Fina World Championships 2013: World record for Ledecky on day of golden US treble

AKUATIK, Sixteen-year-old Katie Ledecky smashed the 1500 metres freestyle world record on a great day for the USA which brought three world crowns for the Stars and Stripes team. Ledecky prevailed in a monumental duel with Denmark's defending champion Lotte Friis, while Missy Franklin and Matt Grevers grabbed the golds in their respective 100m backstroke finals. Fellow Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte, born just two days after Ledecky, came tantalisingly close to her own second world record in two days but still celebrated an historic first world title in the 50m pool for independent Lithuania in the 100m breaststroke.

Ledecky, who won the 400m freestyle on Day 1, and Friis fought neck and neck in the 30-length pool marathon, the American edging clear in the final 100 metres to win in 15:36.53. Friis, world silver medallist in 2009 and champion in 2011, was also inside the 15:42.54 world mark set by Kate Ziegler in Mission Viejo, California, on June 17, 2007. Lauren Boyle (NZL), Barcelona 400m freestyle bronze medallist, came through strongly in the later stages to claim another bronze in 15:44.71.

Meilutyte finished a shade outside the world record 1:04.35 she clocked in the 100m breaststroke semi-finals, sweeping to the gold in 1:04.42, a time still inside the 1:04.45 world mark which had stood to Jessica Hardy (USA) since August 2009. Yuliya Efimova (RUS), world silver medallist in 2009, was the only swimmer to finish within a second of the Lithuanian, taking the silver in 1:05.02. Hardy, world silver medallist in 2005, scooped the bronze in 1:05.52

Fina World Championships 2013 ; MEDALS TABLE

MEDALS TABLE

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	10	6	2	18
USA	7	6	4	17
RUS	7	4	3	14
GER	3	2	4	9
BRA	2	2	3	7
FRA	2	0	2	4
AUS	1	4	0	5
ITA	1	2	0	3
GRE	1	1	0	2
TUN	1	0	1	2
HUN	1	0	0	1
LTU	1	0	0	1
SWE	1	0	0	1
ESP	0	4	5	9
CAN	0	2	2	4
UKR	0	1	4	5
JPN	0	1	1	2
BEL	0	1	0	1
DEN	0	1	0	1
RSA	0	1	0	1
MEX	0	0	3	3
NZL	0	0	2	2
MAS	0	0	1	1
NED	0	0	1	1
	38	38	38	114

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Meilutyte (LTU) sets first WR in Barcelona!

Meilutyte (LTU)

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte claimed the first world record of the 15th FINA World Championships in a landmark swim for Lithuania in the women's 100m reaststroke. Meilutyte,16, clocked 1:04.35 in the semi-finals to better the 1:04.45 set by Jessica Hardy (USA) in Federal Way, Washington, on August 7, 2009. It was the first swimming world record in the 50m pool for her country since it gained its independence on the break-up of the former Soviet Union.

Four world titles were decided in the pool, with the victors coming from three continents, embracing Oceania, Europe and the Americas. Christian Sprenger provided Australia with the first gold of the evening, beating Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) into second place in the men's 100m breaststroke. Sprenger prevailed in 58.79 ahead of Van der Burgh (58.97) and Felipe Lima (BRA, 59.65) in an event won last time by Alexander Dale Oen (NOR), who sadly died in 2012.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom reclaimed the 100m butterfly title she had won in 2009, this time deposing defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Dana Vollmer (USA). Sjostrom, winner of the world title in 2009, won in 56.53, with Alicia Coutts (AUS), already a Barcelona silver medallist in the 4x100m freestyle relay, claiming her second successive world 100m butterfly silver (56.97). Vollmer took the bronze in 57.24.

