Three World, Two World Junior Records Fall on Night Four of Short Course World Championships

by Diana Pimer

14 December 2018, 03:59am

Eight final and three semifinal races occurred on the fourth night of the 2018 FINA Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou, China.

The heats were highlighted by three World Records and two World Junior Records. The latter were both courtesy of Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in the 100 IM and 50 Backstroke. The rising teenager lowered his own marks in both races.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus broke the lone individual World Record of the night in an exciting 400 Freestyle final, while men’s teams from both the USA and Brazil broke relay World Records.

Nicholas Santos (50 Butterfly), Olivia Smoliga (50 Backstroke) and Alia Atkinson (100 Breaststroke) also claimed top seeds for day five finals in their respective races.

LIVE RESULTS

Order of Events:

• Men’s 4 x 50 Freestyle Relay
• Women’s 50 Butterfly
• Men’s 100 IM
• Women’s 100 IM
• Men’s 50 Butterfly (Semifinal)
• Women’s 400 Freestyle
• Men’s 50 Freestyle
• Women’s 50 Backstroke (Semifinal)
• Men’s 50 Backstroke
• Women’s 100 Breaststroke (Semifinal)
• Men’s 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay

Men’s 4 x 50 Freestyle Relay

The American men’s relay team of Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held, Jack Conger and Michael Chadwick set a new World Record in the 4 x 50 Freestyle (1:21.80), while Dressel lowered his own American mark in his leadoff leg down to 20.43.

The split was out-done only by Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, who opened up the race for the Russians in a 20.39. Morozov was joined by teammates Evgeny Sedov, Ivan Kuzmenko and Evgeny Rylov for the silver.

Italy’s Santo Conorelli, Andrea Vergani, Lorenzo Zazzeri and Alessandro Miressi earned the bronze medal.

Held raced to the fastest non-lead off split in the field of 20.25. He was followed by South Africa’s Chad le Clos (20.31), Rylov (20.37) and Vergani (20.44).

The previous World Record was set by Russia in 2014.

Women’s 50 Butterfly

Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands kept her strong meet going with a win in the 50 butterfly. Her time of 24.47 is the fastest in the world so far this year and was good for a Championship Meet Record. The previous mark was set by Sarah Sjostrom in 2014 with a time of 24.58.

Right behind were Australia’s Holly Barratt in 24.80 and USA’s Kelsi Dahlia in 24.97. Barratt is now tied for third in the world rankings while Dahlia’s previous swim of 24.93 holds fifth.

The women were followed by Melanie Henique of France (25.02), Maaike de Waard of the Netherlands (25.32), Wang Yichun from China (25.38), Haley Black of Canada (25.75) and Aliena Schmidtke from Germany (25.76).

Men’s 100 IM

Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov broke yet another record this week, this time in the 100 IM final. The teenager posted a 50.63 for the World Junior Record, the Championship Record and the second-fastest time in the world this year.

Kolesnikov out-raced Italy’s Marco Orsi (51.03), Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori (third – 51.53) and USA’s Michael Andrew (fourth – 51.58).

Sergei Fesikov (51.63), Kenneth To (51.88), Wang Shun (51.95) and Brazil’s Caio Pumputis (52.28) placed fifth through eighth, respectively.

Women’s 100 IM

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu claimed the 100 IM title in 57.26, a bit off her own World Record (56.51) and Championship Record (56.70). The swim was still enough to edge out Japanese swimmer Runa Imai (57.85) for the win. Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson joined them on the podium after earning bronze with a time of 58.11.

American teammates Melanie Margalis (58.32) and Kathleen Baker (58.47) took fourth and fifth. Baker was first to the wall at fifty before finishing fifth. Australia’s Emily Seebohm (58.78), Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen (59.11) and Japan’s Rika Omoto (59.18) also competed in the final.

Men’s 50 Butterfly

Eight qualifiers were named for Saturday’s 50 butterfly final. Brazil’s Nicholas Santos came in just one one hundredth off of the Chad le Clos’ Championship Record of 21.95. He is the only swimmer under the 22-second barrier so far this year. Le Clos placed second in the heat in 22.34. Germany’s Marius Kusch was third in 22.44 and was followed by Japan’s Takaya Yasue with a 22.52.

