushton, Seliskar’s goggles broke prior to finals and he was unable to secure another set.

@SwimmingWorld @David_Rieder his goggles broke before the race – TeamUSA tried to hold the start but it was not happening.

— Tom Rushton (@coach_rushton) July 7, 2015

@David_Rieder yeah- they were still on his head but the strap broke under his cap I guess?

— Tom Rushton (@coach_rushton) July 7, 2015

Courtesy of Nation’s Capital Swim Club CEO Tom Ugast, here’s what Seliskar’s goggles looked like after the race.

andrew-seliskar-broken-goggles-world-university-games-2015

Photo Courtesy: Andrew Seliskar

Women’s 800 free relay finals

Team USA demolished the field in the women’s 800-meter free relay en route to smashing the meet record in the event.

Leah Smith (1:58.50), Hali Flickinger (1:57.77), Chelsea Chenault (1:59.05) and Shannon Vreeland (1:58.56) scorched the Universiade mark with a time of 7:53.88. That performance cleared the 7:55.02 set by the U.S. back in 2011.

The Stars and Stripes won the finale by more than seven seconds as the exciting race was for silver.

China’s Wang Shijia (1:59.34), Zhang Jiaqi (2:00.26), Zhou Yilin (2:01.10) and Zhang Sishi (2:00.39) earned silver in 8:01.09.

Japan’s Aya Takano (2:00.78), Yui Yamane (1:59.57), Asami Chida (2:01.67) and Yasuko Miyamoto (1:59.16) picked up bronze in 8:01.18.

Australia (8:04.92), France (8:06.19), Italy (8:07.37), New Zealand (8:14.63) and Sweden (8:21.44) also competed in the finale.

2015 World University Games, Day 4 Finals – Results

SCHEDULED EVENTS

Women’s 400 free finals
Women’s 200 breast semis
Women’s 200 IM finals
Men’s 100 free semis
Men’s 200 breast finals
Women’s 100 fly semis
Men’s 50 back finals
Women’s 100 back finals
Men’s 200 fly finals
Women’s 800 free relay finals

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