Another night of great racing at the World University Games in Kazan, Russia concluded with the most impressive swim of the competition so far.
Women’s 800 freestyle
American Stephanie Peacock, who won the 1500 freestyle in a new World University Games record time of 16:04.44, had the lead at the halfway mark turning in a time of 4:16.20, she held that lead until the final 100 meters when Italian Martina De Memme surged into the lead with 50 meters to go. De Memme who was a second and a half behind Peacock at the 600 meter mark went on to win the event in a time of 8:28.09.
De Memme’s win gives the Italians their first gold medal of the swimming competition.
Peacock finished second in a time of 8:28.21, which is a season’s best by more than eight seconds.
American Ashley Steenvoorden finished third in a lifetime best time of 8:29.79, collecting her second medal of the competition after finishing second to Peacock in the 1500 freestyle.
Julia Hassler of Liechtenstein finished fourth in a time of 8:37.05, Australian Katie Goldman finished fifth in a time of 8:37.10, Italian Aurora Ponsele finished sixth in a time of 8:38.54, Asaumi Chida of Japan finished seventh in a time of 8:39.61 and Canadian Savannah King was eighth in a time of 8:43.15.
Men’s 100 butterfly
Pawel Korzeniowski of Poland had an incredible final five meters of the men’s 100 butterfly to steal the win from Yauhen Tsurkin of Belarus touching in a time of 51.75. Tsurkin led at the 50 meter mark in a time of 24.05 and looked to have the race won when heading under the flags, but Korzeniowski had a perfectly timed touch for the win.
That is a season’s and lifetime best for Korzeniowski and puts him seventh in the world.
For Tsurkin who has already won already won the 50 butterfly, put up a life time best of 51.80.
Russian Evgeny Koptelov finished followed suit finishing in third in a lifetime best time of 52.04 falling just outside of the world’s top ten.
Fellow Russian Nikita Konovalov was fourth in a time of 52.10.
Swiss swimmer Nico Van Duijn finished fifth in a time of 52.52, over half a second faster than his own national record of 53.05, which he set in 2012.
American Jack Conger finished sixth in a time of 52.61, Masayuki Umemoto of Japan was seventh in a time of 52.91 and Oskar Krupecki of Poland finished eighth in a time of 53.08.
Women’s 200 freestyle
Viktoriiya Andreeva and Veronika Popova are used to battling for top position on home soil and that is exactly what they did in the women’s 200 freestyle. The last time the two Russian women met in Kazan Popova got the best of Andreeva, winning the Russian Nationals in a time of 1:57.41 with Andreeva finishing second in a time of 1:58.54, but that was than and this is now. Swimming out of lane one Andreeva took the event in a time of 1:57.31 with Popova finishing second in a time of 1:57.40.
Coming into the competition Andreeva’s season’s best of 1:58.54 was also her lifetime best.
Caitlin McClatchey of Great Britain picked up her country’s first medal of the competition finishing third in a time of 1:58.20.
Canadian Brittany MacLean was fourth in a time of 1:58.53, British swimmer Rebecca Turner was fifth in a time of 1:59.08, American Chelsea Chenault was sixth in a time of 1:59.24 followed by fellow American Megan Romano who was eighth posting a time of 2:00.67.
At the end of this race there was a very concerning moment for the 800 freestyle champion Martina De Memme of Italy. Literally minutes after winning the 800 freestyle she swam in the 200 freestyle final placing eighth in a time of 2:07.25. After the race she needed immediate medical attention, but fortunately recovered without harm.
Women’s 50 backstroke
Russian Anastasia Zueva, who has already collected gold in the 100 backstroke, showed once again that she healthy on her way back to pre-surgery form by winning the women’s 50 backstroke in a time of 27.89, breaking American Jennifer Connolly’s games record time of 27.92. Zueva’s winning time is currently ranked sixth in the world.
Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus continues to have a very strong meet finishing second in a season’s best time of 28.01.
Australian Madison Wilson collected the bronze in a time of 28.33, adding to the her gold from the 200 backstroke and bronze from the 100 backstroke.
American Cindy Tran was fourth in a time of 28.45, Ukrainian Daryna Zevina was fifth in a time of 28.58, Italian Elena Gemo was sixth in a tim eof 28.70, Stephanie Au of Hong Kong was seventh in a time of 28.83 with Klaudia Nazieblo of Poland finishing eighth in a time of 28.84.
