2015 World University Games Day Two Live Finals Recap

2015 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

• July 4th-July 11th, 2015 (Saturday-Saturday)
• Gwangju, South Korea
• Prelims 8:30AM/Finals 7PM (local time)
• Prelims 7:30PM (day before)/Finals 6AM (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Full meet preview
• Results
• Link to Day Two Prelims Coverage
• The official FISU feed: http://www.livefisu.tv
• In the United States: ESPN3.com
• Twitter: @swimswamlive

Finals for day two will feature ten events, six finals and four semifinals.

Finals Preview: In the 800 free, Great Britain’s Jay Lelliott comes in with the fastest seed from Saturday morning, with a 7:55.81.  The men’s 50 fly final could be anyone’s race, but Henrique Martins, who recorded the fastest preliminary time, and Yauhen Tsurkin, who had the fastest time from semis, are the top seeds.  Japan’s Junya Hasegawa is the top seed in the 100 back, but if Jack Conger was holding anything back Friday night in preparation for the 4×100 free relay, watch out.  In the women’s 200 back, Americans Lisa Bratton and Melanie Klaren come in as the top seeds, but Yuka Kawayoke looked like she had a lot left in the tank.  Great Britain’s Craig Benson swam a 1:00.16 in the semis of the 100 breast.  He’ll be looking to crack 60 seconds, and could get close to Igor Borysik’s 2009 meet record.  Finally, another meet record could down in the women’s 50 fly, as Ying Lu looks close to Alek Gerasimenya’s 25.84 event record.

Semifinals Preview: Mina Matshushmima’s 1:07.95 was the fastest time in the women’s 100 breast this morning.  The USA women took both of the top spots in the 100 free prelims this morning, with Abbey Weitzeil the top seed (54.97).  Keita Sumana of Japan recorded the fastest 200 IM time in prelims, with a 2:00.53.  American Josh Prenot will take lane four in the other heat after a 2:01.37.  In the men’s 200 free, USA’s Reed Malone had the fastest swim of the morning, with a 1:48.32.

Men’s 800 Free Final

Top seed Jay Lelliott of Great Britain took it out strong, leading at the 100 and 200 marks.  Sergi Frolov of Ukraine stayed close to Leliott, briefly taking the lead at the 600m mark, but Leliott battled back with some long, effective underwaters you don’t often see in distance races.  Nonetheless, Frolov finally overhauled Leliott and pulled away for the win.  Frolov finished in 7:50.28 and Leliott in 7:50.97.  Meanwhile, Ayatsugu Hirai of Japan turned on the gas in the final laps to overtake American Janadarn Burns, who had been in bronze medal position for much of the race.  Hirai’s time was 7:52.77; Burns touched in 7:56.43.

Notably, Frolov’s time is third fastest in the world this year, and Leliott’s is now the sixth-fastest.

Rounding out the rest of the field was Australia’s Jack McLoughlin (7:57.76), Kohei Yamamoto of Japan (7:57.84), American Arthur Frayler (7:59.09), and Australia’s Jordan Harrison (8:10.40).

Women’s 100 Breast Semis

Lillian King of the USA won the first semis heat in fairly dominating fashion. Her time of 1:07.21 was almost a second faster than the second-fastest woman in the heat, Natalia Ivaveeva (1:08.09).  That swim puts her in the top 20 in the world this year.

In the second heat, Japan’s Mina Matsushima will get lane four in the finals after answering King’s swim with a 1:07.04, good for ninth-best in the world this year.  She was followed by Jessica Hansen of Australia (1:07.48) and Fiona Doyle of Ireland (1:07.67).  Martina Carraro of Italy also qualified for the final on the strength of a 1:08.07.

The final two qualifiers for tomorrow’s final will be Italy’s Ilaria Scarcella (1:08.36) and Ukraine’s Mariia Liver (1:08.38).

Men’s 50 Fly Final

Brazilian men now have the top three times in the world this year in this event.  Henrique Martins timed his finish just to right to touch the wall in 23.22.  That’s a personal best for him, and the third-fastest time in the world this year.

