Brendan Hansen set another world record at the US swim trials on Sunday, stealing some attention away from Michael Phelps.
Hansen won the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2 minutes, 9.04 seconds, beating the record of 2:09.42 set by Japan's Kosuke Kitajima at last year's world championships.
On Thursday, Hansen broke Kitajima's record in the 100m breaststroke.
"When I got in this pool for the first time, I definitely thought something special might happen here," Hansen said.
It did. The 22-year-old native of Havertown, Pennsylvania, became the first American since John Hencken in 1974 to hold the world record at both distances.
In other races, Jason Lezak won the 100m freestyle and gained the upper hand over rival Gary Hall Jr., who finished third. Hall still earned a trip to Athens on the relays, joining Gary Hall Sr. as the first father-son duo to make three Olympics apiece.
"I just qualified for my third Olympics and I'm really happy," Hall said. "I'd also like to start campaigning now for team captain."
In another testament to family ties, Kirk won the 200m butterfly to join older sister Tara on the US team. They are the sixth set of siblings to make the same team but the first sisters.
Ed Moses, who was America's dominant breaststroker at the Sydney Games, failed in his bid to return to the Olympics. Bothered by breathing problems, he struggled to a fourth-place showing, more than three seconds behind runner-up Scott Usher, who claimed the expected second spot on the team at 2:10.90.
"It's 100 percent disappointing," Moses said.
Then there's Hansen, the dominant college breaststroker over the last four years who peaked at just the right time. He even surprised his coach by eclipsing Kitajima's 200m record.
"We figured it would be two or three years down the line before anyone broke it," said Eddie Reese, who coached Hansen at Texas and will be part of the US staff in Athens. "The only way he could break it was to go out as fast as he went out. The 100m speed gave him the confidence to push his 200m out."
Hall made his third Olympic team in Long Beach, just as father did 28 years ago. At those trials, the elder Hall held up his son -- not yet 2 years old -- in the pool after qualifying for the Montreal Games.
``I have no recollection of that,'' Hall Jr. quipped.
But Lezak got the last laugh in this pool, a temporary outdoor structure set up at the Long Beach harbor. He went out strong -- under world-record pace at the turn -- and held on to win at 48.41.
Ian Crocker, who holds the world record in the 100m butterfly, earned the second individual spot at 49.06.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
BOOT TO FACE: Wilfried Singo said that his actions were not intentional, ‘but I was able to see afterwards that’ the ’keeper had a significant face injury Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season with a 4-2 win away against AS Monaco, but lost goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to a gruesome facial injury. The bloodied Italy international was left requiring 10 staples after sustaining lacerations to the right side of his face when he was caught by the studs of Monaco defender Wilfried Singo. “I don’t know if the referee was badly positioned, but VAR [video assistant referee] needed to intervene, you have to protect the players,” PSG captain Marquinhos said. “To not give a red in a situation like
RSS