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| April 6, 2006 | Thursday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1427 |
Record-breaking golden double by Australians
SHANGHAI, April 5: Jessicah Schipper led Australia to a golden double in record-breaking style on Wednesday as China also saw success on day one of the World Swimming Championships. Schipper, a double world and triple Commonwealth gold-medallist, smashed the championship mark in the women's 200m butterfly before helping Australia claim victory in the 4x200m freestyle.
“I'm very happy to win my first world short-course title and I believe I've backed up very well from the Commonwealth championships with a very fast time,” she said.Schipper flirted with Yang Yu's butterfly world record before earning her first world short-course title in 2:05.11 sec. Italy's Francesca Segat was second in 2:05.91 while Yang was third.
Qi Hui soon followed up Yang's bronze with a breakthrough victory in the women's 400m medley title with a time of 4:34.28 sec.
Qi pulled away in the breaststroke section and held off Alessia Filippi at the finish to claim her first mfajor title in four years, sparking celebrations in the Qi Zhong stadium.
China, tipped to make an impact here after some dreadful recent performances on the world stage, also came within an ace of winning the desperately close women's relay.
Yang overtook American Amanda Weir on the final leg only for Australia's champion swimmer Libby Lenton to snatch victory at the final touch.
“I've got big regrets about the last few metres -- we were so close to the gold medal,” said Yang.
“I lacked the strength I needed. I thought I'd got the gold medal but actually I lagged behind a little bit.” Earlier, South Africa's Ryk Neethling erased his Commonwealth Games disappointment by winning the championships' first title in the men's 200m freestyle.
The Olympic relay gold-medallist, who could manage only sixth place in the equivalent event in Melbourne, held off a late challenge from European champion Filippo Magnini to win in 1:43.51 sec.
He said he was not feeling any extra pressure after the late withdrawal of team-mate Roland Schoeman, yet another blow for the championships which were already missing top names such as Michael Phelps, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett.
“I felt like there was no pressure on me since I swam so badly in Melbourne,” he said.
Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino was third while American Ryan Lochte finished fifth.
Magnini also anchored Italy to victory in the men's 4x100m freestyle.
The biannual championships, which run until Sunday, kicked off with a glitzy opening ceremony featuring dance performances by local children.
Results:
Finals
Men
200m freestyle: 1. Ryk Neethling (RSA) 1:43.51 sec; 2. Filippo Magnini
(ITA) 1:43.78; 3. Massimiliano Rosolino (ITA) (1:44.67) 4. Kvetoslav Svoboda (CZE) 1:44.90; 5. Ryan Lochte (USA) 1:45.20; 6. Jayme Cramer (USA) 1:45.35; 7. Rodrigo Castro (BRA) 1:45.63; 8. Nicholas Ffrost (AUS) 1:47.01
4x100m freestyle: 1. Italy (Alessandro Calvi, Klaus Lanzarini, Christian
Galenda, Filippo Magnini) 3:10.74; 2. Sweden 3:11.63; 3. United States 3:11.92; 4. Russia 3:12.41; 5. Brazil 3:12.68; 6. Croatia 3:15.75; 7. Australia 3:15.96; 8. Lithuania 3:16.38
Women
200m butterfly: Jessica Schipper (AUS) 2:05.11 (championship record); 2.
Francesca Segat (ITA) 2:05.91; 3. Yang Yu (CHN) 2:07.05; 4. Mary Descenza (USA) 2:07.57; 5. Elaine Breeden (USA) 2:08.70; 6. Choi Hye-Ra (KOR) 2:09.20; 7. Li Xin-Hua (CHN) 2:09.49; 8. Amanda Loots (RSA) 2:12.36
400m individual medley: 1. Qi Hui (CHN) 4:34.28; 2. Alessia Filippi (ITA) 4:35.32; 3. Anastasia Ivanenko (RUS) 4:35.54; 4. Zhang Xin (CHN) 4:36.30; 5. Kaitlin Sandeno (USA) 4:36.56; 6. Alicia Aemisegger (USA) 4:37.03, 7. Georgina Bardach (ARG) 4:40.39; 8. Helen Norfolk (NZL) 4:40.63
4x200m freestyle
1. Australia (Bronte Barratt, Jessica Schipper, Shayne Reese, Libby Lenton) 7:46.96; 2. China 7:47.07; 3. United States 7:49.16; 4. Italy 7:50.39; 5. New Zealand 7:55.46; 6. Sweden 7:55.60; 7. Russia 7:56.34; 8. Spain 7:59.85.--AFP
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