Yauhen Tsurkin of Belarus had the fastest time in the semifinals, but was .01 slower this evening, still good for second with a 23.44.  The bronze medal went to Italy’s Piero Codia (23.48).  Russia’s Oleg Kostin came in fourth with a 23.57.  NCAA Division II star Matthew Josa of the United States placed fifth with a 23.81, followed by China’s Yang Shi (23.85).  Aleksandr Sadovnikov of Russia placed seventh (23.95) and the USA’s Andrew Seliskar finished eight with a 24.28.  Look for Seliskar to do much better in the 200 fly later this week.

Men’s 100 Back Final

This was one of the tightest races we’ve seen yet, with at least four men who looked like they had a chance to win it at the 75 mark.  In the end, Japan’s Junya Hasegawa held onto his lead to take the gold with a time of 53.77.  That times moves him from 21st to tied for 12th in the world this year.  Christopher Ciccarese of Italy was only sixth at the wall, but had the fastest split in the second 50 to come in second with a 53.92.  Jack Conger of the USA took the bronze with a 54.09, just off his personal best from two years ago, while teammate Jacob Pebley finished just outside medal position with a 54.22.

Coming in fifth was Italy’s Matteo Milli (54.65), followed by Russia Andrei Shabasov (54.76).  Seonkwan Park of South Korea touched seventh (54.90), and France’s Eddie Moueddene rounded out the field with a 55.14.

After sweeping the gold medals on the first day of the competition, the USA has a total of one minor medal out of three medal races tonight.

Women’s 100 Free Semis

Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova dropped over a second from her preliminary time to win the first heat of the semis, and will go into tomorrow’s finals with with top seed time after swimming a 54.92 tonight.  She was the only woman in either heat to break 55.0 this evening.  Next in her heat was Shannon Vreeland of the USA (55.04).  Vreeland’s teammate Abbey Weitzeil was actually slightly slower than her preliminary time, but her 55.25 was enough to win the second semifinal heat and give her the third seed for finals.

Japan’s Yui Yamane placed third in the first heat to qualify in fourth, her 55.26 just behind Weizteil’s time.  The rest of tomorrow night’s final will consist of Katarina Listopadova of Slovakia (55.37), Russia’s Margaret Nesterova (55.37), Italy’s Laura Letrari (55.65), and Ami Matsuo of Australia (55.72).

With only one woman under 55.0, these swimmers are going to have to drop some time tomorrow if they want to make a dent in the world rankings.  Currently the 25th-fastest time in the world this year is a 54.31.

Men’s 200 IM Semis

In the first heat, Josh Prenot of the USA used great turns and the fastest breast split in the field to touch first in 1:59.21.  Just behind him was Australia’s Justin James at 1:59.29.  His teammate Travis Mahoney placed third in the heat (2:00.33).  Mahoney was the only swimmer in this heat to split under 30 on the backstroke leg.  All three will move through to finals.  Dmitry Gorbunov of Russia finished fourth in the heat, eighth overall, and will make it to tomorrow’s finals (2:01.33).

Second verse, same as the first.  Like his teammate, Kyle Whitaker gained ground on every turn and had the fastest breaststroke split by almost a second (employing a very narrow kick) to finish in 1:59.69.  He was followed by Australia’s Max Litchfield (1:59.94) and Japan’s Takeharu Fujimori (2:00.19).  His teammate Keita Sunama, who came in as the top seed, was in the lead for most of the race, but seemed to shut it down toward the end, finishing fourth in the heat, and sixth overall.

Women’s 200 Back Final

After getting shut out the first three finals of the evening, Team USA got back to their gold medal winning ways.  Yes, I typed that sentence before the event began.  Apparently I had more confidence in Lisa Bratton than did the commentators, who seemed concerned when she turned fourth at the 100 mark.  But, Bratton had the fastest splits on both the third and fourth 50s, the fourth being 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else in the field, and won by a second in 2:09.31, her new personal best by over a second, as well as time that puts her in the top ten in the world for 2015.

Simona Baumrtova of Bulgaria was in second place for most of the race, and did indeed touch second behind Bratton, recording a time of 2:10.53.  Japan’s Yuka Kawayoke and Melanie Klaren were tied at the 150 mark, but it was the Japanese swimmer who pulled away in the last 50 to earn bronze, 2:11.60 to 2:12.