Men’s 200 backstroke
Jack Conger (Photo Credit: Tim BInning, theswimpictures)
American teenager Jack Conger took the men’s 200 backstroke in a time of 1:55.47, which is currently the fourth ranked time in the world. The 18 year old Conger, who will be attending the University of Texas in the fall, had posted a lifetime best time of 1:56.82 at the American World Championship trials.
Conger’s time is only 32 one-hundredths of a second away from Longhorn alum Aaron Peirsol’s 17 & 18 NAG record time of 1:55.15.
Conger’s splits:
27.64/56.89 (29.25)/1:26.56 (29.67)/1:55.47 (28.91)
Yuki Sharai of Japan finished second in a time of 1:56.95, which is a season’s best by almost a second.
Conger’s American teammate Jacob Pebley finished third in a time of 1:57.43.
Hayate Matsubara of Japan was fourth in a time of 1:57.72, Eric Ress of France was fifth in a time of 1:58.83, Ben Stasiulis was sixth in a time of 1:59.25, Russian Anton Anchin was seventh in a time of 1:59.47 with Ryan Bennett of Great Britain finishing eighth in a time of 1:59.80.
Men’s 50 breaststroke
South Africa’s Gliulio Zorzi, training partner of Olympic champion Cameron van de Burgh, won the men’s 50 breaststroke in a time of 27.44, which is a season’s best.
Italian Andrea Toniato finished second in a time of 27.53, followed by Russian Vlad Morozov who finished third in a time of 27.70.
Oleg Utekhin of Russia and American Mike Alexandrov tied for fourth in a time of 27.84, Swiss swimmer Martin Schweizer was sixth in a time of 27.90, Eetu Karvonen, the only Finnish swimmer at the competition, tied for sixth in a time of 27.90 with Yury Kelmparski of Belarus finishing eighth in a time of 27.96.
Semi-finals
Men’s 50 freestyle
In the biggest semi-final on Monday evening, Russia’s Vlad Morozov got well under the Meet Record with a 21.81 for the top seed. That broke the 22.02 set by his fellow Russian Sergey Feiskov in 2009.
Morozov is really becoming good at his “Cielo” multi-round skills, where he bides his energy through lower rounds.
His countrymate Andrey Grechin was the 2nd seed in 22.07, but unlike the 100 free, the Russians should get challenged for the top two medals in this 50. The Ukraine’s Andrey Govorov was 3rd in 22.17; he was a semi-finalist at the Olympics last year, and is close enough to warrant consideration for the finals at Worlds this year.
Australia’s Andrew Abood is 4th in 22.27, Italy’s Federico Bocchia was 5th in 22.32, and Derek Toomey and Adam Small are 6th and 7th, respectively.
Women’s 50 breaststroke
In the women’s 50 breaststroke final, nobody was better than the Meet Record set by the Czech Republic’s Petra Chocova in prelims, but this field did tighten up considerably at the top. It was Russia’s Yulia Efimova, the favorite, who took the top seed in 30.72, and Chocova who was 2nd in 30.75. Ukraine’s Mariia Liver took 3rd in 31.16, before the times started dropping off to Valentina Artemeva, the other Russian, in 31.41.
Both Americans, Laura Sogar and Emily McClellan, made the final, but will occupy the two outside lanes as the 7th and 8th seeds, respectively.
Women’s 200 butterfly
In the women’s 200 fly, Japan’s Kona Fujita jumped to the top-of-the-class with a 2:09.68 with the top seed headed for finals, followed by Yana Martynova from Russia in 2:10.63.
Switzerland’s Martina van Berkel was 3rd in 2:11.61, and Australian Amy Smith was 4th in 2:11.82.
Katerine Savard, the top seed coming out of prelims, added almost a second from her morning swim, but still was able to squeeze through as the 5th seed in 2:12.29. There will be no Americans in the final, as Jasmine Tosky scratched this semi-final and Kelsey Floyd finished 11th in the semis in 2:18.39.
