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Sports

Tuesday July 28, 2009

Swimming: Young Sjostrom leads fall of five world records in Rome

ROME: Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (pic) bettered the world record she set on Sunday to grab gold in the women’s 100m butterfly final as five new world marks were created at the World Swimming Championships yesterday.

The 15-year-old surged home in 56.06, ahead of second-placed Jessicah Schipper of Australia and bronze medallist Jiao Liuyang of China.

Sjostrom destroyed the world record in Sunday’s heats to set a new mark of 56.44 but easily surpassed that on a warm Rome evening.

“I don’t know what is happening right now. It’s unbelievable,” she told reporters. “This is my best year but I have many years in front of me. I can do better.”

The spate of record continued unabated when Australia’s Brenton Rickard lived up to his billing by smashing the world mark to win the men’s 100m breaststroke final.

Rickard sped through Rome’s open air pool in 58.58, beating Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima’s previous best of 58.91.

With Kitajima and 2007 world champion Brendan Hansen not competing, Rickard took his chance, having won bronze two years ago.

“It’s nice to have a shiny gold one around my neck after all those silvers and bronzes,” he said.

France’s Hugues Duboscq was second in 58.64 having also bettered Kitajima’s previous world record while Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa won bronze.

America’s Eric Shanteau, who competed at the Beijing Olympics despite being diagnosed with testicular cancer, was fourth having beaten the disease.

American Rebecca Soni too was on record form, setting a new mark in the 100m women’s breaststroke semi-finals with a time of 1:04.84 to beat Australian Leisel Jones’ previous record of 1:05.09.

Anastasia Zueva of Russian also broke the world record in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m backstroke, clocking 58.48 to beat Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry’s previous best of 58.77.

Good show: Brenton Rickard celebrates on the podium after setting a world record in the men’s 100m breaststroke event. — AFP

Ariana Kukors of the United States closed out the night, rewriting her 24-hour-old world record in the 200m individual medley.

Kukors beat Olympic champion Stephanie Rice of Australia with a time of 2:06.15, nearly a full second ahead of the her record time in the semi-finals of 2:07.03.

Kukors didn’t even qualify for the event at the US championships this month, but she got in when team-mate Elizabeth Pelton decided to focus on the 100m backstroke.

In the surprise of the evening, Milorad Cavic claimed the men’s 50m butterfly title.

The Serbian swam a championship record of 22.67 with Australia’s Matt Targett second and favourite Rafael Munoz of Spain third.

Meanwhile, world and Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol failed to qualify for the 100m backstroke final after finishing ninth overall in yesterday’s semi-finals.

The American was fourth in the second semi-final to miss out, while Japan’s Junya Koga set a championship record of 52.39 to qualify first for tomorrow’s final. — Agencies

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