The 2nd day of this year’s International Swim Meet in Bolzano brought additional meet records and top world times, as swimmers from multiple continents descended upon the short course meters pool in pursuit of cash prizes.
Today’s competition was highlighted by three new meet records, two achieved by U.S.-based swimmers. First, American breaststroker Katie Meili doubled up on her 50m win from yesterday with a meet record in the 100m distance today. Her new mark of 1:04.40 not only beat the field by almost a full second, but it also blew away her own meet record of 1:05.87 set just last year. Meili’s stellar performance also wiped her own personal best of 1:04.87 off the map, which is the time she clocked at the World Cup Tokyo last year. With tonight’s outing, Meili now sits well ahead of the pack in the short course meters world rankings:
2015-2016 SCM Women 100 Breast
EFIMOVA
1.03.19
| 2 | Katie MEILI | USA | 1.03.20 | 12/12 |
| 3 | Jenna LAUKKANEN | FIN | 1.04.56 | 12/05 |
| 4 | Georgia BOHL | AUS | 1.04.65 | 11/26 |
| 5 | Moniek NIJHUIS | NED | 1.04.67 | 12/04 |
One of Meili’s training teammates, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace from the Bahamas, crushed a superb 50m freestyle tonight to go along with her 100m free win from yesterday. Vanderpool-Wallace’s time of 23.93 set a new meet record, replacing that of the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo’s mark of 24.23 from last year. The 23.93 “AVW” clocked today ties her own Bahamian National Record which she set at last year’s Short Course World Championships. AVW is now the short course meters queen of the world rankings, dethroning Sweden’s monster of a sprinter, Sarah Sjostrom. Another SwimMAC Elite athlete, Madison Kennedy, would finish with the silver in a time of 24.31 tonight.
2015-2016 SCM Women 50 Free
KROMOWIDJOJO
23.24*WR
| 2 | Jeanette OTTESEN | DEN | 23.49 | 12/12 |
| 3 | sarah SJOSTROM | SWE | 23.63 | 12/02 |
| 4 | cate CAMPBELL | AUS | 23.64 | 11/27 |
| 5 | Bronte CAMPBELL | AUS | 23.79 | 11/27 |
The Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint was the other meet record assassin, clocking a new mark in the women’s 50m backstroke. Tonight she registered a time of 27.15, which overtook the previous time of 27.44 recorded by Italy’s Laura Letrari back in 2009. Letrari actually finished 3rd in the race tonight, registering a time of 28.05.
Additional winners include Italians Silvia Di Pietro who took the women’s 100m butterfly in a time of 57.67, Fabio Scozzoli who topped the podium in the men’s 100m breaststroke in 59.72, as well as Marco Orsi, who took the top time in the men’s 50m freestyle in 21.57. Americans Cullen Jones and Jimmy Feigen also scored podium spots in that 50m freestyle race, with Jones taking silver in a time of 22.13 and Feigen tying Italian Federico Bocchia for 3rd in a time of 22.19.