Women’s 50 freestyle
France’s Anna Santamans went a lifetime best of 24.83 to take the top seed in the women’s 50 free ahead of the defending Olympic silver medalist Aleksandra Herasimenia, who was 2nd in 24.94.
American Megan Romano was the 3rd seed in 25.13.
Men’s 800 Free Relay
The Russians laid another bomb in the men’s 800 free relay, crushing the Meet Record by more than 6 seconds and winning the men’s 800 free relay in 7:05.49. The team of Danila Izotov (1:44.87), Nikita Lobintsev (1:46.74), Artem Lobuzov (1:47.50), and Alexander Sukhorukov (1:46.38) combined for the win
Danila Izotov, who won the men’s 200 freestyle earlier in the competition in a time of 1:45.48, posted a world’s best time of 1:44.87 leading off the Russian 4 x 200 freestyle relay. Izotov’s time leap frogs him ahead of Sun Yang who had recorded a 1:44.99 in April. Coming into the meet Izotov’s lifetime best (textile) was a 1:46.14, which he swam in 2011.
That overall time for the Russians would have taken bronze at the Olympics last year, but a prelims stumble (which the Russians have been prone to the last few years) couldn’t even make it out of prelims.
The Americans were much better than in prelims, and with a 1:47.6 leadoff from Wisconsin’s MIchael Weiss they took 2nd in 7:13.58. Australia was 3rd in 7:15.50.
Full results can be found here.
Medal Table
The Russians continue to run away with the medal table, though the Americans have come on late to sit 2nd with 4 golds and a lot of silver to boot.
| Rank | CC | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank by Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  RUS – Russian Federation |
13 | 6 | 2 | 21 | 1 |
| 2 |  USA – United States of America |
4 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 2 |
| 3 |  AUS – Australia |
4 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 5 |
| 4 |  JPN – Japan |
3 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 3 |
| 5 |  BLR – Belarus |
3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | |
| 6 |  UKR – Ukraine |
1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 7 |  ITA – Italy |
1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 4 |
| 8 |  CAN – Canada |
1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 9 |  POL – Poland |
1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
| 10 |  HUN – Hungary |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 10 |  RSA – South Africa |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 12 |  CHN – P.R. China |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 12 |  IRL – Ireland |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 14 |  GBR – United Kingdom |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| 14 |  GRE – Greece |
1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| Total: | 33 | 31 | 33 | 97 | ||
Day 6 evening session. Jack Conger in the 200 back at 1h04.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5UGf5iBY1k
here are splits:
http://kazan2013.ru/hide/en/-240/Root/ViewPdf/SWM412101_C73B1_1.0.pdf
if anyone has the video of this relay, please post a link…thanks
Video of day 6 below but unfortunately without the relay.
Hey Swimswam are you able t provide all splits for the mens 4×200?
Somewhat on the same topic, the breaststrokes has undergone a change of pace since last summer. Clear evidence is that 12 men under under a minute in the 100 breast stroke heats, compared to 3 in Shanghai, Gold in Shanghai would’ve place 4rth (I believe) in the men’s 200breast final, and the women’s 200 breast race was the fastest in history by a considerable margin.
My guess is that this change of pace isn’t going to go away in one year. We could probably expect new (and unexpected) swimmers dip into the 58’s, 2:07’s, 1:04’s, and 2:19’s. Speaking of, the one breaststroke race that was slow last summer was the women’s 100 breast, as a consequence of the above thesis,… Read more »
The world record for the womens 100 breast will fall much more earlier then the 200 I think.
Personally, I think all 4 breaststroke WR’s will go again before Rio 2016 (and probably to different swimmers than those who currently hold them), the order is relevant because different swimmers will peak at different times.
Personally, though, I feel that the 100 WR is stronger than the 200WR, if you judge the splits of the two races.
The mens 200 breast WR will go down this year nearly for sure, same like the womens 100 I think, but that depends on how much Efimova, Ruta and Larson will push each other. Happy to say that Soni´s WR wont be broken this year 🙂
I wouldn’t feel myself so confident about Soni’s WR (2:19.59). For me WR in Women’s 200m breast is probably the most vulnerable of the Women’s breast events. Moller-Pedersen wasn’t too far away in April with her time of 2:20.53 and her main target has been all the time in Barcelona. She will go faster there. The gap is about two and a half tenths per 50m.