Canada’s Barbara Rojas-Jardin placed fifth with 2:13.16.  Miki Takahasi of Japan just touched out France’s Camille Gheorghiu, 2:13.62 to 2:13.63.  Eighth place was Russia’s Alexandra Papushua (2:14.29).

Men’s 200 Free Semis

Heat one of this semifinal was a very tactical race, with the lead changing at least three times.  Alexandre Haldeman of Switzerland was out first.  American Clay Youngquist took over during the second 50, and maintained his lead through the 150 mark.  Meanwhile Australia’s Jacob Hansford made his way through the field, from sixth to fourth, and closed hard in the final 50 to touch first in a time 1:48.75.  Youngquist was just behind him at 1:48.76.  Haldemman finished in 1:49.04.  China’s Zhiyong Qian had the fastest split of the final 50, his 27.01 giving him an overall time of 1:49.11.

Heat two did not look nearly as tactical.  Out of lane 7, Japanese swimmer Reo Takata went out very fast, turning first with a .5 second lead, leading the commentators to call his approach “crazily aggressive.”  However, Takata maintained that lead through the 150m mark.  Reed Malone of the USA looked to be very swimming very controlled and closed on Takata in the final 50 to touch first with a 1:47.85.  He’s the only man in the field to break 1:48, and will go into tomorrorow’s final with the top seed.  Takata managed to hold on for second in the heat, finishing in 1:48.22.

The other two men to qualify for the final were Italy’s Gianluca Maglia (1:48.42) and Japan’s Naito Ehara (1:48.58).

Men’s 100 Breast  Final

Another tight race here, but Kazakstan’s Dmitry Balandin used a strong second half to win the gold in 59.96, the 9th-fastest time in the world this year.  The Brits swept the minor medals with James Wilby jumping up to 1:00.28 for the silver and Craig Benson taking the bronze in 1:00.33, just off his top-seeded semifinals time.

American DJ MacDonald came into the final as the eighth seed, but finished fourth in 1:00.51, a new personal best for him.  Japan’s Kazuki Kohinata placed fifth with a 1:00.75, followed by Russia’s Oleg Kostin (1:00.85) and Australia’s Nicholas Schafer (1:00.90).  Caba Siladi of Serbia was first at the wall, but faded to finish in eighth with a time 1:01.01.

Lu Ying of China set the first individual record of these games, with her 25.72 taking down the old record of 25.84, which was set by Belarusian swimmer Aleksandra Gerasimenya in 2013.  Ying didn’t take a breath until somewhere around 35 or 40m mark, and that tactic seemed to work well for her, as she won by over half a second.  That time ties her with Inge Dekker of the Netherlands for the third fastest this year.

In second place was Svetlana Chimrova of Russia with a time of 26.23, while bronze went to Australia’s Holly Barratt (26.41).  Samantha Correa of Canada placed fourth with 26.61.  Following her were Ukraine’s Darya Stepanyuk (26.80) in fifth, Laura Quilter of New Zealand in sixth (26.85), Italy’s Elena Di Liddo (26.90) in seventh, and Christina Bechtel of the USA in eighth (27.00).

Ying’s victory here also means that sixth different countries have won gold in the sixth different finals tonight, a marked change from yesterday, when USA swept all three finals races.

Women’s 50 Fly Final

Lu Ying of China set the first individual record of these games, with her 25.72 taking down the old record of 25.84, which was set by Belarusian swimmer Aleksandra Gerasimenya in 2013. Ying didn’t take a breath until somewhere around 35 or 40m mark, and that tactic seemed to work well for her, as she won by over half a second. That time ties her with Inge Dekker of the Netherlands for the third fastest this year.

In second place was Svetlana Chimrova of Russia with a time of 26.23, while bronze went to Australia’s Holly Barratt (26.41). Samantha Correa of Canada placed fourth with 26.61. Following her were Ukraine’s Darya Stepanyuk (26.80) in fifth, Laura Quilter of New Zealand in sixth (26.85), Italy’s Elena Di Liddo (26.90) in seventh, and Christina Bechtel of the USA in eighth (27.00).

Ying’s victory here also means that sixth different countries have won gold in the sixth different finals tonight, a marked change from yesterday, when USA swept all three finals races.