World Championships: Defense of Title a Success for Kate Ziegler in 800 Freestyle

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 31. KATE Ziegler waited, waited and waited. Ultimately, her patience paid off. Defending her championship in the 800 freestyle, Ziegler overpowered France's Laure Manaudou on the final lap and claimed a championship record for the 16-lap event, clocking a time of 8:18.52. Manaudou was a touch behind in 8:18.80.

The winner of the 200 and 400 freestyles, Manaudou was going to push the pace in the early going, but Ziegler, who also likes a fast pace in the front half, went right with the Frenchwoman. Swimming side-by-side the entire way, Manaudou and Ziegler actually touched at the 550-meter mark in identical times. At the end, however, the American had her second win of the meet, complementing her victory in the 1500 free.

"Last summer, I went 8:24 and knew that wasn't my best," Ziegler said. "I came here and wanted to see how much time I could drop. I'm so excited. I like to take it out fast and I wanted to stay as close (to Manaudou) as possible at the 400. If I did that, I knew I'd have a chance."

American Hayley Peirsol, swimming in Lane One, dug deep for the bronze medal, producing a time of 8:18.52. Peirsol hung on to edge Spain's Erika Villaecija (8:27.59) and France's Sophie Huber (8:26.33). Ziegler and Manaudou were on world-record pace for the first half of the race, but couldn't keep up with the 1989 standard of Janet Evans (8:16.22).

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

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