Another vulnerable WR is Women’s 50m breast (29.80) that is in danger to be broken by Ruta. And again owing to the fact that we’ve seen Meilutyte being quite close to that earlier this season with her time of 29.96; Ruta’s times were totally untapered ones and she’s also going to be faster in… Read more »
I think the most interesting races are going to be the ones where the top time so far this year has been faster than the times in that race going into the Olympics last summer. Namely:
men’s 50 free, men’s 100breast, men’s 200breast, women’s 800 free, women’s 1500, women’s 100back/200back, women’s 100/200breaststroke, women’s 200IM.
If I’d be putting money on it, I’d say at least of the records that will be broken in Barce will come from the above list.
I would not call women 200 back race as interesting, not when we are 99.99% sure whos going to win it.
M 100 free will be much more interesting.
M 100 free will definitely be one of the ones to watch, it’ll be electrifying!
Well Pelton might make the W 200 back more interesting than you think, she was hanging in there behind Franklin @ US trials. Don’t think Missy will break her WR from London in Barcelona…but RIo will be altogether a different story!
I never watched the race, but Efimova has been using that race strategy for years. All the while, her 100 times have been about a second slower than in Kazan. 3 seconds of difference is a huge difference in the 200 free, even if it was a product of (conscious) mispacing. I have no educated guess as to what Efimova do in Barcelona, but the Russians have been dropping PR’s across the board in all events, and Efimova does seem to be riding that wave.
Her improvements in the 100 breast, even if she doesnt drop time in this distance in Barce, will greatly improve Efimova’s 200. The easy speed in the longer distance is something she has either… Read more »
Well, if Efimova PR now is a 1:05,4,then in a world championship final she could go out in 1:07,7 or even a bit faster and because she showed us that she can close in 1;13,9, she will be around 1:14,5-1:15,1 on her second 200 with such a fast first 100. In overall that makes a time around 2:21,5-2:22,5 and i think thats realistic for her after her 100 performance.
Not sure if that sort of pacing would be the way to get the WR… didn’t Rebecca Soni try something similar in Rome with disastrous consequences 🙂
Efimova closed in a 1:11.31 in the Olympics, if she can do that sort of time for the final 100 after something in the 1:08 range we’re talking.
Interestingly, in the Danish champs just under two weeks ago Rikke Møller Pedersen swam a 2:22.28 with splits of 33.94, 36.66, 35,53, 36.15. While that 1:10.60 first 100 is a little slower than she has taken the race out in many of her fastest times, her closing 100 with a 1:11.68 was the fastest I’ve seen from her in a 200 (Soni’s last 100 for… Read more »
Efimova is the most seriously mysterious case for me. She blasted a textile PB of 1:05.4, while she was only 2:24.1 in the 200. If she has over 3 seconds left to drop in the 200, she’s definitely not finished dropping time in the 100m distance.
JOHN26, if you think Efimova swam her 200 on the same level like the 100 you´re wrong. In the 200 she clearly only swam her second 100 fast, the first one was below easy speed. I think she did one last check on her closing speed before BCN 2013. That Efimova has the front speed she showed us on the 100, which I think she swam all out. My prediction is that her 100 Breast wont be faster than in Kazan, but her 200 clearly will be. Greets from Germany
Very unusual for Izotov to post a faster time in the relay than in the individual event. History tells us swimmers typically go faster in the individual 200 vice the relay. that is, as a lead-off.
yes, very very unusual.
even all the greats swam slower in the 4×200: Thorpe, Hackett, Phelps, etc.
I’d be extremely surprised if these russian swimmers can maintain their level all the way to Barcelona.
Level of form or level of dopes? Just kiddin’ off course. I want to believe their results are legal. Strong Russian swimming good for swimming in general and good for USA swimming as well. We need someone else to replace those damn French.
well, the doped russian swimmers have been given ban/warning, so no more doped russian swimmer in their team.
I hope.
Russia had a girl go 1:57 at European Juniors as well. That’s three 1:57s. Who is their fourth? They could be a medal threat in the 800 free relay.
two 1:57s wouldn’t cut it at the world championships level.
that means they have to likely beat France for bronze. France has a 1:54, 1:56, two 1:57s
USA and Australia are at another level.