Coughlin Smashes 200m Backstroke World Record at FINA World Cup

By Mary Wagner
(courtesy USA Swimming, with additional comments by Phil Whitten)

EAST MEADOW, New York, Nov. 27. Natalie Coughlin capped off a big night for the U.S. swimmers at the FINA World Cup in East Meadow, N.Y., breaking the world record in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:03.62.

The old mark was 2:04.44, set in August by Britain's Sarah Price at the Australian Short Course Nationals in Perth.

Coughlin also won the 50 back earlier in the
evening with a time of 27.29, a World Cup Series record.

"It was a big surprise," Coughlin said of her first world record in any event. "I just tried to focus on my underwater kick because that's my strongest point. When I looked up and saw that time, I was shocked.

"I've missed a couple world records by the narrowest of margins, so this is huge. I kind of wished the 100 back would have been my first one, but I'll take them any way I can get them."

American swimmers welcomed the world to the meet by taking 1-2-3 in the first event, the 100m freestyle.
Jason Lezak won the event with a time of 47.67, followed by fellow National Team members Scott Tucker (48.37) and Neil Walker (48.46).

"Looking at the whole field, it was an exciting, fast field with lots of great competition, and I love to get up and race against anybody," Lezak said. "Coming out of Lane 1 was good, because I breathe to the right, and I could see I was in the lead, and I just tried to hold on as much as I could.

"I felt pretty good going out at the 50, but I could tell I started to fade a little bit, but I guess the rest of the field must have faded with me."

But the Americans weren't done there. Two events later, Ed Moses won the 50m breast with a time of 27.53. Moses narrowly qualified for the finals by
tying for seventh in the prelims earlier that morning.

"I'd done a hard workout this morning, and I was pretty fatigued," Moses said. "But the key in the morning is just to make it back at night, and I got a lane, and I got the job done."

Other Americans winning gold Tuesday night were Walker in the 100m backstroke (52.71) and the 100 IM (54.22), Amanda Beard in the 200 IM (2:12.14), and Josh Davis in the 400m free (3:46.05).

American swimmers were by no means the entire story in East Meadow this evening. In other highlights, Matina Moracova of Slovakia took first in three events – the 200m free (1:55.41) 100m fly (57.43) and the 50m free (25.14). Her time in the 200 free was a World Cup record.

China's Chen Hua ran away with the women's 800 meter freestyle, touching in 8:18.50. Her teammate, double world champion Luo Xuejuan, took the 100m breast in 1:05.78

On the men's side, Aussie Jim Piper beat Moses to the wall in the 200 breast (2:09.58), while his teammate, double world champ Geoff Huegill, took the 50 fly (23.16).

Thirty year-old Franck Esposito of France breezed to a two-second win in the 200 fly (1:54.02), while 16 year-old Tobia1s Oriwol of Canada won the 400 IM in 4:16.64, beating swimming's venerable old man, Ron Karnaugh (4:18.09). Karnaugh was also third in the 100 IM.

The meet in will run through Nov. 28 at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow. It is the only U.S. stop in the nine-meet World Cup Series.

Watch the USA Swimming World Cup on ESPN, December 21 at 3 p.m. EST. Check your TV guide for local listings.

FINA WORLD CUP 3
East Meadow, NY, Nov 27-28 (25 M)

DAY 1 FINALS

MEN
100 METRES FREESTYLE
1 Jason Lezak,75,USA 47.67
2 Scott Tucker,75,USA 48.37
3 Neil Walker,76,USA 48.46
4 Denis Pimankov,75,RUS 48.74
5 Bartosz Kizierowski,77,POL 48.75
6 Romain Barnier,76,FRA 49.01
7 Fernando Scherer,74,BRA 49.36
8 Jarod Schroeder,73,USA 49.89

400 METRES FREESTYLE
1 Josh Davis,72,USA 3:46.05
2 Ricardo Monasterio,78,VEN 3:49.99
3 Lionel Moreau,74,FRA 3:52.05
4 Aurelien Coq,79,FRA 3:55.63
5 Max Jaben,86,USA 3:56.47
6 Frederic Cayen,82,CAN 3:57.16
7 Andrew Coupland,83,CAN 3:58.55
8 Chris Thompson,78,USA 4:01.03

