Men’s 100 freestyle semifinals
James Magnussen improved his time a bit in the semifinal, but is really showing impressive poise to put out just enough energy to maintain his middle-lane status throughout the rounds. He turned his speed on just a touch on the last 50 to take the top seed in 47.90 headed towards the final.
The USA’s Nathan Adrian was extremely fast on the first 50, opening his race up in 22.58 (compared to Magnussen in 23.08), and came back in a total of 48.05. Hard to tell if that’s a forebearer of big things in the 50 for Adrian, or simply him going out hard and shutting it down at the end. If that 22.58 is a “real” opening split, however, he could challenge everything Magnussen has in the final.
Other quick starters were 5th-place Cesar Cielo of Brazil, who opened in a 22.77 and finished in a 48.34, and France’s Fabien Gilot, who also opened in 22.77 but barely snuck into the final in 8th at 48.46. France was the only team with two into the final with William Meynard placing 3rd in 48.25.
Finals qualifiers: Magnussen, Adrian, Meynard, Hayden, Cielo, Verschuren (NED), Dotto, Gilot.
Full men’s 100 free semifinal results.
Women’s 50 backstroke semifinals
We finally got some real speed out of his 50 backstroke, with Anastasia Zueva again taking the top seed (like she did in prelims) in a quick 27.88; that’s the third-fastest swim in the world this year. Nationals. In 2009, Zueva took two silver medals, in the 100 and 200 distances, and here in Shanghai she’s already got a silver in the 100. In 2011 has reversed her trend and made the shorter pair of the 50 and 100 her better distances, whereas she used to be more of a 200 backstroker. That could pay off here if she finally breaks through for gold.
Most of the Spanish women’s team is focused onthe longer races (Villaecjia in the distance freestyles, Belmonte Garcia in the IM’s), but backstroker Mercedes Peris Minguet takes on more of the mold of the Spanish men’s team as a pure sprinter, and she takes the second seed here in 27.93. That’s a career-best time for her. Tied with her at that mark was Belarus’ Aleksandria Herasimenia, who has had a huge comeback the past few years after recovering from a lengthy doping ban that derailed her early in a promising career.
China’s Gao Chang, who was my pick for gold, qualified 4th in 28.05, followed by Canada’s Julia Wilkinson in 5th in 28.14, which misses her own National Record set earlier this year by .01. Wilkinson has put up some very good semi-final swims so far in this meet, but has been unable to match in finals. I’d say this is a good chance for her to turn that trend around in the all-out sprint.
The USA’s Missy Franklin (28.16), Japan’s Aya Terakawa (28.16) and Australia’s Emily Seebohm (28.19) also snuck into the final. Britain’s Georgia Davies missed the final, as did the USA’s Liz Pelton (16th) and China’s Yanxin Zhou (11th) who were both very good in the preliminary round.
Full women’s 100 back semifinal results.
Mens 200 butterfly final – Medal Race
HA! And we dared doubt the Great One. In the 200 free and 200 IM, where Phelps has to challenge Ryan Lochte, gold medals are not a sure thing. But he has sufficiently scared all worthwhile competitors off of the butterfly events to the point that its foolish to ever doubt him at a major championship. For the first time in his last four meets, Michae Phelps emerged from this race as the champion, and has earned himself the right to never be picked against in this race again. That makes this his 5th World Championship in this event, which moves him past Grant Hackett (1500 free) and Aaron Peirsol (100 back) as the swimmer with the most World Championships in any one race.
Takeshi Matsuda almost lived up to his promises that he was gunning for Phelps here, and had the lead headed into the final 50. But Phelps came home in 29.92, one of the fastest amongst the field, and Matsuda was only 30.64. Ultimately, Phelps’ size as compared to the barely-6 foot tall Matsuda allowed him to be more efficient throughout this race. This wasn’t only important because Phelps won, but because he closed extremely well, which has been his big issue this season.
China’s Wu Peng, all season, has used a different strategy in this race by going out hard. That strategy has served him very well throughout the year, including two Grand Prix wins over Michael Phelps. Yet here, he reverted back to his old Championship-meet standard, and that resulted in a bronze medal 1:54.67. This medal matches his bronze from 2005, and is a spot behind his silver from 2007.
Another demonstration of the Chinese closing hard came from 4th-place Yin Chen, also of China. He had the fastest closing 50 in the race (29.70), which all-but confirms that the Chinese squad has made this a hallmark of their swims, especially in the 200 meters.
