2017 World University Games: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

29TH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES (SUMMER UNIVERSIADE 2017)

• Sunday, August 20-Sunday, August 20, 2017
• 50-Meter Course
• Taipei, Taiwan
• National Taiwan Sport University Arena
• Meet Info
• Webcast schedule
• Results

The first finals session is set to get underway from Taipei at the 2017 World University Games (Summer Universiade), with nine events on the slate including four finals.

Finals of the men’s 400 free, women’s 400 IM, and the 400 free relays will be contested, along with semi-finals of the men’s and women’s 50 fly, the men’s 100 back, women’s 200 back, and men’s 100 breast.

Check out a full recap of the opening preliminary session here.

MEN’S 400 FREE FINAL

• Meet Record: 3:46.72, Premyslaw Stanczyk (POL), 2009

1. Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 3:45.96
2. Jay Lelliott, GBR, 3:48.88
3. Grant Shoults, USA, 3:49.03

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk broke the Universiade meet record to win the men’s 400 free in a time of 3:45.96, taking Polands Premyslaw Stanczyk‘s 3:46.72 from 2009 off the books. Romanchuk, the World Championship silver medalist in the 1500 free, was in complete command after leading the race at the 150m mark, given how he came back on the second 200 in the prelims.

Great Britain’s Jay Lelliott, who was out like a rocket in the heats and held down the top prelim time, wasn’t as aggressive tonight but put up a similar time to hang on for silver in 3:48.88. Grant Shoults of the USA trailed Lelliott by exactly two seconds with 100m to go, but blazed home in 56.24 to nearly run down the Brit. He was less than two tenths back for bronze in 3:49.03.

Sweden’s Adam Paulsson, who qualified 8th for the final out of one of the early heats, had another drop to grab 4th in 3:50.86.

WOMEN’S 50 FLY SEMI-FINALS

• Meet Record: 25.72, Lu Ying (CHN), 2015

1. Aliena Schmidtke, GER, 26.07
2. Katerine Savard, CAN, 26.36
3. Anna Dowgiert, POL, 26.40
4. Hellen Moffitt, USA / Yukina Hirayama, JPN, 26.66
5. –
6. Rachel Kelly, GBR, 26.71
7. Elena Di Liddo, ITA, 26.74
8. Katie McLaughlin, USA, 26.78

Germany’s Aliena Schmidtke defended her top seed from prelims with the top in the semi-finals by three tenths in 26.07. She came out on top in the second semi, while Canada’s Katerine Savard won the first in 26.36.

Poland’s Anna Dowgiert was close behind Savard for 3rd overall in 26.40, and American Hellen Moffitt and Japan’s Yukina Hirayama are tied for 4th at 26.66. Katie McLaughlin makes her way to the final in 8th.

MEN’S 100 BACK SEMI-FINALS

• Meet Record: 52.60, Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 2009

1. Justin Ress, USA, 53.34
2. Taylor Dale, USA, 54.10
3. Danas Rapsys, LTU, 54.36
4. Apostolos Christou, GRE, 54.38
5. Kosuke Hagino, JPN, 54.57
6. Shane Ryan, IRL, 54.63
7. Benjamin Treffers, AUS, 54.79
8. Markus Thormeyer, CAN, 54.80

American Justin Ress solidified himself as the gold medal favorite in the men’s 100 back with his showing of 53.34 in the second semi-final, dropping his prelim time by three tenths and coming within 0.07 of his best time in 53.34.

Just like the prelims, Taylor Dale (54.10) posted the second fastest time to put the Americans into gold and silver medal position. Following Dale in the first semi-final were Shane Ryan, Benjamin Treffers and Markus Thormeyer who qualify 6th, 7th and 8th overall for the final.

The second semi was much faster with four of the top five qualifiers, with Lithuanian Danas Rapsys following Ress for 3rd overall in 54.36. Apostolos Christou and Kosuke Hagino also advanced through in 4th and 5th.

WOMEN’S 400 IM FINAL

• Meet Record: 4:37.50, Yana Klochkova (UKR), 2007

1. Yui Ohashi, JPN, 4:34.40
2. Allyson McHugh, USA, 4:40.22
3. Kim Seoyeong, KOR, 4:41.52

Not surprisingly, Japan’s Yui Ohashi dominated her way to gold in the women’s 400 IM, clocking 4:34.40 to break 4-time Olympic champion Yana Klochkova‘s Universiade record of 4:37.50. Ohashi was ahead from the gun, leading by over two seconds at the halfway mark before blowing everyone away on the back half and ultimately winning by nearly seven seconds.

Allyson McHugh of the United States sat 4th with 50m to go, but like the prelims she charged home and grabbed the silver in 4:40.22 thanks to a 30.59 final 50. Korea’s Kim Seoyeong also overtook Canada’s Sarah Darcel, who sat 2nd the entire race, on the last length to grab bronze in 4:41.52.

Darcel settled for 4th in 4:42.07, and the other American Brooke Forde took 5th in 4:44.04.

MEN’S 100 BREAST SEMI-FINALS

• Meet Record: 59.53, Igor Borysik (UKR), 2009

1. Dmitriy Balandin, KAZ, 1:00.27
2. Andrew Wilson, USA, 1:00.49
3. Yannick Kaser, SUI, 1:00.53
4. Ilya Shymanovich, BLR, 1:00.65
5. Rustam Gadirov, RUS, 1:00.66
6. Jacob Montague, USA, 1:00.97
7. Andrius Sidlauskas, LTU, 1:01.05
8. Marcin Stolarksi, POL, 1:01.14

Defending champion Dmitriy Balandin came home strong in the second semi-final of the men’s 100 breast to overtake American Andrew Wilson and take the top seed heading to the final in 1:00.27. Wilson, who was well ahead of the field in the prelims at 59.69, was eight tenths slower in the semis at 1:00.49 but still qualifies 2nd overall.