Joining them in the final will be Russia’s Mikhail Vekovishchev (22.56), Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter (22.62), Japan’s Takeshi Kawamoto (22.74) and South Africa’s Ryan Coetzee (22.75).

Women’s 400 Freestyle

Australia’s rising distance star Ariarne Titmus won an exciting women’s 400 freestyle in a World Record time of 3:53.92. The previous record was held by China’s Wang Jianjiahe, who was also in this final and finished second in 3:54.56. Her teammate Li Bingjie was third in 3:57.99.

While Titmus and Jianjiahe were securely in first and second throughout, Bingjie earned her medal after a back-and-forth battle with USA’s Leah Smith who finished fourth in 3:58.58. Smith was in medal-contention at both the 150- and 350-meter marks, but Bingjie out-did the field on the final fifty with a 28.87.

Rounding out the heat were Anna Egorova (Russia – 4:01.52), Valeriia Salamatina (Russia – 4:02.87), Sarah Kohler (Germany – 4:03.28) and Erica Musso (Italy – 4:03.61).

Men’s 50 Freestyle

Russia’s Vladimir Morozov blasted a quick 20.33, lowering his time from the 4 x 50 free relay earlier in this session. The time is the fastest in the world this year and is closing in on Florent Manoudou‘s World Record of 20.26 from 2014.

USA’s Caeleb Dressel went 20.54 for the silver while South Africa’s Brad Tandy landed on the podium with his third-place 20.94. Great Britain’s Ben Proud, a favorite in this event, was disqualified (unofficially) for a false start.

Lithuania’s Simonas Bilis (20.99), Poland’s Pawel Juraszek (21.00), Australia’s Cameron McEvoy (21.02) and Brazil’s Cesar Cielo (21.20) placed fourth through seventh, respectively.

Women’s 50 Backstroke

Olivia Smoliga of the USA became the first woman to qualify for the 50 backstroke final after swimming a 26.06 in the semifinals. Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch (26.21), Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (26.28) and Japan’s Miyuki Takemura (26.31) rounded out the top four qualifiers.

They will be joined by China’s Yuanhui Fu (26.33), Poland’s Alicja Tchorz (26.36) and Australia’s Holly Barratt (26.38). Either Kromowidjojo or France’s Mathilde Cini will also make the heat dependent on the results of a swim off after the women tied in 26.54.

Men’s 50 Backstroke

Just .21 separated first from fifth in tonight’s 50 backstroke final. Russia’s Evgeny Rylov got to the wall first in 22.58, followed closely by USA’s Ryan Murphy (22.63). Both swims are now the top-two times done this year.

Ireland’s Shane Ryan raced to the podium with a 22.76, besting Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov (22.77) and Brazil’s Guilherme Guido (22.79). Despite missing out on the podium, Kolesnikov was able to dip under his own World Junior Record set in November of this year.

Italy’s Simone Sabbioni (23.26), Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter (23.44) and Germany’s Christian Diener (23.49) rounded out the heat.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson was back in the pool to claim the top seed in the 100 breast (1:04.07). The swim is about three tenths quicker than her prelims time. She was followed by Australia’s Jessica Hansen in 1:04.11 and USA’s Katie Meili in 1:04.54.

Also competing in the final will be Shi Jinglin (China – 1:04.73), Fanny Lecluyse (Belgium – 1:04.82), Martina Carraro (Italy – 1:04.87), Jenny Laukkanen (Finland – 1:05.01) and Kanako Watanabe (Japan – 1:05.09).

Men’s 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay

The Brazilian team of Luiz Altamir Melo, Fernando Scheffer, Leonardo Coelho Santos and Brent Correia set a new World Record time in the 4 x 200 free relay. Their 6:46.81 broke Russia’s World record from 2010 and was led by Scheffer and Correia with their 1:40.99 and 1:40.98 splits. They were the only two swimmers in the field to break 1:41.

The Russian team took second and was also under their previous World Record. Efforts from Martin Malyutin, Mikhail Vekovishchev, Ivan Girev and Aleksandr Krasnykh combined for a 6:46.84. China earned the final podium spot with a 6:47.53 from Ji Xinjie, Xu Jiayu, Sun Yang and Wang Shun. They were also under the previous World Record in this race.

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