In a sub-battle between the two best teenagers we’ve seen in this race since…Michael Phelps…Chad Le Clos finished 5th in 1:55.07, which is a career-best time, ahead of Hungary’s Bence Biczo who was 8th in 1:55.53. Biczo appears to have been bitten by having to swim too many late-season races with big significance (Hungarian Nationals at the end of June, European Juniors in early July). This reverses the finish between the pair from the 2010 Youth Olympics. After Phelps retires post-2012, this could develop into one of the sport’s great rivalries.
Full men’s 200 fly finals results.
Womens 200 free finals – Medal Race
Federica Pellegrini, at only 22, is swimming better than any other woman in the world right now. On top of her 400 free gold from earlier in the meet, she won the 200 free in a blazing 1:55.58, which makes her the first swimmer in the history of the World Championships. The fact that nobody’s ever done it in the Olympics either shows how hard it is to repeat in this women’s 200 free. She also became the first swimmer of the meet to win two gold medals at this meet.
This race went about as expected through 150 meters. Germany’s Silke Lippok got out very fast, but by the 100 was done and finished 8th. Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands, the top seed, and Allison Schmitt of the USA sat 1-2 going into the final length, with Pellegrini giving herself only 6-tenths to make up. There, though, the race got bizarre. If Heemskerk had closed anywhere near as well as she did in the semifinal, she would’ve easily medaled. The same story goes for Schmitt. However, both had themselves spent at that point and, along with Lippok, had the three slowest finishes of the field.
Pellegrini turned on her speed earlier than we’ve seen throughout either of the first two rounds, as she turned on her jets closer to the 100 mark, and had no problem blowing by the rest of the field on the last 50.
Schmitt would slip all the way back to 6th in 1:56.98, and Heemskerk finished 7th in 32.12. That was simply a striking fade from the pair.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Kylie Palmer matched Pellegrini’s closing split exactly, which was enough to power her into 2nd in 1:56.04. France’s Camille Muffat also finished spectacularly for bronze.
To sum up, that means that the swimmers in 5th, 6th, and 7th at the halfway mark took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd; while the top 3 at the 100 finished in the final 3 spots. Might be a hint for the next generation about the way to win 200 freestyles in the modern world.
Women’s 200 freestyle final results.
Men’s 800 free final – Medal Race
With the recent retirement of Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, might Sun Yang be emerging as a new National sporting hero for the home crowd? He slam-dunked this 800 free in 7:38.57, which clears Grant Hackett’s best-ever mark by just .08 seconds. That means that at 19-years old, in a jammer, Sun Yang is faster than the greatest distance-swimmer ever was in this race. Still, this is a non-Olympic race, and he would have to confirm that by breaking Hackett’s World Record of 14:34.56 in that race.
Sun Yang confirmed his status as a great embassador for Chinese swimming by taking a victory lap around the arena, travelling into the stands to meet with his fans, tossing out his bouquet of flowers, and even finding a young lady with whom to share his stuffed-rabbit-mascot that is awarded to all medalists. Then, as the other medalists waited patiently, he found a Chinese flag, traveled back to the press area, and posed for medal shots with the Chinese flag extended far above his head. He’s going to light up the Chinese newspapers in tomorrow morning’s editions.
As for those other medalists, silver in this race was pretty well sorted out most of the way. Just as Sun was first at every single turn of the race, Ryan Cochrane held steady in his 2nd-place position throughout the duration to touch in 7:41.86. That just clears his bronze-medal-winning time from the Rome World Championships as the best time of his career, which also makes him the new Canadian Record holder (which is the third such record of this meet).
In bronze was Hungary’s Gergo Kis, who we’ve been watching as a darkhorse medal candidate for the past few months. His finishing time was 7:44.94. That time busts his previous career-best in this race by a full 7 seconds, which also happens to do the same to the Hungarian National Record that he set last year. For a swimming nation as historically good as Hungary, it’s amazing that Kis can so badly defeat a National Record after the polyurethane suits. If he shows similar improvement in the 1500, which is his better event, he could challenge for another medal (though it doesn’t look like anybody will catch Sun Yang).
Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli finished in 4th in 7:45.99, though he wasn’t passed for that bronze by Kis until the very last 50 of the race. The Americans Chad La Tourette (7:46.52) and Peter Vanderkaay (7:46.64) finished 6th and 7th, respectively.
Full men’s 800 free final results.
