Out very fast in the women’s 200 butterfly at the Kazan World Championships were American Katie McLaughlin and German Franziska Hentke. As the field closed on them, it was Natsumi Hoshi who came through with the fastest back half of anyone by a long shot, splitting 32.1 and then 32.3 at the end of her big race. Hoshi won it in 2:05.56, followed by American Cammile Adams (2:06.40) and China’s Yufei Zhang (2:06.51). Zhang broke the World Junior record in her bronze medal-earning swim.
Hoshi says that she took out her first 100 conservatively (as she did, she was only 6th after the first 50, then 4th at the 100 mark). Races at the 200 distance are incredibly difficult to pace, and letting it all go in the first 120-130 meters can be incredibly costly to most athletes. Hoshi held herself smooth until the back half, where she pounded out the remaining 100 meters and grabbed gold. Interestingly enough, the top three finishers each had the fastest final 50s.
