China Open Highlighted by Cam McEvoy World Record; Siobhan Haughey Secures Another Narrow Win (Full Recap)
For several years, Australian sprint sensation Cam McEvoy has hunted the world record in the 50-meter freestyle, a mark set by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo in 2009. On Friday night, McEvoy got his white whale as he popped a global standard of 20.88 while racing at the China Open in Shenzhen.
McEvoy’s performance lowered the 20.91 that Cielo managed at the end of the super-suit era. More, it gave the Aussie the Triple Crown in the event – Olympic gold, world championship, world record.
While McEvoy headlined the second night of the competition, there were plenty of highlights, including Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey securing her second victory of the meet. One day after fending off a charge by Aussie Mollie O’Callaghan in the 100 freestyle, Haughey added the 50 freestyle title to her collection, a mark of 24.41 defeating China’s Cheng Yujie (24.42) and American Kate Douglass (24.44). It was the second straight win by .01 by Haughey.
Haughey was back on the blocks later in the session for the final of the 200 freestyle, but this latest matchup with O’Callaghan went to the Australian superstar. O’Callaghan, the reigning Olympic champion, uncorked a superb time of 1:53.52 to finish more than a second clear of Haughey, who touched in 1:54.91. O’Callaghan led from the jump, splitting 26.52 at the 50 and 55.12 at the 100-meter mark. She came through 150 meters in 1:24.55, which was .95 up on Haughey. Down the last length, O’Callaghan split 28.97 to pull further away.
Following a pair of second-place finishes on Day One, Regan Smith cruised to the top step of the podium in the 200 backstroke. The Olympic silver medalist in the event, Smith clocked 2:04.93 to register a dominant win over China’s Peng Xuwei (2:07.90). Smith led the race wire-to-wire, having built a 1.41-second advantage by the halfway point.
The men’s 100 backstroke brought together the reigning Olympic and world champions, and South Africa’s Pieter Coetze emerged on top. The gold medalist in the 100 back at last summer’s World Champs in Singapore, Coetze went 52.73 to comfortably place ahead of Italian Thomas Ceccon, the Olympic champ from Paris. Ceccon turned in a time of 53.38 while finishing runner-up to Coetze for the second straight day. They also went one-two in the 50 backstroke.
In breaststroke action, Kate Douglass pulled away from the field in the 200 distance, winning in 2:21.03. In the men’s 100 breast, victory was shared by China’s Zheng Yinghao and Dong Zhihao in 59.83.
Australian William Petric walked away with a first-place showing in the men’s 400 individual medley, thanks to a time of 4:11.41.