Kromo Breaks Meet Record at Sette Colli

Day 2 of the 2012 Sette Colli Trophy is in the books, and there was great action. That includes three Meet Records -in the women’s 100 back, the men’s 400 IM, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo in the women’s 100 free. Each of those swims received half-a-grand for their efforts.

Women’s 100 Back

Japan’s Aya Terakawa, who has been lighting up the 100 back this year, broke a Meet Record with a 59.42 – earning her 500 Euros for the victory, and another 500 for the record.

She took the win surprisingly easily (on the back-half) over Russia’s Anastasia Zueva, the current World Leader. Zueva took 2nd in 1:00.35, followed by Italy’s Elena Gemo in 1:00.75 – a best time that a month ago would have been a National Record before Arianna Barbieri destroyed it at Euros. Barbieri was 7th here in 1:01.61.

Sweden’s Therese Svendsen was 8th in 1:01.90. That’s the third-best time of her career.

Men’s 100 Back

Another great head-to-head battle went down in the men’s edition of the 100 back between Japan’s Ryosuke Irie and France’s Camille Lacourt – the bronze and gold medalists, respectively, from last year’s World Championships.

Lacourt (who between the two is the superior 50 backstroker) took about a stroke-lead at the turn; but Irie (one of the world’s best in the 200) ran him down fairly quickly after that. At the touch, it was Irie who won in 53.71, followed by Lacourt in 53.77. With those two pushing each other (both are already sub-53 this year), we could see the World Record chase in this race, that was so hot two years ago, back on in London.

The Netherlands’ Nick Driebergen took 3rd in 54.53, with Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer 5th in 54.94.

Women’s 200 Fly

Sweden’s Martina Granstrom has been on a roll in the butterfly races. After swimming a best time in the race in June of 2010, she didn’t even come close to it for a full year. But since June of 2011, she has lowered that time on an a dozen occassions, including the latest 2:08.85 to win in Rome. She took the swim out very well in 1:02.0, which is important for her – when she’s racing well, she’s getting out to a fast start.

Still, this was about half-a-second slower than she’s been this year, but for a 2:08.8 to be an ‘off” time speaks volumes about her progress.

Poland’s Otylia Jedrzejczak, the 2004 Olympic Champion in the event, was 2nd here in 2:09.73.

In the B-Final, Finland’s Emilia Pikkarainen won in 2:13.24, which is a fairly disappointing result for her. She hasn’t been nearly as consistently-good in this 200 as she has in the 100 this year.

Men’s 200 Fly

Chad le Clos took the men’s 200 fly in 1:55.87. he took the field to task by pushing the pace very early (opening in 25.7), and by the time they hit the halfway mark, the race was about over.

Japan’s Kazuya Kaneda took 2nd in 1:57.67, just ahead of Italian Francesco Pavone in 1:57.71. Brazil’s Leonardo de Deus finished last in the A-Final in 2:00.21

Women’s 400 IM

Japan’s Miyu Otsuka was clearly the class of this 400 IM with a 4:38.73 win. In true Japanese fashion, it was the breaststroke that broke this race open from a “close lead” to utter domination – she was 5 seconds better on that leg alone than runner-up Stefania Pirozzi of Italy (4:40.88).

Otsuka is very reminiscent of a swimmer like Caitlin Leverenz at the same age (18). Leverenz still had a long way to go in her development as a total IM’er, but was good enough that her IM could bail her out every time. Otsuka looks similar, and now she’ll just have to work on her other strokes. like Leverenz has done in the last two years.

Men’s 400 IM

Italy’s Luca Marin was locked in a great battle in this men’s 400 IM with Japan’s Kosuke Hagino – the current world leader. Hagino took the lead early, but Marin fought back on the breaststroke. At the end, though Hagino swam a phenomenal closing 50 meters, Marin had enough to hold him off, defend home-turf, and break the Meet Record in 4:12.04. Hagino was 2nd in 4:12.46 – with those four-tenths making a 700 Euro difference in prize money.

Brazil’s Thiago Pereira, who is struggling mightly just like his Brazilian teammates at this meet, was 5th in 4:16.69. This swim fell back into his old demons of imploding on the freestyle – he held a second-plus lead on Le Clos heading into the final 100, but Le Clos beat him to the wall in 4:16.66.

Women’s 100 Freestyle

The Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo led four of her countrymates in the A-Final with a 53.09 win in the women’s 100 free, a Meet Record for her. Much like in Thursday’s 50 free, she continues to dominate the World Rankings and now holds the two-fastest (and three out of four) times in the world this year.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who is the next-fastest swimmer in this event in 2012, was also the next-fastest here in 54.30 – her slowest finals swim of 2012 (just like we saw in the 100 fly on Thursday). Her Olympic teammate Therese Alshammar has looked much better, relatively, in Rome and took 3rd in 54.45. That’s her best time of the year by half-a-second, though she’s coming from way different training than Sjostrom is.

The other Dutch finishers were Femke Heemskerk in 54.53, Marleen Veldhuis in 54.63, and Inge Dekker in 55.35. Defending World Champion Jeanette Ottesen from Denmark was also in there with a 54.72 for 6th.

Men’s 200 Free

The Italian men, who are looking to post as much quality in the 800 free relay in London as they are in the more-famous 400, went 1-2 in this event, including a 1:48.02 from their veteran and leader Filippo Magnini. He was chased a bit on the closing 50 by his younger teammate Marco Belotti, but Belotti came up a stroke short in 1:48.09.

Full session results available here.
Live Results available here.