Hackett Smashes Perkins’ WR in the 1500; Aussies Upset US in Women’s Medley Relay

FUKUOKA, Japan, July 29. GRANT Hackett obliterated the 1,500 meters world record he had targeted for so long as Australia deposed the United States as number one nation on the final day of the world swimming championships on Sunday.

Defending champion Hackett demolished the world mark fellow Australian Kieren Perkins set nearly seven years ago, producing a swim of extraordinary pace to carve more than seven seconds from the time of the old master. Perkins was at poolside to witness it.

Hackett, who beat Perkins in Sydney last year to succeed him as Olympic champion, was inside world record pace all the way and powered home in 14 minutes 34.56 seconds to beat the 14:41.66 mark Perkins set at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, in August 1994.

"I wanted to dig really deep tonight. I wanted this record really bad. This has been building up every year," the 21-year-old Queenslander said.

The final session ended appropriately with an Australian victory over the U.S. in the women's 4×100 meter medley relay as Australia emerged top nation in the pool at the world championships for the first time, beating the Americans 13-9 in the title count.

Triple Olympic champion Inge de Bruijn sped to another golden treble, once again romping away from the opposition to add the 50 meter freestyle title to the 100 freestyle and 50 butterfly wins she had already achieved.

The 27-year-old Dutchwoman won the 50 freestyle in 24.47 from Sweden's Therese Alshammar, whom she beat twice at the Olympics and twice again in Fukuoka. Alshammar clocked 24.88 for the silver and Germany's Sandra Voelker 24.96 for the bronze.

Ukraine pulled off an excellent double, with Oleg Lisogor outsprinting more fancied rivals to win the men's 50 meter breaststroke in 27.52 and Yana Klochkova scooping her second title of the meet in the women's 400 freestyle.

Klochkova, who had retained her 400 individual medley crown on the opening day, powered to victory in 4:07.30, nearly two seconds from Costa Rican Olympic bronze medalist Claudia Poll.

Alessio Boggiatto brought Italy its second individual medley gold of the championships, beating Americans Erik Vendt and Tom Wilkens to win the 400 individual medley by more than two seconds in 4:13.15.

Three days earlier, Italy's Olympic champion, Massi Rosolino had won the 200 event.

But it was Hackett who delivered the swim of the night and one for the memory after playing second fiddle to Ian Thorpe in the 400 and 800 freestyle events.

Hackett, who had joined forces with Thorpe in a world record breaking 4×200 freestyle relay on Friday, for once had the spotlight to himself.

He was inside world record pace all the way, slicing away at the Perkins time as he reeled off the 30 lengths in pool swimming's longest race, roared on by his team mates and the crowd at the Marine Messe indoor pool.

When Hackett hit the wall, only two other swimmers in the eight-man final finished on the same length, Britain's Graeme Smith in taking the silver in 14:58.94 and Russia's Alexei Filipets the bronze in 15:01.43.

Perkins, working as a television commentator, gave Hackett a "thumbs-up" acknowledgement after a stupendous swim.

"To take seven seconds off the record, I never expected that in a million years," Hackett said. "I thought only Ian Thorpe could do things like that.

"At the 900-meter mark, I could hear the crowd just screaming and whistling and all sorts of stuff. It was awesome.

"This is my event. It's been my event for five years now. I wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it. I've been waiting for this moment for years."

Sorry for Perkins losing his record? "Not one little bit. I've worked every bit as hard as Kieren over the years," he said.

Newly-crowned 100 meter backstroke champion Natalie Coughlin came within 0.02 seconds of breaking the world record for the distance as lead-off swimmer in the U.S. medley relay. The record, 1:00.16, set by China's He Cihong in 1994, is believed by all knowledgeable swimming experts to be drug tainted. Coughlin's time lowered the American record she set in winning the individual 100 meters.

Petria Thomas put Australia in charge with a storming butterfly leg and Sara Ryan brought them home on the freestyle to win by 0.31 seconds in 4:01.50.

The Australians did not repeat the mistake which cost them the gold in Wednesday's 4×200 freestyle relay when Thomas jumped into the pool to celebrate before the last team had finished the race and the team were disqualified. This time they remained safely on the pool deck.

9th FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Fuuoka, Japan
JULY 16 – 29, 2001

July 29, 2001

RESULTS (all Finals)

MEN's 50m BREASTSTROKE

1 LISOGOR Oleg UKR 79 27.52
2 SLOUDNOV Roman RUS 80 27.60
3 FIORAVANTI Domenico ITA 77 27.72
4 ROBINSON Anthony USA 79 27.73
5 WARNECKE Mark GER 70 27.93
6 MOSES Glenn edward USA 80 28.02
7 MEW Darren GBR 79 28.05
GIBSON James GBR 80 DQ

WOMEN'S 50m FREESTYLE

1 DE BRUIJN Inge NED 73 24.47
2 ALSHAMMAR Therese SWE 77 24.88
3 VOLKER Sandra GER 74 24.96
4 SHEPPARD Alison GBR 72 25.00
5 STONE Tammie USA 76 25.10
6 COPE Haley USA 79 25.25
7 MEISSNER Katrin GER 73 25.40
8 POPTCHENKO Elena BLR 79 25.73

