Rome, July 31 (DPA) World records continued falling in the Foro Italico here at the World Swimming Championships.
On Thursday seven world records on the day took the total to 29, with three days of competition still remaining.
Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho and Australian Jessicah Schipper also managed to break through seemingly unreachable barriers.
Cielo Filho became the first athlete to swim the men’s 100m freestyle in a time that was recognised under 47 seconds, while Schipper took the women’s 200m butterfly record to under 2:04 minutes.
The 22-year-old Brazilian won the gold medal in a time of 46.91, beating the old record belonging to Australian Eamon Sullivan’s by 14 seconds.
Cielo Filho, who was lying second at the turn, won ahead of the French duo of Alain Bernard (47.12) and Frederick Bousquet (47.25), who won the silver and bronze medal respectively.
The Brazilian said afterwards though that he did not consider himself the first swimmer to have achieved that milestone. “Bernard managed that earlier this year and even though the time has not been ratified, I do not think I am the first swimmer to break the 47 seconds.”
Schipper shaved nearly a second off the women’s 200m butterfly world record, which American Mary De Scenza had only established on Wednesday.
Schipper won the gold medal in a time of 2:03.41, beating De Scenza’s time of 2:04.14.
China’s Liu Zige, who led until the final turn, also managed to stay under the 2:04 with a time of 2:03.90 to take the silver medal, while Hungarian Katinka Hosszu won the bronze medal in 2:04.28.
De Scenza finished fourth.
Zhao Jing broke Anastasia Zueva’s 50m backstroke record as she took the gold medal in a time of 27.06, beating the Russian’s time of 27.38.
Germany’s Daniela Samulski won silver. 17 behind, while another Chinese swimmer, Gao Chang, won the bronze medal for China in a time of 27.28.
There was further joy for the Chinese team as their women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team consisting of Yang Yu, Zhu Qian Wei, Liu Jing and Pang Jiaying took more than two seconds of the world record held by Australia.
China won gold in a time of 7:42.08, beating the old mark of 7:44.31.
Silver went to the US team, who were. 48 seconds behind China, while Great Britain took bronze in a time of 7:45.51.
Australian Christian Sprenger broke Kosuke Kitajima’s men’s 200m breaststroke world record in the semi-finals as he qualified for the final in a time of 2:07.31.
Shanteau, who had earlier in the session swum the 200m individual medley had the second fastest time, ahead of Australian Brenton Rickard.
In the men’s 200m individual medley, American Ryan Lochte managed to beat the old best mark belonging to his friend Michael Phelps, who opted not to swim this event in Rome. Phelps’ time was 1:54.23 while Lochte, who is known on the swim circuit for his free spirit, had a time of 1:54.10.
The silver medal went to Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who was 1.14 seconds off the pace. Lochte’s compatriot Shanteau won the bronze medal in a time of 1:55.36.
Shanteau said he was happy with his result. “It felt great, I was close to the silver, but I don’t care, I wanted to medal and I got my best time. I managed that and that is all I care about.”
Lochte later took part in the semi-finals of the men’s 200m backstroke, finishing in fifth place to comfortably go through to the finals.
His compatriot Aaron Peirsol topped the rankings in a championship record time of 1:54.06, while Ryosuke Irie from Japan had the second fastest-time.
In the semi-finals of the women’s 200m breaststroke Canadian Pierse proved too strong for the rest of the field, as she qualified for the finals in a time of 2:20.12, beating American Rebecca Soni and Austrian Mirna Jukic into second and third place.
“I was just trying to make it into the finals, so for that it was a great time and I am looking forward to the final,” Soni said.
Defending champion from Australia, Libby Trickett, led the field into the final of the women’s 100m freestyle in a time of 52.84, beating Germany’s world record holder Britta Steffen by just three hundredth of a second.
American Amanda Weir and Fran Halsall from Britain followed with the third and fourth fastest time.
rounak