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| Kathryn Meaklim © Gallo Images |
South Africa's Kathryn Meaklim, American Peter Marshall and
Swedish swim queen Therese Alshammar stormed to new world records
on Sunday as the shortcourse World Cup season concluded in style.
In the high humidity of Singapore and at a partially-enclosed
aquatic complex, the first day of the meet on Saturday surprisingly
saw no new world marks despite 16 being set in Berlin last weekend.
But that all changed with the powerfully-built Meaklim
obliterating the women's 400m individual medley record.
She turned under world record time after the butterfly then fell
off the pace on backstroke before recovering strongly with
impressive breaststroke and freestyle legs to clock 4mins
22.88secs.
It knocked nearly three seconds off the old mark set by Spain's
Mareia Belmonte in Rijeka, Croatia, in December last year.
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 24.28secs.
It beat the previous best of 24.46 she set in Stockholm.
Before Sunday's exploits, only Natalie Coughlan of the United
States had broken a world record in Singapore, and that was two
years ago.
It was a fitting finale to a World Cup season that has also
taken swimmers to Durban, Moscow, Stockholm, and Berlin, with 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 January 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 ahead
of Inge Dekkar of the Netherlands and Germany's Daniela Schreiber.
American world record holder Jessica Hardy 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 favourite Ousamma Mellouli of
Tunisia in the 1 500m freestyle while South Africa's Cameron van der
Burgh comfortably claimed the 100m breaststroke gold medal.
RESULTS
Men
1500m freestyle
1. Robert Hurley (AUS) 14mins 32.47secs
2. Ousamma Mellouli (TUN) 14.56.31
3. Machida Yu (JPN) 15.07.66
200m freestyle
1. Darian Townsend (RSA) 1:41.01
2. Dominik Meichtry (SUI) 1:42.83
3. Ross Davenport (AUS) 1:43.25
100m breaststroke
1. Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) 56.25
2. Neil Versfeld (RSA) 56.74
3. Felipe Da Silva (BRA) 57.11
100m butterfly
1. Mitchell Patterson (AUS) 49.51
2. Garth Tune (RSA) 50.36
3. Geoff Huegill (AUS) 50.47
50m backstroke
1. Peter Marshall (USA) 22.61 - world record
2. Stanislav Donets (RUS) 23.34
3. Guilherme Guido (BRA) 23.29
200m individual medley
1. Darian Townsend (RSA) 1:52.49
2. Leith Brodie (AUS) 1:56.66
3. Jay-Cee Thomson (RSA) 1:56.86
50m freestyle
1. Nick Dos Santos (BRA) 20.75
2. Roland Schoeman (RSA) 20.89
3. Matthew Abood (AUS) 20.90
200m backstroke
1. Arkady Vyatchanin (RUS) 1:46.41
2. Daniel Blackborrow (AUS) 1:54.29
3. Ayrton Dickey (AUS) 1:56.71
Women
100m freestyle
1. Francesa Halsall (GBR) 51.19
2. Inge Dekkar (NED) 52.11
3. Daniela Schreiber (GER) 53.18
50m breaststroke
1. Jessica Hardy (USA) 29.09
2. Sarah Katsollis (AUS) 29.50
3. Liesel Jones (AUS) 30.07
400m individual medley
1. Kathryn Meaklim (RSA) 4:22.88 - world record
2. Svetlana Karpeeva (RUS) 4:38.35
3. Koh Ting Ting (SIN) 4:54.81
100m backstroke
1. Marieke Guehrer (AUS) 56.97
2. Elizabeth Simmonds (GBR) 57.10
3. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 57.67
200 butterfly
1. Jessicah Schipper (AUS) 2:03.27
2. Amanda Loots (RSA) 2:04.24
3. Felicity Galvez (AUS) 2:04.38
400m freestyle
1. Blair Evans (AUS) 4:02.77
2. Petra Grandlund (SWE) 4:05.03
3. Stephanie Au Hoi Shun (HKG) 4:05.83
200 breaststroke
1. Kathryn Meaklim (RSA) 2:20.52
2. Leisel Jones (AUS) 2:21.31
3. Sarah Katsollis (AUS) 2:22.83
100m individual medley
1. Hinkelien Schreuder (NED) 58.32
2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 58.50
3. Francesa Halsall (GBR) 58.55
50m butterfly
1. Therese Alshammar (SWE) 24.38 - world record
2. Inge Dekkar (NED) 58.50
3. Marieke Guehrer (AUS) 58.75
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