MEN'S 1500m FREESTYLE

1 HACKETT Grant AUS 80 14:34.56 WR
2 SMITH Graeme GBR 76 14:58.94
3 FILIPETS Alexei RUS 78 15:01.43
4 CHERVYNSKIY Igor UKR 81 15:06.13
5 THOMPSON Chris USA 78 15:07.67
6 ROSOLINO Massimiliano ITA 78 15:10.54
7 STEVENS Craig AUS 80 15:15.02
8 ROSTOUCHER Nicolas FRA 15:18.89

WOMEN'S 400m FREESTYLE

1 KLOCHKOVA Yana UKR 82 4:07.30
2 POLL Claudia CRC 72 4:09.15
3 STOCKBAUER Hannah GER 82 4:09.36
4 OUFIMTSEVA Irina RUS 85 4:10.17
5 CHEN Hua CHN 82 4:10.37
6 POTEC Camelia alina ROM 82 4:11.67
7 GEURTS Carla NED 71 4:13.04
8 BOZON Alicia FRA 4:15.21

MEN'S 400m INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

1 BOGGIATTO Alessio ITA 81 4:13.15
2 VENDT Erik USA 81 4:15.36
3 WILKENS Thomas USA 75 4:15.94
4 TABUCHI Susumu JPN 80 4:18.05
5 NORRIS Justin AUS 80 4:18.56
6 JOHNS Brian CAN 82 4:19.75
7 MYDEN Curtis CAN 73 4:19.80
8 MIKI Jiro JPN 83 4:23.11

WOMEN'S 4X100m MEDLEY RELAY

1 AUSTRALIA 4:01.50
CALUB Dyana 75 30.04 30.04 1:02.08 1:02.08 0.59
6/1 JONES Leisel 85 1:33.54 31.46 2:09.76 1:07.68 +0.03
4:01.50 THOMAS Petria 75 2:36.70 26.94 3:07.41 57.65 +0.35
CR RYAN Sarah 77 3:33.20 25.79 4:01.50 54.09 +0.24

2 USA 4:01.81
COUGHLIN Natalie 82 29.38 29.38 1:00.18 1:00.18 AR 0.58
5/1 QUANN Megan 84 1:31.89 31.71 2:07.85 1:07.67 +0.32
4:01.81 DESCENZA Mary 84 2:35.38 27.53 3:07.44 59.59 +0.54
PHENIX Erin 81 3:33.42 25.98 4:01.81 54.37 +0.15

3 CHN 4:02.53
ZHAN Shu 85 30.18 30.18 1:01.97 1:01.97 0.67
3/1 LUO Xuejuan 84 1:32.90 30.93 2:08.44 1:06.47 +0.14
4:02.53 RUAN Yi 81 2:35.70 27.26 3:08.18 59.74 +0.18
XU Yanwei 84 3:34.37 26.19 4:02.53 54.35 +0.35

4 GERMANY 4:03.06
BUSCHSCHULTE Antje 78 29.66 29.66 1:01.07 1:01.07 0.62
4/1 WEILER Simone 78 1:33.29 32.22 2:10.65 1:09.58 +0.10
4:03.06 MEHLHORN Annika 83 2:37.65 27.00 3:09.24 58.59 +0.36
MEISSNER Katrin 73 3:35.05 25.81 4:03.06 53.82 +0.31

5 JAPAN 4:06.44
NAKAMURA Mai 79 29.73 29.73 1:01.97 1:01.97 0.65
2/1 ISODA Junko 81 1:34.86 32.89 2:12.11 1:10.14 +0.22
4:06.44 ONISHI Junko 74 2:40.15 28.04 3:11.25 59.14 +0.30
MINAMOTO Sumika 79 3:37.54 26.29 4:06.44 55.19 +0.26

6 GREAT BRITAIN 4:06.66
PRICE Sarah 79 30.06 30.06 1:01.84 1:01.84 0.63
7/1 KING Jaime 76 1:34.50 32.66 2:11.70 1:09.86 +0.23
4:06.66 JACKSON Nicola 84 2:39.26 27.56 3:11.55 59.85 +0.25
BRETT Rosalind 79 3:37.47 25.92 4:06.66 55.11 +0.11

7 RUSSIA 4:07.58
KOMAROVA Stanislava 86 30.51 30.51 1:02.06 1:02.06 0.69
1/1 BOGOMAZOVA Elena 82 1:33.94 31.88 2:12.11 1:10.05 +0.46
4:07.58 SOUTIAGUINA Natalia 80 2:40.04 27.93 3:11.43 59.32 +0.45
YAITSKAYA Inna 79 3:38.43 27.00 4:07.58 56.15 +0.14

8 CANADA 4:08.10
FRATESI Jennifer 84 30.98 30.98 1:02.62 1:02.62 0.67
8/1 LEIER Rhiannon 77 1:35.06 32.44 2:12.47 1:09.85 -0.01
4:08.10 LACROIX Audrey 83 2:40.41 27.94 3:12.73 1:00.26 +0.00
NICHOLLS Laura 78 3:39.17 26.44 4:08.10 55.37 +0.23

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