100 METRES BACKSTROKE
1 Neil Walker,76,USA 52.71
2 Michael Gilliam,79,USA 54.08
3 Geoff Huegill,79,AUS 54.35
4 Gordan Kozulj,76,CRO 54.38
5 Yu Rui,82,CHN 54.56
6 Ernest Fahrland,81,GER 54.63
7 Rogerio Romero,69,BRA 55.06
8 Tobias Oriwol,85,CAN 55.89

50 METRES BREASTSTROKE
1 Ed Moses,80,USA 27.53
2 Eduardo Fischer,80,BRA 27.96
3 Mark Riley,82,AUS 28.08
4 Sergio Ferreyra,77,ARG 28.41
5 Brenton Rickard,84,AUS 28.64
6 Nathan Crook,79,AUS 28.77
7 Nicolas Stoel,76,AUS 29.08
8 Vladislav Polyakov,83,USA 29.23

200 METRES BREASTSTROKE
1 Jim Piper,81,AUS 2:09.58
2 Ed Moses,80,USA 2:10.18
3 Tony de Pellegrini,82,FRA 2:13.27
4 Nicolas Stoel,76,AUS 2:17.05
5 Michael Brown,84,CAN 2:17.17
6 Mark Riley,82,AUS 2:18.89
7 Ethan Bassett,80,USA 2:19.71
Vladislav Polyakov,83,USA disq,

50 METRES BUTTERFLY
1 Geoff Huegill,79,AUS 23.16
2 Josh Ilika,76,MEX 24.03
3 Fernando Scherer,74,BRA 24.21
4 Denis Pankratov,74,RUS 24.31
5 Pablo Abal,77,ARG 24.41
6 Denis Pimankov,75,RUS 24.47
7 Ioan Gherghel,78,ROM 24.67
8 Ravil Nachaev,74,UZB 24.74

200 METRES BUTTERFLY
1 Franck Esposito,71,FRA 1:54.02
2 Ioan Gherghel,78,ROM 1:56.13
3 Ales Abersek,77,SLO 1:59.23
4 Josh Ilika,76,MEX 1:59.57
5 Jean-F. Langlais,79,CAN 2:03.97
6 Keith Beavers,83,CAN 2:05.25
7 Brent O'Connor,83,CAN 2:07.54

100 METRES IND.MEDLEY
1 Neil Walker,76,USA 54.22
2 Scott Tucker,75,USA 54.98
3 Ron Karnaugh,66,USA 55.88
4 Xavier Marchand,73,FRA 55.91
5 Sergio Ferreyra,77,ARG 56.40
6 Mikael Jacobsson,79,SWE 56.69
7 Josh Davis,72,USA 57.05
8 Mark W. Liscinsky,81,USA 57.72

400 METRES IND.MEDLEY
1 Tobias Oriwol,85,CAN 4:16.64
2 Ron Karnaugh,66,USA 4:18.09
3 Mikael Jacobsson,79,SWE 4:21.65
4 Rafael Goncalves,80,BRA 4:22.59
5 Nicolas Ray,77,FRA 4:23.46
6 Paolo Russo,79,ITA 4:23.76
7 Mitchell Bacon,84,AUS 4:24.17
8 Ashley Anderson,85,AUS 4:27.88

WOMEN

50 METRES FREESTYLE
1 Martina Moravcova,76,SVK 25.14
2 Katrin Meissner,73,GER 25.18
3 Laura Pomeroy,83,CAN 25.47
4 Rebeca Gusmao,84,BRA 25.65
5 Petra Adamkova,78,CZE 25.88
6 Haley Cope,79,USA 26.03
7 Dana Vollmer,87,USA 26.06
8 Jenna Gresdal,84,CAN 26.16

200 METRES FREESTYLE
1 Martina Moravcova,76,SVK 1:55.41
2 Yang Yu, 86,CHN 1:56.93
3 Claudia Poll,72,CRC 1:57.36
4 Silvia Szalai,75,GER 1:58.91
5 Rachel Komisarz,77,USA 1:58.94
6 Malin Svahnstrom,80,SWE 1:59.05
7 Sophie Simard,78,CAN 1:59.31
8 Mary Descenza,85,USA 2:02.53

