Euro Report – Day 5 – Spectacular Semis – Pedersen Passes Soni

For a second straight day the European contingent were not able find their way to the top of the medal podium. Tomorrow looks a lot more promising after seeing their performances in the semi-finals on day five of the 2013 FINA World Aquatic Championships.

In London American Rebecca Soni became the first women to go under 2:20 in the 200 breaststroke, setting a new world record of 2:19.59 en route to winning Olympic gold.

Today two more women joined her in the sub 2:20 club, Rikke Moeller Pedersen of Denmark and Yuliya Efimova of Russia.

In the first semi-final of the 200 breaststroke Pedersen took the first 100 meters out in a time of 1:07.27, 93 one-hundredths of a second faster than Soni’s world record pace. At the 150 meter mark she had put even more time between herself and the record turning in a time of 1:42.89, 1.16 seconds ahead of the pace.

At the conclusion of the race Pedersen broke Soni’s world record by 48 one-hundredths of a second, qualifying for the final in a time of 2:19.11. By breaking the world record Pedersen becomes the first Dane to hold a world record since Ragnhild Hveger‘s 400 freestyle world record was broken on August 25th, 1956 by Australian Lorraine Crapp. (read more about the record here)

When asked what she was thinking about in the race, Pedersen told the press, “(I was) just trying to go strong and compete with the other girls.”

Since the Olympics, where she finished fourth, Pedersen has been on a hot streak. At the Short Course World Championships, while still training with long time coach Paulus Wildeboer, she won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:16.08, a 2.34 second improvement on her previous textile best.

Early in the year Pedersen had a change of coaches when Wildeboer moved to Australia and Australian coach Shannon Rollason took over the head coaching duties at the Danish National Training Centre.

So far the two have had a very successful relationship. With her result today Pedersen improved on her previous lifetime best of 2:20.53, which she swam in March, by 1.42 seconds.

The excitement continued into the second semi-final where Olympic bronze medalist Yuliya Efimova of Russia made a statement of her own by qualifying for tomorrow night’s final in a time of 2:19.85. Her time is over a second faster than her lifetime best of 2:20.92 that she swam in London last year.

Earlier in the month Efimova won the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke at the World University Games and judging by her improvement in the 100 (1:05.48 to 1:05.02) and in the 200 (2:24.10 to 2:19.85) the timing of her preparation is dead on.

Tomorrow night”s final should be thrilling to watch.

The top four qualifiers in the women’s 100 freestyle battled it out in the second semi-final with Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden leading the way with a time of 52.87.

Earlier in the meet Sjostrom finally got a big monkey off her back winning the 100 butterfly. The Swede won the event at 2009 World Championships, but finished fourth at both 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics.

Many thought with that weight off her shoulders she may be ready for more break throughs as the competition moves along. Her semi-final swim was proof of that as she became only the third women since January 1, 2010 to break 53 seconds.

Her qualifying time was also a lifetime best by 18 one-hundredths of a second, breaking her own Swedish record of 53.05 that she set in 2011.

Sjostrom was followed by Australian Cate Campbell (53.09) and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.29) and Femke Heemskerk (53.68) of the Netherlands.

The women’s 200 butterfly was definitely the crowd’s favourite event as Spaniard Mireia Belmonte Garcia attempted to win the gold. Belmonte Garcia was the fastest qualifier in the event posting a 2:06.53 in the semi-final, but she had to contend with 2008 Olympic Champion Liu Zige of China.

Liu had the lead at the halfway point, but by the 150 meter mark Belmonte Garcia had pulled even, with both women turning in a time of 1:32.49. Belmonte Garcia could not pull ahead of Liu who eventually won the race in a time of 2:04.59.

Belmonte Garcia finished second in a new Spanish record of 2:04.78, breaking her own mark 2:05.25, which she set in 2012.

Thoughts:

• With their performances today the Danes increased their percentage of performances faster than entry times to 80%
• The Spaniards continue to thrive on home soil breaking three more national records bringing their total to 14
• In the men’s 200 breaststroke the top six qualifiers were all European
• It is incredible how some swimmers can elevate themselves in relay events and others can perform so poorly:
  • Fabien Gilot 
    • 100 freestyle
      • individual final – 48.33
      • relay final – 46.90
  • Camille Muffat
    • 200 freestyle
      • individual final – 1:55.72
      •  relay final – 1:56.45 (lead off)
  • Federica Pellegrini
    • 200 freestyle
      • individual final – 1:55.14
      • relay final – 1:58.73 (anchor)

Records:

Women’s 100 freestyle

• Belgium – Kimberly Buys – 55.68
• Ireland – Sycerika McMahon – 56.19
• Sweden – Sarah Sjostrom – 52.87

Women’s 200 breaststroke

• World/European/Denmark – Rikke Moeller Pedersen – 2:19.11
• Spain – Marina Garcia Urzainqui – 2:22.88
• Estonia – Maria Romanjuk – 2:33.48
• Russia – Yuliya Efimova – 2:19.85
• Ukraine – Viktoriya Solnceva – 2:24.19

Men’s 200 breaststroke

• Portugal – Carlos Almeida – 2:13.21
• Finland – Matti Mattsson – 2:09.96
• Slovakia – Tomas Klobycnik – 2:11.00

Women’s 4 x 200 freestyle relay

• Spain – 7:53.20