Switzerland’s Yannick Kaser came home fast in the first semi to win the heat in 1:00.53 and takes the 3rd best time to the final, followed closely by Belarusian Ilya Shymanovich (1:00.65).

Russian Rustam Gadirov was solid to advance 5th in 1:00.66, and American Jacob Montague had a nice drop from the heats to move on in 6th (1:00.97)

WOMEN’S 200 BACK SEMI-FINALS

• Meet Record: 2:08.91, Stephanie Proud (GBR), 2009

1. Asia Seidt, USA, 2:10.03
2. Sian Whittaker, AUS, 2:10.10
3. Margherita Panziera, ITA, 2:10.50
4. Mackenzie Glover, CAN, 2:10.62
5. Alexia Zevnik, CAN, 2:10.93
6. Bridgette Alexander, USA, 2:11.14
7. Lisa Graf, GER, 2:11.76
8. Mayuko Goto, JPN, 2:12.17

American Asia Seidt steadily moved through the second semi of the women’s 200 back, flipping 5th at the 50, 3rd at the 100 and 2nd at the 150 before touching 1st in 2:10.03 for the top seed heading into the final.

Italian Margherita Panziera also had a last push in that second semi to move past Canadians Alexia Zevnik and Mackenzie Glover and qualify 2nd overall in 2:10.10. Glover and Zevnik touched 3rd and 4th in the heat in 2:10.62 and 2:10.93, safely advancing to tomorrow’s final 4th and 5th overall.

Australian Sian Whittaker led the first semi-final wire-to-wire, winning easily in 2:10.10 to advance 2nd overall. Bridgette Alexander of the U.S. had a strong showing for 2nd in the heat and 6th overall in 2:11.14.

MEN’S 50 FLY SEMI-FINALS

• Meet Record: 23.09, Jason Dunford (KEN), 2009

1. Andriy Govorov, UKR, 23.17
2. Andrey Zhilkin, RUS, 23.45
3. Shunichi Nakao, JPN, 23.57
4. Andrii Khloptsov, UKR, 23.60
5. Henrique Martins, BRA, 23.61
6. Aleksandr Sadovnikov, RUS, 23.71
7. Marcus Schlesinger, ISR, 23.72
8. Konrad Czerniak, POL, 23.76

Andriy Govorov of the Ukraine asserted himself as the man to beat in the 50 fly, qualifying 1st for the final by nearly three tenths in 23.17. He won the second semi, with his teammate Andrii Khloptsov (23.60) getting by Brazilian Henrique Martins (23.61) for 2nd. Martins holds a best of 22.70 from this year but has yet to show that type of form here.

Russian Andrey Zhilkin dropped over three tenths from prelims to win the first semi and qualify 2nd overall in 23.45, with Japan’s Shunichi Nakao (23.57) and Zhilkin’s teammate Aleksandr Sadovnikov (23.71) in for 2nd and 3rd.

Israel’s Marcus Schlesinger and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak round out the finalists.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAY FINAL

• Meet Record: 3:38.12, United States, 2015

1. Canada, 3:39.21
2. Russia, 3:39.39
3. United States, 3:40.09

Out of lane 1, the Canadian women executed a perfect race to win the gold medal in the 400 free relay.

Katerine Savard put them in 3rd with a 54.93 lead-off, and Jacqueline Keire followed up with a 54.25 leg which gave them half a second lead over Russia. The Russians overtook the lead on the 3rd leg, but Alexia Zevnik, fresh out of the semi-finals of the 200 back, threw down a 54.10 anchor to pull away from the Russians and the U.S. to win gold in 3:39.21.

Russia took silver in 3:39.39, with all four of their legs splitting in the 54-high range. After the top lead-off from Caroline Baldwin (54.57), the Americans fell down to 4th before Veronica Burchill anchored in 54.19 to get them the bronze in 3:40.09.

6th with 100 to go, Anna Hopkin anchored in 54.33 to move the Brits into 4th in 3:40.86 over Brazil (3:41.52).

MEN’S 400 FREE RELAY FINAL

• Meet Record: 3:10.88, Russia, 2013

1. United States, 3:14.01
2. Italy, 3:15.24
3. Russia, 3:15.78

The addition of Ryan Held and Justin Ress to the American team won them the gold medal in the 400 free relay.

Maxime Rooney put them 5th on the lead-off with a 49.02, and then Held (48.25) and Ress (48.07) opened up a lead of over a second and a half before Justin Lynch closed things off in 48.67.

They touched in 3:14.01, with the Italians (3:15.24) and Russians (3:15.78) winning silver and bronze. They both had quick anchor legs from Alessandro Miressi (48.28) and Nikita Korolev (48.53).

Japan and Poland both had the top two lead-offs from Katsumi Nakamura (48.83) and Kacper Majchrzak (48.69), and Japan then moved up into silver medal position with 100 to go. Run down by Miressi and Korolev, Konrad Czerniak (48.68) also had a strong anchor for Poland as he caught the Japanese and tied them for 4th in 3:16.43. The Brazilians were just behind, 3:16.51 for 6th.