DOHA, Qatar (AP) — China’s Pan Zhanle backed up his world file within the relays with a victory all his personal Thursday, whereas American Claire Curzan grew to become the primary swimmer to assert two particular person gold medals on a starring evening for youngsters on the World Aquatics Championships.
The 19-year-old Pan received the boys’s 100-meter freestyle at Aspire Dome, 4 days after swimming the quickest two laps in historical past with a time of 46.80 seconds within the lead-off leg of China’s gold medal-winning 4×100 free relay group.
He didn’t go fairly as quick the second time round, nevertheless it was adequate for gold. Pan touched in 47.53 to stamp himself as one of many high contenders heading to the Paris Olympics.
“This was very laborious,” Pan stated. “That is my first (particular person) world championship title. I do know it’s solely the start. I’ll maintain shifting ahead and let’s meet in Paris.”
Curzan, additionally 19, used a blistering begin to declare gold within the girls’s 50 backstroke, including to her victory within the 100 again. She picked up a 3rd gold as a part of the profitable 4×100 blended medley relay group.
“I can’t actually do not forget that final time I did a 50 again,” stated Curzan, who competes for the College of Virginia. “I’ve had lots of enjoyable doing it this 12 months. I believe it’s nice to unfold my wings a bit.”
Each Pan and Curzan took benefit of many massive stars skipping the Doha championships to deal with the Olympics.
The 100 free Olympic champion, American Caeleb Dressel, and 2023 world champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia will not be at these worlds.
Ditto for Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith, who went 1-2 in all three girls’s backstroke occasions ultimately summer time’s championships in Fukuoka.
Ending behind Pan, Alessandro Miressi of Italy (47.72) took the silver and Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth (47.78) claimed the bronze.
Within the 50 again, a non-Olympic occasion, the silver went to Australia’s Iona Anderson (27.45) and Canada’s Ingrid Wilm (27.61) earned the bronze. That the identical order as the highest three within the 100 again.
China claimed its second gold of the evening within the remaining occasion, profitable the ladies’s 4×200 free relay in 7 minutes, 47.26 seconds with the group of Ai Yanhan, Gong Zhenqi, Li Bingjie and Yang Peiqi. Britain claimed the silver at 7:50.90, with the bronze going to Australia in 7:51.41.
China now has 4 swimming gold medals and 20 victories general on the World Aquatics Championships, greater than double some other nation.
Additionally Thursday, Britain’s Laura Stephens received the ladies’s 200 butterfly, going out robust and gutting it out on the finish to the touch in 2:07.35.
Helena Rosendahl Bach of Denmark settled for silver in 2:07.44 and 18-year-old Lana Pudar grabbed the bronze from lane eight in 2:07.92 — the primary world medal ever for Bosnia and Herzegovina. She edged American Rachel Klinker for the final spot on the rostrum by 0.27.
“All I used to be excited about the final 50 was simply holding on to method,” Stephens stated. “I assume it labored.”
Finlay Knox gave the makeshift Canadian group its first gold medal of the championships within the males’s 200 particular person medley, ending with a powerful freestyle lap to the touch forward of everybody else in 1:56.64.
Carson Foster of the USA took the silver in 1:56.97, with the bronze going to Alberto Razzetti at 1:57.42. The Italian had already taken a silver within the 200 butterfly.
“Traditionally, I’m fairly gradual within the backstroke, and as I’ve gotten older the breaststroke has been slightly little bit of a battle as effectively,” Knox stated. “So simply ensuring I’m robust via that, after which the final 50 everybody is aware of you simply need to dig deep and go for it.”
Within the morning preliminaries, world-record holder Sarah Sjöström withdrew from the 100 free, a choice that was not shocking for the reason that 30-year-old Swede has stated she doesn’t plan to compete within the occasion on the Paris Olympics.
HIGH DIVING
With an enormous remaining dive, Britain’s Aidan Heslop claimed the boys’s title off the 27-meter tower at Doha Previous Port.
He completed with 422.95 factors within the non-Olympic sport, beating France’s Gary Hunt (413.25) as Romania’s Catalin-Petru Preda claimed the bronze (410.20). James Lichtenstein of the USA was fourth.
Heslop sealed the victory with a ahead 4 somersaults with 3 1/2 twists within the pike place, a dive that has the best diploma of issue (6.2) ever accomplished at worlds. He obtained 8.0s and eight.5s from the judges.
“Once you’ve bought the large dives, that’s all that you must be on the highest of the rostrum,” Heslop stated. ”Being on the forefront of a number of the greatest dives that individuals are doing these days is enjoyable. It’s dangerous, nevertheless it’s enjoyable.”
WATER POLO
Croatia superior to the Saturday championship in males’s water polo with a 17-16 semifinal victory over France on penalties.
The French rallied from three targets down within the remaining quarter to tie the rating at 11, however Croatia made all six of its penalties to outlive.
Italy claimed the opposite spot within the remaining with an 8-6 victory over Spain.
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