SYDNEY, Australia, March 25. VAULTING herself to the top of the individual medley pedestal, Stephanie Rice swept the IM world records with her 200 IM swim at the Australian Trials.<\/p>\n
Rice shot down the drug-tainted world record of China's Wu Yanyan set 11 years ago with a 2:09.72 in 1997 when the Australian ripped off a 2:08.92 to knocked .8 seconds from the record.<\/p>\n
Rice clocked splits of 28.03, 1:00.56 and 1:39.24 en route to the new record. At the 100-meter mark, Rice actually stood an astonishing 1.3 seconds under world-record pace. Alicia Coutts finished second to the amazing race with a 2:11.87, while Shayne Reese took third in 2:12.97.<\/p>\n
"It's definitely beyond comprehension," Rice told Swimming Australia<\/i>. "The world record had stood for a long, long time. I'm going to celebrate and enjoy the moment. It was definitely beyond my expectations. I've had the meet of my life and I'm so happy and just hope I can put together an even better preparation for the Olympics and try and improve my times. I know that I have put in an even harder block of training now."<\/p>\n
Rice becomes the first Australian to hold the record since Shane Gould's 2:23.07 in 1972, which stood from Aug. 28, 1972 until April 13, 1973 when East German Kornelia Ender broke it with a 2:23.01.<\/p>\n
Rice also becomes the first swimmer since 1980 to hold both the 200 and 400 IM world records since East Germany's Petra Schneider.<\/p>\n
World Record Progressions<\/b>
\nCourtesy of USA Swimming<\/i>
\n2:27.8 Claudia Kolb USA Lincoln 8\/21\/1966
\n2:27.5 Claudia Kolb USA Santa Clara 7\/8\/1967
\n2:26.1 Claudia Kolb USA Winnipeg 7\/30\/1967
\n2:25.0 Claudia Kolb USA Philadelphia 8\/18\/1967
\n2:23.5 Caludia Kolb USA Los Angeles 8\/25\/1968
\n2:23.07 Shane Gould AUS Munich 8\/28\/1972
\n2:23.01 Kornelia Ender GDR Berlin 4\/13\/1973
\n2:20.51 Andrea Huebner GDR Belgrade 9\/4\/1973
\n2:18.97 Ulrike Tauber GDR Vienna 8\/18\/1974
\n2:18.83 Ulrike Tauber GDR Wittenberg 6\/10\/1975
\n2:18.30 Ulrike Tauber GDR Tallin 3\/12\/1976
\n2:17.14 Kornelia Ender GDR Berlin 6\/5\/1976
\n2:15.85 Ulrike Tauber GDR Berlin 8\/28\/1977
\n2:15.09 Tracy Caulkins USA Woodlands 8\/2\/1978
\n2:14.07 Tracy Caulkins USA Berlin 8\/20\/1978
\n2:13.69 Tracy Caulkins USA Austin 1\/5\/1980
\n2:13.00 Petra Schneider GDR Magdeburg 5\/24\/1980
\n2:11.73 Ute Geweniger GDR East Berlin 7\/4\/1981
\n2:11.65 Li Lin CHN Barcelona 7\/30\/1992
\n2:09.72 Yanyan Wu CHN Shanghai 10\/17\/1997
\n2:08.92 Stephanie Rice AUS Sydney 3\/25\/2008<\/p>\n
Men's 100 free semis<\/b>
\nShortly after France's Alain Bernard snatched the world record in the 100 free with an astounding 47.50 at the European Championships, Eamon Sullivan nearly took it away with a 47.55 to become the second-fastest swimmer in the event. Sullivan went out in a blazing fast time of 22.74 before coming home in 24.81. Incredibly, Bernard and Sullivan both have cleared the previous world record of 47.84 set by Pieter van den Hoogenband.<\/p>\n
"I think I've got a little bit left (for the final)," Sullivan told Swimming Australia<\/i>. "A few things probably didn't go to plan but overall it was a great swim. So, no complaints, and hopefully I can find a bit more tomorrow. I have a few things I think I can improve on. The plan was to get out pretty easy in the first 50 and try and nail the back end."<\/p>\n
The championship final will look to be a swift one as sub-50 did not guarantee a spot in finals with Kenrick Monk in the final transfer spot with an eight-place 49.57. Andrew Lauterstein qualified second in 48.45, while Matt Targett (48.79) and Ashley Callus (48.81) made up the rest of the top four finishers.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 free finals<\/b>
\nBronte Barratt broke the Commonwealth record of Libby Trickett (formerly Lenton) in the 200 free finals with a record swim of 1:56.60 to win the title. Trickett's previous record had stood at 1:57.06.<\/p>\n
"I was already on the team, so I just wanted to go out there and give it everything I had especially in the last 50," Barratt told Swimming Australia<\/i>. "Everyone was trying to mow me down, so I just had to put my head down and go for it. It's so amazing\u2026my first team and I get to swim two individual events and compete in the 4x200m relay. It's worked perfectly and I couldn't really ask for anything more. I was really hoping to go under 1.57 and then when I looked up and saw 1.56.60, I was blown away, very excited."<\/p>\n
Linda Mackenzie placed second in another swift time of 1:56.99, also under the former record, while Angie Bainbridge (1:58.11) and Lara Davenport (1:58.55) rounded out the top four. Melanie Schlanger (1:58.71) and Kylie Palmer (1:58.79) also earned relay duty at the 2008 Beijing Games.<\/p>\n
Men's 200 fly finals<\/b>
\nNick D'Arcy became the 10th-fastest swimmer all time in the event when he clocked a Commonwealth-record time of 1:55.10. He posted splits of 25.94, 55.43 and 1:25.06 along the way.<\/p>\n
"I thought I'd maybe step up a little bit in the final because of the atmosphere but to go a second faster is just incredible, I'm absolutely ecstatic with that time," D'Arcy told Swimming Australia<\/i>. "It puts me up there in the world, so I couldn't be happier. I'm off to Beijing, and that's all I wanted, Beijing. I wanted to establish the Australians along with my credentials so the world knows we're here and we mean business in Beijing."<\/p>\n
Travis Nederpelt, who already had qualified for Beijing, placed second for another event with a 1:56.06. Christopher Young finished outside of the Olympic spots with a third-place 1:58.75.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 fly semis<\/b>
\nFelicity Galvez (2:10.56) and Samantha Hamill (2:10.80) will swim in the center lanes during finals, but world-record holder Jessicah Schipper is lurking on the outside after clocking a conservative third-place swim of 2:11.17 during semis.<\/p>\n
Men's 200 breast semis<\/b>
\nChristian Sprenger (2:13.10) and Brenton Rickard (2:14.05) earned the top two spots in finals during semis, while Jim Piper (2:14.73) and Craig Tucker (2:16.04) will bracket the two during the final heat.<\/p>\n
Men's 800 free relay finals<\/b>
\nThe team of Theodore Pasialis, Joshua Minogue, Grant Brits and Kenrick Monk won the event in 7:28.26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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