World Champs, Day 7 Evening Session: Coventry Doubles Up by Taking 200 Backstroke

By John Lohn
Photos by Peter H. Bick

MONTREAL, Canada, July 30. GIVE her a double. Repeating her performance from last summer’s Olympic Games in Athens, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry smashed the field in the women’s 200-meter backstroke on Saturday night. Covering the four-lap distance in 2:08.52, Coventry complemented an earlier triumph in the 100 back. She also picked up a silver medal in the 200 individual medley.

An Auburn University product, Coventry was in command after the first lap and continued to build her advantage throughout the remaining 150 meters. When she touched the wall, she was more than a second clear of the United States’ Margaret Hoelzer, a former college teammate. Hoelzer gained the silver medal for the second straight World Championships, thanks to a time of 2:09.94.

Japan’s Reiko Nakamura took the third spot on the medal podium, as she touched the wall in a time of 2:10.41, ahead of the 2:10.98 of Japan’s Hanae Ito. Italy’s Alessia Filippi was fifth with a swim of 2:11.44 and was succeeded in sixth place by Russia’s Stanislava Komarova (2:12.03). Finishing seventh was Denmark’s Louise Ornstedt (2:12.93) and eighth went to China’s Zhao Jing (2:13.10).

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