By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. TWO years after she earned the silver medal in a controversial finish in Montreal, Jessicah Schipper has her world championship in the 200 butterfly. The Australian sensation turned in a wire-to-wire performance to claim the gold medal with a time of 2:06.39. The mark was nearly a second off her world record of 2:05.40, but Schipper just wanted the triumph.<\/p>\n
In Montreal, Schipper finished narrowly behind Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak as both women went under the world record at the time. But, video footage of the finish showed Jedrzejczak touching the wall with one hand, a move that should have resulted in her disqualification. The officials, however, let the result stand and Schipper took second. Now, she has her gold medal. Earlier in the week, Schipper won silver in the 100 fly behind countrywoman Libby Lenton.<\/p>\n
"I'm really happy with the outcome," Schipper said. "The plan was to go out fast and try to hold on. I could hear (the crowd). I thank my family and friends for supporting me."<\/p>\n
The silver medal, in a breakthrough performance, was collected by American Kim Vandenberg. Packaging a gutsy race, Vandenberg attacked the four-lap affair and held it together down the stretch to post a time of 2:06.71. That effort made Vandenberg the third-fastest American in history, behind Misty Hyman and Mary T. Meagher.<\/p>\n
Jedrzejczak won the bronze medal in 2:06.90 to complement her silver medal from the 400 freestyle. Jedrzejczak has battled with personal issues for the past year, as she was the driver in a car accident that claimed the life of her brother. Jedrzejczak first had to overcome injuries she suffered, not to mention the emotional impact of the crash. Fourth place went to China's Jiao Liuyang in 2:07.22 and Canada's Audrey Lacroix was fifth in 2:07.73.<\/p>\n