BY Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
BARCELONA, July 24. SAME guys, different events, same result.<\/p>\n
Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and the USA's Michael Phelps each broke his second world record at these World Championships this evening. Kitajima's came in the finals of the 200 meter breaststroke while Phelps' mark was set in the semifinals of the 200 meter individual medley.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the meet, Kitajima set a global standard of 59.78 seconds for the 100 meter breaststroke while Phelps clocked a world record 1:53.93 in the 200 meter butterfly.<\/p>\n
This evening Kitajima made good his vow to recapture the 200 breast mark that had been taken from him less than a month ago by Russia's Dmitri Komornikov when the Russian clocked 2:09.52 at the Mare Nostrum meet in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
Kitajima, a 20-year-old student, touched in 2:09.42 to regain the record he first set last October at the Asian Games in Busan, Korea, when he swam the world's first-ever sub-2:10. <\/p>\n
Tonight, Britain's Ian Edmond finished second in 2:10.92, while defending 2001 world champion, the USA's Brendan Hansen, was third in 2:11.11.<\/p>\n
Kitajima went for the record from the start, setting a blistering pace of 29.46 seconds for the first 50 meters. Hansen took over the lead at the 100, splitting an incredible 1:02.35 — a full second ahead of Komornikov's record pace — while the Japanese ace was right behind at 1:02.47. <\/p>\n
On the third lap Kitajima regained the lead, making the final turn in 1:35.75 — nine-tenths of a second ahead of Komornikov's record pace. Kitajima held his lead on the final lap, just nipping the old record at the touch. Komornikov, never in the mix, placed fifth in 2:12.30.<\/p>\n
After the race Kiutajima said:"My goal coming in here was to get a world record in the 200 and I did it and I'm very happy. I was very relaxed and knew I wasn't going to lose. I had a goal of 2:08 and it is not impossible. I still believe I can do better."<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Michael Phelps, swimming in a semifinal heat, lopped almost half a second off the world mark he'd established on June 29 in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n
Phelps, apparently still swimming within himself, clocked 1:57.52 to erase the 1:57.94 standard he set at the Santa Clara Invitational.<\/p>\n
Italian Olympic champion Massi Rosolino swam the second-fastest semifinal time, 1:59.84, just two-hundredths ahead of Trinidad and Tobago's George Bovell.<\/p>\n
Swimmers from five countries have now broken the two-minute barrier in this event: the USA, Hungary, Italy, Finland and…Trinidad.<\/p>\n
Australia's Ian Thorpe, Phelps' erstwhile challenger in this event, was fifth fastest at 2:00.42. Finland's Jani Sievinen, who held the world mark before Phelps, just managed to sneak into the final in eighth place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BY Phillip Whitten BARCELONA, July 24. SAME guys, different events, same result. Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and the USA's Michael Phelps each broke his second world record at these World Championships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n