Women’s 200 fly semifinal
Ellen Gandy and Jemma Lowe have taken it upon themselves, as a butterfly duet, to put this British squad on their shoulders in what has been a disappointing meet so far. Lowe took the top seed in this semifinal in 2:06.30, with Gandy winning her heat (for the 4th seed) in 2:06.73.
Seeded in between the pair will be Natsumi Hoshi of Japan in 2:06.65 and Liu Zige in 2:06.69.
Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia, for the 2nd time in this meet, just missed the final in an event where she was the short course World Champion. She’ll now have to count on the 400 IM, which was probably her best chance to medal anyways, and the 800 free to earn medal-final swims.
Zsu Jakabos and two-time defending World Champion Jessicah Schipper also were safely through. China’s Jiao Liuyang looked much better than she did last week at the World Military Games in Rio, but still wasn’t as strong as one might expect from the World #2. She will be the 7th seed in 2:06.99, followed by Stephanie Rice of Australia.
Neither American would final, with Kathleen Hersey tying Belmonte for 9th and Teresa Crippen in 14th.
Full women’s 200 fly semifinal results.
Men’s 200 IM semifinal
This 200 IM semifinal shaped up to be business-as-usual for the top two swimmers in the world, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps. Neither expended a whole lot of energy, though they got a bit competitive on the freestyle leg. Lochte ended up taking the top seed in 1:56.74 with Phelps just behind in 1:57.26. This sets up a final with the world’s two best swimmers on center-stage.
Something interesting to note between the pair – Phelps looked much better on the breaststroke leg than Lochte (which is confirmed by the splits – 33.95 for Phelps to 34.45 for Lochte). This is a reverse from last season where Lochte looked pretty good on the breaststroke after several leg injuries forced him to really improve his kick. On the other hand, Lochte looked much more efficient than Phelps did in this swim. Could make for an interesting finish tomorrow if Phelps takes the lead on the breaststroke and Lochte conserves his energy for the finish.
Laszlo Cseh stepped up big for the first time in this meet to take the 3rd seed in 1:57.66 and prove that he’s still the king of Hungarian swimming. For Austria’s Markus Rogan, his transition from a 200 backstroke Olympic medalist to a 200 IM Olympic hopeful has been going splendidly, and he took 4th for the second-straight round in 1:57.74.
I’d expect the top three, Phelps, Lochte, and Cseh, to really separate themselves from the field in the final. Cseh has more to give, as evidenced by his butterfly split, and Lochte and Phelps surely do as well, as evidenced by their casual demeanor throughout the race where they almost looked like two swimmers in ajoining lanes challenging other in a practice.
Pereira, though swimming in a different heat, again took his race out hard and was right in the thick of the timing with Phelps and Lochte at 150 meters. Unlike prelims, his weak freestyle leg caught up to him a bit here and he slid back to 5th in 1:58.27. James Goddard of Great Britain qualified 6th, followed by Kenneth To of Australia in a 1:59.17, which is a time he’s only bettered in the prelims of this meet.
Yuya Horihata of Japan rounded out the finalists.
Full men’s 200 IM semifinal results.
Men’s 50 breaststroke final
This was the most hotly-contested race of the night, with all 8 swimmers having a shot at medaling and only a goood start and a better finish separating any one swimmer from a World Championship.
Felipe Silva wasn’t the first swimmer up, as his build doesn’t have nearly the same streamline action that many others in the field do, but as the absolutely most powerful swimmer in this race, he slugged his way to the finish in 27.01. His frame isn’t as apt to great underwaters like Cameron van der Burgh and Fabio Scozzoli had, so he came up in a deficit early.
Silva, however, swam one of the more powerful breaststrokes you’ll ever see and spurted through the field to take the win in 27.01. Scozzoli took 2nd in 27.17, and Cameron van der Burgh was 3rd in 27.19. It may not have been the prettiest thing ever, but it got the job done and was fun to watch.
Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (27.41) and Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen (27.43) fell surprisingly far back of the medalist to take 4th and 5th. The USA’s Mark Gangloff, bronze medalist in 2009, was 6th in 27.58.
Full men’s 50 breaststroke results.
Overall Recap
The American cause is really starting to pick up steam with Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps leading the way. Phelps finally earned himself some leeway with his win in the 200 fly, and both he and Lochte looked very casual in the 200 IM semifinal.
