Retain their names: Sjostrom (SWE) and Kukors (USA)

Retain their names: Sjostrom (SWE) and Kukors (USA)
Monday, 27 July 2009 18:49 , Source: www.fina.org

Jessicah Schipper (AUS), Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) and Liuyang Jiao (CHN)
Sarah Sjostrom (SWE, 15 years old) and Ariana Kukors (USA, 20) were the two protagonists of the second day of the swimming competitions at the Foro Italico. Winners of the women’s 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley respectively in World Record times, these two names made in the best possible way their entry into the elite of world swimming. In a session marked by five new WR, Milorad Cavic (SRB, men’s 50m butterfly) won the first gold ever for his country, and Brenton Rickard (AUS) was best in the men’s 100m breaststroke. Regarding deceptions, the non-qualification of Aaron Peirsol (USA) for the final of the men’s 100m backstroke was a negative surprise.

In the men’s 100m breaststroke, Brenton Rickard (AUS) - third fastest in the semi-final (59.27) - controlled the race very well, overcame his main challengers and touched first in a new World Record (WR) of 58.58. The previous official WR was established by Kosuke Kitajima (JPN) at the 2008 Olympic Games (58.91), although Ukraine’s Igor Borysik had clocked 58.67 on June 11, 2009 (a WR pending FINA approval). Rickard, who collected three medals at home, in Melbourne in 2007 (second in the 200m breaststroke, third in the 100m and first in the 4x100 medley relay), and two awards at the “Water Cube” (silver in the 200m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay), has achieved in Rome his first gold at this level.

On this accomplishment, Rickard said he had come to Rome to race and he was happy to get his hands on the wall first. “This gold means everything to me,” he said, adding that he has been with the same coach since the age of 10, and thus it is a very special honour for them both. “We have both tracked along the same path, and to finally end up here with gold – individually – is great for both of us.” Rickard said that for him, “racing is racing”, and his award came only after training as hard as he physically (and mentally) could manage, and racing as fast as he physically could.

With a fantastic second half to the race, French Hugues Duboscq was very close to beating the Australian, but obtained the silver in 58.64 (after coming second in the event at the 2005 Worlds in Montreal and third at the 2008 Olympics), while Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa got bronze in 58.95. Curiously, neither Eric Shanteau (USA), the fastest of the semi-final, nor Igor Borysik reached the podium: the American was fourth in 58.98 and the Ukrainian was fifth in 59.23.

The second World Record of the day was established in the women’s 100m butterfly, with the success of the “revelation” of the championships so far - Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom (15 years old). After setting a WR in the semi-final (56.44), Sjostrom swam even better in the decisive race, getting gold in 56.06. The silver medallist, Australia’s Jessicah Schipper, also swam under the previous best mark (56.23) but her effort was not enough to climb to the top position on the podium (she badly missed the last stroke). It was of course the first medal at this level for Sjostrom (and the second gold medal ever at the Worlds for a female Swedish swimmer, after the 2007 50m butterfly success of her compatriot Therese Alshammar), while for Schipper this success represented her eighth award at FINA World Championships (after one bronze in 2003, two gold and one silver in 2005, and two gold and one silver in 2007). She had also accumulated three medals in Beijing (gold in the medley relay and two bronze in the breaststroke events).

The bronze medal (56.86) went to China’s Liuyang Jiao, one of the revelations last year at the “Water Cube”, where she was silver medallist in the 200m butterfly.

The Stockholm based Sjostrom – coached by Carl Jenner – was in shock after her victory, and had few words to describe her feelings. “It will take a few days for this to sink in,” she said, but admitted that it was “awesome, and completely crazy” to be a world champion at her age. Her personal best in this event had considerably dropped in the last two days, she added, but not without a lot of hard work, which had resulted in massive improvements. To celebrate, she will “take some holidays after the competition”.

The third final of the day, the men’s 50m butterfly, constituted a test for Spain’s Rafael Munoz, world record holder in this event (since April 2009 with 22.43) and the fastest of the semi-final. For his first appearance at this level, Munoz did not confirm his credentials and finished third (22.88), behind Australia’s Matt Targett (silver in 22.73) and Milorad Cavic (SRB, first in 22.67, bettering by 0.01 the championships record established by the Spaniard in the semi-final). Cavic, one of the swimmers in evidence in Beijing after losing the gold medal to Phelps in the 100m butterfly by 0.01, earned in the Italian capital the first swimming gold (and medal) for his country (Serbia) at the Worlds (Darjan Petric, competing for Yugoslavia in 1978, had won one silver and one bronze in Berlin).

Cavic said he is very grateful for this medal, calling it an amazing way to start the championships and that there “is definitely something to being crowned the fastest butterflier in the world.” He proceeded to explain, however, that although he feels amazing and very happy, he is “overly focused on the 100m butterfly to enjoy this moment”. When Cavic was asked how he manages to win when it counts, he said that he has a very good coach, with whom he has a very open line of communication. Since the Olympics, he said, he has been “listening to [his] body and doing what [he] believed was the correct thing to do.” What happened in Beijing is behind him, he said, and he is now only looking forward.

In the fourth and last final of the second day of the swimming at the Foro Italico, Ariana Kukors gave USA its first individual gold medal, touching first in a new WR of 2:06.15 – she had already established a new best mark for this event in the semi-finals with 2:07.03, which was curiously the same time gained by the silver medallist in the final, a “certain” Stephanie Rice (AUS, Olympic champion in 2008). Kukors (20 years old) had as her best result a fifth place in the 400m IM at the 2007 Worlds in Melbourne. The bronze medal went to another newcomer at this level - Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (2:07.46). Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), second in 2007, was fourth with a time of 2:08.94 (two years ago, her silver was obtained in a time of 2:10.76).

Afterwards, Kukors explained that she had only even been able to swim this event due to a scratch from one of her teammates – Elizabeth Pelton – because of a scheduling conflict. “I found out at the last minute of the trials that I would swim this event, and I did some last minute training, with more lifting to get my strength up and focusing on the small things, like my turns,” she explained, adding that the underwater aspect of her race, which is one of her strengths, was very strong. Nevertheless, she was surprised with the time of 2:06.15 and said that having Rice chase her home was a great motivation. “It was a great race for both of us,” she said.

Concerning the semi-finals, the highlight of the day was the WR of Rebecca Soni (USA), who qualified first for the final with the time of 1:04.84, better than the 1:05.09 obtained by Leisel Jones (AUS) in March 2006. Soni had been second to Jones at the 2008 Games in this event. The fourth WR of the session was set by Anastasia Zueva (RUS) in the first semi-final of the women’s 100m backstroke: the Russian clocked 58.48, improving the former best mark established by Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) at the 2008 Olympics (58.77). In the other semi-final, Coventry did not improve, and took second in 59.21.

One of the surprises of the day was the ninth place finish of Aaron Peirsol (USA) in the semi-finals of the men’s 100m backstroke, an event in which he was world champion in 2007 and Olympic champion in 2008. Peirsol clocked 53.22, far from the unofficial WR (pending FINA approval) he set on July 8, 2009 in Indianapolis in 51.94