800 METRES FREESTYLE
1 Chen Hua, 82,CHN 8:18.50
2 Claudia Poll,72,CRC 8:31.10
3 Rachel Komisarz,77,USA 8:33.48
4 Sarah Daly,85,USA 8:36.40
5 Simona Ricciardi,80,ITA 8:42.28
6 Kimberly Kelly,85,USA 8:43.01
7 Danielle Bell,83,CAN 8:45.54
8 Nayara Ribeiro,84,BRA 8:49.14

50 METRES BACKSTROKE
1 Natalie Coughlin,82,USA 27.29
2 Jennifer Carroll,81,CAN 27.83
3 Haley Cope,79,USA 27.94
4 Tayliah Zimmer,85,AUS 28.62
5 Pamela Hanson,78,USA 29.18
6 Yi Ruan,81,CHN 29.33
7 Fabiola Molina,75,BRA 29.36
8 Hua Chen,82,CHN 29.60

200 METRES BACKSTROKE
1 Natalie Coughlin,82,USA 2:03.62 WR
2 Tayliah Zimmer,85,AUS 2:09.88
3 Pamela Hanson,78,USA 2:10.69
4 Alice Henriques,81,USA 2:10.83
5 Camilla Johansson,74,SWE 2:14.13
6 Jennifer Mihalik,79,USA 2:16.91
7 Yvette Rodier,81,AUS 2:16.92
8 Amy Ng,83,USA 2:19.14

100 METRES BREASTSTROKE
1 Luo Xuejuan,84,CHN 1:05.78
2 Brooke Hanson,78,AUS 1:07.69
3 Amanda Beard,81,USA 1:07.76
4 Anne Poleska,80,GER 1:08.91
5 Karine Bremond,75,FRA 1:10.20
6 Anne S. Le Paranthoen,77,FRA 1:10.35
7 Staciana Stitts,81,USA 1:10.57
8 Ryan Redman,82,USA 1:11.10

100 METRES BUTTERFLY
1 Martina Moravcova,76,SVK 57.43
2 Natalie Coughlin,82,USA 57.44
3 Mary Descenza,85,USA 58.96
4 Rachel Komisarz,77,USA 1:00.23
5 Audrey Lacroix,83,CAN 1:01.02
6 Dana Vollmer,87,USA 1:01.18
7 Victoria Genova,83,USA 1:01.48
8 Pamela Hanson,78,USA 1:01.52

200 METRES IND.MEDLEY
1 Amanda Beard,81,USA 2:12.14
2 Sophie De Ronchi,85,FRA 2:14.65
3 Brooke Hanson,78,AUS 2:15.20
4 Michelle Landry,85,CAN 2:17.89
5 Marieve De Blois,84,CAN 2:19.25
6 Anne S. Le Paranthoen,77,FRA 2:19.41
7 Yvette Rodier,81,AUS 2:20.23
8 Jenna Gresdal,84,CAN 2:20.37

MEDAL TOTALS Event 17
GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL
USA 8 6 7 21
SVK 3 0 0 3
AUS 2 2 3 7
CHN 2 1 0 3
FRA 1 1 2 4
CAN 1 1 1 3
BRA 0 1 1 2
CRC 0 1 1 2
MEC 0 1 0 1
ROM 0 1 0 1
VEN 0 1 0 1
GER 0 1 0 1
SLO 0 0 1 1
SWE 0 0 1 1
17 17 17 51

Rating Summary of Top Performances
1) 1034 2:03.62 200 back W Natalie Coughlin,82,USA
2) 1006 57.43 100 fly W Martina Moravcova,76,SVK
3) 1002 1:05.78 100 breast W Xuejuan Luo,84,CHN
4) 1001 23.16 50 fly M Geoff Huegill,79,AUS
5) 999 8:18.50 800 free W Hua Chen,82,CHN
6) 987 1:54.02 200 fly M Franck Esposito,71,FRA
7) 984 1:56.93 200 free W Yu Yang,86,CHN
8) 982 54.22 100 IM M Neil Walker,76,USA
9) 981 27.83 50 back W Jennifer Carroll,81,CAN
10) 981 47.67 100 free M Jason Lezak,75,USA

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