Barcelona 2013 bids farewell with last swimming finals
Swimming - 2013/08/04 21:46
bcn2013.com
Credit: sports.people.com.cn
Yang Sun as the best male swimmer
Barcelona 2013 concludes with the last day of the swimming competitions. The whole week has been full of great emotions. Eight finals during this evening featured many swimming stars; Katie Ledecky was awarded as the best female swimmer of BCN2013,
Yang Sun as the best male swimmer and the USA as the best team at this world meet
The last day of these World Championships began with the men´s 50m backstroke final, where 28-year-old Camille Lacourt swam a 24.54 to improve his silver from Shanghai 2011 and become the first Frenchman, as well as the oldest winner, to win this title in a World Championship
Lacourt´s countrymen Jeremy Stravius, and Matt Grevers, from the United States, tied for the silver medal by touching the wall in 24.54. This tie was only the second for silver in a men´s event in World Championships history. The first was in the 100m freestyle between Matt Welsh and Arkady Vyatchanin ten years ago, also in Barcelona.
A day after setting World Records in the prelims and semifinals of the women´s 50m breaststroke, Russia´s Yuliya Efimova and current world´s best time holder Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania) came back to the pool of Palau Sant Jordi to race for the definite title.
Today it was Efimova (29.52) who swam faster than Meilutyte (29.59, for the silver) by only seven hundredths of a second to take the gold. Jessica Hardy (29.80), from the USA, was third.
Then it came the time for Daiya Seto to race (in 4:08.69) and win the 400 individual medley final to give Japan its first gold medal in Barcelona 2013, leaving the silver to Chase Kalisz (4:09.22), from the USA, and the bronze to Brazilian Thiago Pereira (4:09.48).
Netherland´s Ranomi Kromowidjojo followed Daiya Seto´s path to also win the first gold medal for her country in the last day of this edition of the FINA World Championships. She swam the 50m freestyle in 24:05, and was followed by Cate Campbell (24.14) and Francesca Halsall (24.30).
The men´s 1500m freestyle event featured Chinese long-distance-swimmer, gold medalist in 2011 and new world champion Yang Sun, who previously won the gold medals in both the 400m and the 800m freestyle finals, an achievement only reached in the past by Australian swimmer Grant Hackett. Thanks to his 14:41.15, Sun is now the first swimmer coming from Asia to win three gold medals at a single meet of these Worlds.
Sun, who was awarded as the best male swimmer of Barcelona 2013, won his 5th gold medal in World Championships to tie Xuejuan Luo´s national record, which turns him now into one of the most successful Chinese athletes. The silver medal was earned by Canada´s Ryan Cochrane (14:42.48), while the bronze was for Italy´s Gregorio Paltrinieri (14:45.37).
On the last women´s individual race of this meet, the 400m individual medley, it was the current World Championships´ record holder Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) who earned the world title. This was Hosszu´s second world title in Barcelona 2013 after her gold medal in the 200m individual medley. Meanwhile, Spain´s Mireia Belmonte pleased the home crowd by taking the silver to count her third medal in these Worlds after bagging the silver in the 200m fly and the bronze in the 200m individual medley. The bronze was for the defending champion Elizabeth Beisel, from the USA.
The moment of disappointment came from the men´s 4x100 medley relay, when 19-year-old Kevin Cordes, who was swimming the second leg, made an early exchange (of 0.04) that ended in the disqualification of the USA foursome.
The news came after the end of the race when Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers, Nathan Adrian and Cordes were celebrating their triumph, which was automatically given to the French quartet made up of Lacourt, Perez-Dortona, Stravius and Gilot. By this means, France got its first medal of any kind in this event at World Championships.
The silver medal was for Japan, while Russia took the bronze.
The 15th FINA World Championships Barcelona 2013 finished with the women´s 4x100 medley relay, where the French foursome took the gold, leaving the silver for the Aussies and the bronze for the Japanese quartet.