The swimming superpowers are really starting to take things over now, with none of the 12 medals on this day going to a smaller swimming country (like Denmark, Norway, or South Korea that have all won golds on previous days). The Brits also seem to finally be coming around. James Goddard earned a great finals swim as only the 2nd British male finalist, and Ellen Gandy and Jemma Lowe seem to have put themselves in solid position to give the UK only their 2nd (and maybe 3rd) medals of the meet.
Medal Table
Through four days of pool-swimming, the USA and China have burst to the top of the medal table, with the Americans being bouyed by finals swims from their two superstars Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. The Chinese have been quite hit-and-miss in this meet, but most importantly their superstars are firing on all cylinders.
In terms of overall medals, Australia is doing quite well, but 5 of their 7 medals are bronze. They’ve been unable to match the success of their men’s 400 free relay, though Magnussen has a chance at bumping up that total on day 5 in the 100 free. He;s probably their best remaining chance at individual gold medal in this meet, though butterflier Jessicah Schipper will be solid in the 200 fly.
The surprise 3rd-ranked team is Italy, who has four total medals to already match their haul from 2009. This includes a pair of golds from Federica Pellegrini (the only swimmer with two so far) and a pair of silvers from Fabio Scozzoli. After this point, their medal picking become much slimmer, but with a very young team (aside from Magnini) they are looking towards the future with this program.
As a comparison to 2009, at this point of the meet the Americans had 4 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze, so they are right on track in that regard.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States |
4 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 |  China |
3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 |  Italy |
2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 |  France |
2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 |  Brazil |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 |  Australia |
1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 |  Denmark |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Netherlands |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Norway |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 South Korea |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 |  Japan |
0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 |  Canada |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Great Britain |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Russia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 15 |  Germany |
0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 16 |  South Africa |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 17 |  Hungary |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 18 | 16 | 17 | 51 | |
I was asked about the atmosphere in Shanghai earlier this week and now that I’m here I’ll give some feedback. Its really kind of surprising because I’m staying with a family friend’s parents who do not know anything about the sport and are watching swimming on their tv rooting for the chinese team (This morning I woke up to them watching the prelim sessions, and the whole thing, not just the fast heats).
On my way to the oriental center last night, it obviously wasn’t like everyone in the world talking about the sport, but I did see quite a few people in the subway wearing the FINA media tags walking around. As you got closer to the oriental center… Read more »
If you can manage during Michigan winters, Ann Arbor is a pleasant place to live, and Wu generally seems pretty happy in the CW videos that show up on You Tube. Seems like a fun training group if you can handle the suffer level.
Yeah you can tell that they really love every aspect of the sport down there. They will try anything and everything you can think of in the pool, videotape it, and if they learn something out of it share it with the world. Hard to not be pumped up as a professional swimmer in that kind of environment.
how can anyone dare doubt “the king” ? i thought that matsuda had a good chance at 150, but this time phelps had plenty saved in the tank. can’t wait for the dual with lochte in the 200 IM which would be their last confrontation in this meet.
Wu Peng to Chinese media after his race (rough translation): “Every Chinese swimmer should go to the US to see how Americans train and swim. My stay there has relit my passion and confidence for swimming.”
Wow! Impressive quote, especially in a meet where his team is performing so well.
I dont think Cseh has that much to give. He looked exhausted after his swim. He has not looked great at this championships so far.
Thats still a pretty big jump that it is the Chinese team motto and not based on the individual styles of the athletes….their ability to handle lactate and what not. but hey I guess I havent been watching the meet at all.
They all do it at the start, but Silva is the only one at the end. CVDB takes a weak breaststroke kick, but he still turns out and Dale Oen just drifts, he doesn’t kick at all.
Dale Oen clearly forces his legs down. If you don’t like that one, check out his turn on the 100. downward kick, and feat come apart in a flutter.
That’s just someone trying to stir up controversey. The swimmer next to him finishes with a dolphin kick as well, and I guarantee you that every swimmer in the field did an illegal dolphin kick on the pullout.
——————————————-
BK,
what do you mean by this?
isn’t a single doplhin kick allowed on the pullout?
So of course every swimmer does dolphin kick on the pullout, who wouldn’t? but it is not illegal.
They all do two. If you watch, they all do a big dolphin kick before the splash clears, because they know nobody can see it. I think that every breaststroker at every level of the sport does this now. I heard swimmers being coached to do this in a rec league this summer, in fact.
You’re right about To, I’ll fix.
I thought that it was pretty clear when I said “this race” that I meant the women’s 200 free, but I’ll go back and clarify.