As has been the story all week, several more CISM (Military athletics) World Records went down on the final day of the 2014 World Military Swimming Championships in Tenero, Switzerland on Sunday.
The most noteworthy among those came in the women’s 50 fly, where France’s Melanie Henique twice broke the Meet Record in the women’s 50 fly. First came a 26.50 in prelims, which broke the old record of 26.58 belonging to Canadian Laura Letrari; then in finals, Henique lowered the record again to 26.18.
That is the best time of the season for Henique, going a few ticks faster than she was at French Nationals in April. China’s Lan Liu took 2nd in 26.87, while Jiao Liuyang, the 200 fly winner, was back in 6th in 27.36.
Later in the session, in the women’s 800 free, YuHan Zhang swam an 8:33.20 to win the women’s 800 free and beat Germany’s Franziska Hentke (8:47.49). That’s actually a huge best time for the runner-up Hentke, who’s been having the best season of her career this year at 25.
For Zhang, that breaks the World Record held by Martina de Memme of Brazil at 8:37.09.
The Brazilians have a strong history at these World Military Championships, though on Sunday’s final day, that only manifested into a single gold medal. That gold medal, however, was an impressive one, as Nicholas dos Santos took the men’s 50 fly in 23.59. That beat out Russia’s Nikolay Skvortsov (24.19) for the win.
Other noteworthy results:
- German Christian Diener won the men’s 100 back in 55.45. He’s a much better short course backstroker than long course backstroker, but that’s a great off-taper time for him.
- France’s Cahrlotte Bonnet added to her 200 free win earlier in the meet with a holding-on 655.65 in the women’s 100 free. Brazil’s Larissa Oliveira (55.70) and Graciele Herrmann (55.74).
Full meet results available here.
Final medal standings
China anointed themselves as the best military swimmers in the world, at least on this weekend, with 12 gold medals and 27 overall. In all, the meet, a good combination between true world-class swimmers and true world-class militaries hopefully had the desired effect of these military events: building camaraderie and perspective between the world’s nations.
1. China – 27 (12 gold, 5 silver, 10 bronze)
2. Brazil – 21 (8 gold, 5 silver, 8 bronze)
3. Germany – 22 (7 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze)
4. Russia – 20 (4 gold, 11 silver 5 bronze)
5. France – 6 (4 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze)
6. Ukraine – 8 (1 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze)
7. Switzerland – 2 (1 gold, 1 silver, 0 bronze)
8. Kazakhstan – 2 (0 gold, 2 silver, 0 bronze)
9. Slovenia – 2 (0 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
10. Poland – 1 (0 gold, 0 silver, 1 bronze)