Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bukhov on Saturday sprung a surprise as he claimed his first world swimming title in Doha, and then said Russia should “absolutely not” be allowed at the Paris Olympics.
After the 21-year-old edged the two previous world champions to the wall to win the men’s 50m freestyle, he said his preparation had been tough.
“It’s hard, really hard,” he said. “We train while Russian rockets are flying round the swimming pool. You never know if you stay alive or not. It’s difficult. For all Ukrainians.”
Photo: AFP
Asked if Russians should compete at the Paris Olympics in five months, he said: “Absolutely not.”
“I want to say Russia is dangerous and should not be supported in competition,” he said.
Bukhov had the slowest reaction time off the starting blocks, but claimed his first world championship medal as he beat Australian defending champion Cameron McEvoy to the touch by one hundredth of a second.
Photo:EPA-EFE
Britain’s Ben Proud, the winner two years ago in Budapest, was 0.09 seconds back.
“Really tough. Never know who wins,” Bukhov said. “I just did my job.”
Pan Zhanle swam another blazing 100m freestyle relay leg as he set China on track for another gold with the leadoff in the mixed 100m relay.
Pan swam 47.29 seconds, faster than his winning time in the individual final, but slower than his world record 46.80 seconds leading off the men’s 100m relay final on Feb. 10.
Sprint queen Sarah Sjostrom collected her 13th world title when she won the 50m butterfly. The Swede, who claimed her first world title in 2009 in Rome, won in 24.63 seconds, finishing a decisive 0.81 seconds ahead of French swimmer Melanie Henique.
The 30-year-old remains the only woman to break 25 seconds in the event.
Sjostrom’s 12 individual titles have all come over 50m or 100m in either freestyle or butterfly, but she withdrew from the 100m free in Doha.
“I don’t want to be greedy,” she said. “Look at all my medals. I won already and you will know why I don’t have to do that many races anymore.”
Saturday’s victory was her sixth straight 50m butterfly world title.
Yesterday, Taiwanese teenager Applejean Gwinn finished first in her heat of the women’s 400m individual medley with a time of 5:00.08, but failed to qualify, finishing 20th overall in the heats.
The 17-year-old yesterday also competed for Taiwan in the 4x100 medley relay, alongside Wu Yi-en, Lin Pei-wun and Huang Mei-chien. They finished 19th overall in the heats, failing to qualify with a time of 4:21.94.
In men’s events, Taiwanese Wang Hsing-hao, 24, finished 21 in the heats of the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:39.53.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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