South Africa’s Kathryn Meaklim, American Peter Marshall and Swedish swim queen Therese Alshammar stormed to new world records yesterday as the shortcourse World Cup season concluded in style.
Meaklim obliterated the women’s 400m individual medley record to clock 4mins 22.88secs.
It knocked nearly three seconds off the old mark set by Spain’s Mareia Belmonte in Rijeka, Croatia last December.
Like Meaklim, Marshall has been in sizzling form this year and he broke his own 50m backstroke world record, leading from start-to-finish to touch in 22.61secs.
His time shaved a fraction of a second off his previous record of 22.73 set in Stockholm earlier this month.
It was left to Alshammar in the final event of the day to bring the house down once again with the unstoppable Swede smashing her own 50m butterfly mark, touching in 24.28 secs.
It beat the previous best of 24.46 she set in Stockholm.
It was a fitting finale to a World Cup season that has seen 37 world records broken in total.
Those sort of performances are unlikely to be seen again with the vast majority achieved by athletes wearing the high-tech swimsuits that will be banned from Jan. 1.
Singapore is one of the last times the controversial suits will be worn.
Meaklim was the standout performer, returning to the pool to upset a jaded-looking world record holder Leisel Jones of Australia in the 200m breaststroke.
The South African came home in 2:20.52, well off world record pace, ahead of Jones (2:21.31) and fellow Australian Sarah Katsollis.
In other races, Britain’s Francesa Halsall set a new World Cup best time over the 100m freestyle, hitting the wall in 51.19.
Jessica Hardy of the US comfortably won the 50m breaststroke with Katsollis second and Jones third, while Australia’s Jessicah Schipper took out the 200m butterfly title.
Among the men, South Africa’s Darian Townsend came close to beating his own record in the individual medley, but slowed after the final 25m to finish in 1:52.49, a second outside his best time.
Russia’s Arkady Vyatchanin was also poised to break his world record in the backstroke, under the pace over 150m before fading to narrowly miss out.
Australia’s Robert Hurley upset favorite Ousamma Mellouli of Tunisia in the 1500m freestyle while South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh comfortably claimed the 100m breaststroke gold medal.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS