2015 World University Games Day Three Finals Live Recap – USA Sweeps Freestyle

2015 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

• July 4th-July 11th, 2015 (Saturday-Saturday)
• Gwangju, South Korea
• Prelims 8:30AM/Finals 7PM (local time)
• Prelims 7:30PM (day before)/Finals 6AM (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Full meet preview
• Results
• Link to Day Three Prelims Coverage
• The official FISU feed: http://www.livefisu.tv
• In the United States: ESPN3.com
• Twitter: @swimswamlive

There will be lots of racing in the evening sessions of day three of the 2015 World University Games, including finals in the women’s 1500 free, women’s 100 breast, men’s 200 free, men’s 200 IM, women’s 100 free, and men’s 400 free.

One notable storyline is the fact that the finals for both the men’s 200 free and 400 free are tonight, less than an hour apart, despite being two races that tend to have a lot of overlap.  That has drawn criticism not only in our own comments section, but also from professional and Olympic swimmers on Twitter.  Two swimmers, the USA’s Reed Malone and Japan’s Naito Ehara, are slated to swim both finals tonight.

WOMEN’S 1500 FREE – FINAL

Top seed Martina Caramignoli of Italy shot out to the lead early.  She was third at the first 50m, but quickly pulled into first, and stayed there for the next 1450m, ultimately touching the wall in 16:06.71.  That time was just over two seconds off of Stephanie Peacock‘s Games record, and good for 6th-fastest in the world this year.

Lindsay Vrooman (USA) was the only swimmer to stay anywhere close to Caramignoli, and took the silver medal in 16:13.85.  The bronze went to Austalia’s Kiah Melverton (16:21.39).

Essentially, the race was over at 450m, as each swimmer’s position at that mark ended up being where they finished overall.  In fourth was Xuanxu Li (China) with a time of 16:21.63.  Two Japanese swimmers, Yuna Kikuchi  and Asari Wada, finished close to each other for fifth and sixth, recording times of 16:31.11 and 16:32.55, respectively.

Kathryn Campbell (USA) touched seventh in 16:41.82, and Czech Martina Elhenicka finished eighth with a 16:44.95

MEN’S 200 FLY – SEMIS

In the first heat, Evgeny Koptelov of Russia, swimming out of lane four, knocked over a second off his prelims time to win the heat in 1:55.56.  Jordan Coelho of France finished second in 1:56.56, followed by Russia’s Aleksandr Pribytok in 1:56.92.

In heat two, Japan’s Masayuki Umemoto jumped out to an early lead in lane seven, and held on for the victory in a time of 1:55.72.  Italy’s Francesco Pavone built steadily through the race, moving up from sixth at the first 50 to finish second with a 1:56.67.  Japan’s Yuya Yajima (1:56.74), American Andrew Seliskar (1:56.84), and Australia’s Nicholas Brown (1:57.08) all also qualified for the final from this heat.

WOMEN’S 200 IM – SEMIS

Australia’s Ellen Fullerton led wire-to-wire in heat one, dropping almost a second off her prelims time to finish in 2:12.94.  Czech Barbara Zavadova was just behind Fullerton the whole way, ultimately dropping over a second and a half off her prelims time to touch second in 2:14.19.  Seoyeong Kim of South Korea (2:14.37) and Italy’s Luisa Trombetti (2:14.42) also advanced to finals out of this heat.

In heat two, China’s Sishi Zhang was ahead at the halfway point, but Madisyn Cox of the USA moved ahead with a strong breaststroke leg to win the heat, and take the top seed for tomorrow’s final, in a time of 2:12.15.  Zhang touched second in 2:12.55, with Australia’s Aisling Scott finished third (2:14.08).  Miho Takahashi of Japan will also advance to finals after touching fourth in 2:14.58.

The meet record in this event currently stands at 2:12.07, held by Ava Ohlgren of the USA in 2009.  It looks to be in real danger of going down tomorrow evening, with both Cox and Zhang swimming within half a second of that mark this evening.

WOMEN’S 100 BREAST – FINAL

In an exciting race that came down to the touch, Japan’s Mira Matsushima won on the strength of the fastest second 50 in the field, winning in 1:06.76, good for 5th-fastest in the world this year.  Lilia King of the US was first at the 50m wall, and hung on for second place (1:06.93).  Italy’s Fiona Doyle took the bronze in a time of 1:07.15, followed by her Italy’s Ilaria Scarcella (1:07.62).

Jessica Hansen of Australia touched fifth in 1:07.80.  Swimming out of lane eight, Ukraine’s Mariia Liver was in second place at the 50m, but ended up with the slowest second 50 of the field, finishing sixth in in 1:07.94.  Italy’s Martina Carraro placed seventh in 1:08.07, followed by Natalia Ivaneeva of Russia in 1:08.22.

MEN’S 200 BREAST – SEMIS

In the first heat, Craig Benson of Great Britain dropped two seconds off of his seed time to touch first in 2:10.18.  Benson currently has the 8th-fastest time this year, a 2:09.32 from the British Championships.  Such is the strength of the British breaststroke group right now, however, that he’s only the 4th-fastest among his countrymen this year.

Italy’s Luca Pizzini was .01 ahead of Benson at the 100m, but faded a bit in the second half, finishing in 2:11.26.  The other British representative, Calum Tait (2:11.84) and Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan (2:11.98), also advanced to finals out of this heat.

In heat two, Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, led for the majority of the race, but Kazuki Kohinata of Japan surged ahead in the final meters to win the heat in a time of 2:10.63.  Prigoda ended up in second at 2:10.95.  American Josh Prenot finished in 2:11.04, followed by Italy’s Flavio Bizzarri (2:11.68).

Benson, Prenot, and Kohinata all have season bests that sit inside the world’s top ten, and Balandin went 2:07.67 last year to win this event at the Asian Games, setting up what looks to be a great race tomorrow evening for the medals.

MEN’S 200 FREE – FINAL

Reed Malone of the USA blistered the back half of this race to win the gold here in a time of 1:47.15.  Fellow American Clay Youngquist took the silver medal with a 1:47.91.  Both of those men are scheduled to go to Kazan as relay-only swimmers for the 4×200 free.  Without Michael Phelps or Matt McLean, Team USA is going to be looking for some strong swims to complement Conor Dwyer and Ryan Lochte.  Malone’s time is the second fastest in the US this year, behind Dwyer, and 16th fastest in the world.

Australia’s Jacob Hansford touched in 1:48.29 for the bronze medal.  Japan’s Naito Ehara and Reo Sakata both went out strong, and were 1-2 halfway through the race, but couldn’t keep up the pace the second half, finishing in fourth and sixth, respectively, with times of 1:48.41 and 1:48.99.

Finishing in between the two Japanese swimmers was Italy’s Gianluca Maglia with a time of 1:48.54.  Zhiyong Qian of China touched seventh in 1:49.06, and Alexandre Haldemann placed eighth in 1:49.13.

WOMEN’S 100 BACK – SEMIS

In heat one, Elizabeth Pelton of the USA only dropped .09 off her prelims time, but that was good enough to touch first in 1:00.92.  Yekaterina Rudenko of Kazakhstan just touched out Czech Simona Baumrtova, 1:01.34 to 1:01.39.  Australia’s Holly Barratt‘s 1:01.71 will also get into tomorrow night’s finals.

In heat two, Kylie Masse (Canada) and Rachel Bootsma (USA) were neck and neck for most of the race, but Masse pulled away over the final few meters to take the heat Bootsma, 1:00.26 to 1:00.64.  Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova (1:00.94) and Polina Lapshina of Russia (1:01.23) will also advance to finals.

MEN’S 200 IM – FINALS

In a thrilling race, American Josh Prenot and Australian James Jones tied for the gold medal, both touching in 1:58.38.  Prenot, notably, had just swum in the semis of the 200 breast earlier this session.  Just like in semis yesterday, Prenot made up lots of ground on the breaststroke leg, splitting a 32.83.  That time puts both men into a tie for eighth in the world this year, just ahead of Great Britan’s Dan Wallace.

Japan’s Keita Sunama had been .04 ahead of Prenot at the 150m mark, and was in the mix the whole way, picking up the bronze with a 1:58.45.  His teammate Takeharu Fujimori surged over the final meters, but finished fourth in 1:58.85.

In fifth place was Australia Travis Mahoney (2:00.16), and Max Litchfield of Great Britain finished sixth in 2:00.25.  Kyle Whitaker of the USA finished in seventh in 2:00.67, followed by Dmitrii Gorbunov of Russia (2:01.54).

WOMEN’S 100 FREE – FINALS

For the second time tonight, the USA has swept the freestyle medals.  Russia’s Rozaliya Rasretdinova showed early speed out of lane four, touching first at the 50m mark, closely followed by American Abbey Weitzeil.  However, it was the other swimmer for the USA, Shannon Vreeland, who had the fastest second 50, and came barreling down lane five to win the gold in a time of 54.39.  Weitzeil touched second in 54.53.  Australia’s Ami Matsuo moved from eighth place at the 50m to third place at the end of the race, taking bronze in 54.94.

Yui Yamane of Japan and Margarita Nesterova of Russia tied for fourth, both touching in 55.07.  Katarina Listopadova of Slovakia, was just behind them, placing sixth with a 55.09.  Rasretdinova paid for her early speed, as her she had the slowest second 50 in the field, fading to seventh in a time of 55.23.  Laura Letrari of Italy finished eighth with a  55.46.

MEN’S 50 BACK – SEMIS

There seemed to be some drama on the pool deck, the upshot of it being that a Russian swimmer walked off the deck, and American Matthew Josa, who did not initially make it out of semis, got a swim.

Once heat one got in the water, Italy’s Matteo Milli knocked .7 seconds off of his prelims time to win the heat with a 25.27.  Italy went 1-2 in the heat, with Stefano Pizzamiglio touching second in 25.52.  Brazilian Henrique Martins (25.75) will also qualify for the final.  Adding to the drama, the commentators (who I can just barely hear) just announced that Josa was disqualified, after initial results had him placing sixth in the heat.

In heat two Junya Hasegawa, won with a time of 25.19, preserving his spot as top seed heading into tomorrow.   Nikita Ul’Yanov of Russia took second with a time of 25.43.  Seonkwan Park of South Korea was just behind him, with a time of 25.54.  Gede Sudartawa of Indonesia (25.55) and Heewoong Shin of South Korea (25.65) will also swim in tomorrow’s final.

MEN’S 400 FREE – FINALS

In yet another close race, top seed Jay Lelliott of Great Britain turned first at the 50m.  Australia’s Jack McLoughlin stayed with him, only .30 behind at the 200m mark, by which point those two had a body length lead on Damiano Lestingi of Italy.  McLoughlin gained some ground on the third 100, closing to within a few hundredths.  Meanwhile Reed Malone closed on Lestingi to challenge for bronze.

Leliott managed to hold off McLoughlin by .04, winning 3:48.84 to 3:48.88.  Just like in the 200 an hour earlier, Malone bided his time, and used a very strong back half to win the bronze medal with a 3:50.13.  Sergii Frolov of Ukraine also passed Lestingi to take fourth in 3:50.99, with Lestingi just behind him at 3:51.12.

Sixth placed went to Russia’s Alexandr Fedorov (3:51.89).  Japan’s Naito Ehara placed seventh in 3:53.56, and South Korea’s Seungho Baek finished eighth in 3:55.26.