Men’s 100 freestyle race footage is courtesy of swimswam partner Universal Sports Network.
Swimswam / Braden Keith coverage of the 100 freestyle at the 2013 FINA World Championships:
The men’s 100 free final was a big-time burn-and-turn from much of the field, led by Russia’s Vlad Morozov who was out in 21.94, with American Nathan Adrian chasing him in 22.38.
However, when it came to the finish, the men with a bit more patience stole the show, as James Magnussen turned 5th en route to winning in 47.71, and American Jimmy Feigen turned 6th en route to silver in 47.82.
This is the second men’s final in as many days where both Americans swam well, but the one who ended up higher on the podium is far from the one that we all expected. Feigen beat his countrymate, and long-time NCAA rival, Adrian, who took bronze in 47.84. In this individual 100 free, his second event of the meet, he’s played his hand just about perfectly en route to the silver after a disappointing result in the 400 free relay.
Magnussen, meanwhile, takes back-to-back World Championships in his event. His time was identical to the one he did in prelims (though split quite differently), but fans will still be left wanting of what we know is Magnussen’s potential: 47.0 or better.
The Americans and Australians occupied all of the top four spots; Cameron McEvoy swam a lifetime best of 47.88 for 4th.
Morozov, despite being four-tenths better than anyone else to the turn, absolutely died on the back-half. He split 21.94-26.07 for 5th-place overall in 48.01. Brazil’s Marcelo Chierighini was 6th in 48.28, followed by France’s Fabien Gilot (48.33) and Italy’s Luca Dotto (48.58).
Men’s 100 freestyle finals results available here.