15th FINA World Championships 2013 : PEROLEHAN MEDALI

(MEDALS TABLE (29/7)

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	10	6	2	18
RUS	7	3	2	12
USA	3	3	3	9
GER	3	2	3	8
BRA	2	2	3	7
AUS	1	3	-	4
ITA	1	2	-	3
GRE	1	1	-	2
FRA	1	-	1	2
TUN	1	-	1	2
HUN	1	-	-	1
SWE	1	-	-	1
ESP	-	4	5	9
CAN	-	2	2	4
UKR	-	1	4	5
BEL	-	1	-	1
JPN	-	1	-	1
RSA	-	1	-	1
MEX	-	-	3	3
MAS	-	-	1	1
NED	-	-	1	1
NZL	-	-	1	1
TOTAL	32	32	32	96

15th FINA World Championships 2013:Spain inflicts more pain on USA as Olympic champion bows out of medals

AKUATIK INDONESIA, For the second day in a row, Spanish water polo teams have bundled United States of America out of medal contention at the Bernat Picornell Pool.

On Sunday, the men defeated USA 10-6 in a quarterfinal qualifier and tonight in a rematch of the 2012 London Olympic Games final, it was Spain’s turn to turn the tables on the USA, winning 9-6, vastly different from the USA’s 8-5 victory a year ago.  With half of Barcelona seemingly in the stands, they cheered on Jennifer Pareja and her team to what was an historic victory as Spain has never beaten USA in a major championship - drawing two and losing five.

Pareja scored her four goals in the first half as she helped her team to a 4-2 opening quarter, 5-4 at halftime and 6-5 at the final break. For more than a minute near the end the score was 8-5 ironically but that became a match-winning 9-5 and a late USA goal went in silence.

Spain will now meet Hungary in one semifinal while the other semifinal will be between Olympic bronze medallist Australia and the swift Russia. Russia started the day’s proceedings with a 17-9 margin over Canada in which Ekaterina Prokofyeva captain Evgeniya Ivanova scored four each. Russia led 8-3 at halftime.

Australia won the second quarterfinal 9-5 over outgoing world champion Greece with goals being spread around by both teams. The Aussie Stingers led 4-2 at halftime and drew the third period 2-2.

The Hungary-Netherlands match was a statistical nightmare for the Dutch as Hungary won its 50th World Championship encounter - a record - by 11-7. Hungary led 7-1 at halftime in what was an obviously dominating display. Rita Keszthelyi scored four goals by halftime.

15th FINA World Championships 2013: Pure adrenalin in the port of Barcelona!

AKUATIK INDONESIA, After many months of expectation, the first competition of High Diving in the history of the FINA World Championships finally took place today at the Moll de la Fusta, in Barcelona (ESP). Thirteen of the most experienced and successful athletes of the world took the plunge of the 27m platform, constructed for this special occasion in the port of the Catalan capital, where the open water events were also held in the first week of FINA’s major showcase.

In this historical moment, the first two rounds of dives (this men’s final will be concluded on July 31, with three more rounds), were an impressive display of courage, talent and determination. The event was witnessed by many thousands of spectators, who amassed in this beautiful scenario to admire one of the most spectacular sport challenging disciplines in the world.

When the first diver executed his DD 3.8 dive – in these first two rounds, the inaugural combination was limited to a DD of 3.8, while the second attempt could not go higher than a DD of 4.1 –, the crowd enthusiastically applauded Jorge Ferzuli, whose name will remain in the history books as the first of the first at a FINA World Championships.

Fina World Championship 2013: Serbia going head to head with Montenegro in quarterfinals

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Serbia will face Montenegro in what will be a hotly  contested quarterfinal on Tuesday following the qualification round of  the FINA Men’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool today. Serbia sent Romania packing for home with a 13-5 scoreline and Montenegro defeated Canada 12-4 to set up a tantalising encounter. 

The qualifiers were decisive, unlike the women’s matches the day before where European champion Italy and World League champion China departed the scene.

The other quarterfinals have Greece facing Hungary, Croatia against Australia and Spain playing Italy. Greece started the day’s proceedings with a 13-5 win over South Africa with Alexandros Gounas (GRE) topping the scorers.

Montenegro followed against Canada with Aleksandar Ivovic (MNE) netting three for 13 this championship. Centre forward Nicolas Constantin-Bicari (CAN) finished with eight goals and huge respect.

Olympic champion Croatia repulsed the challenge of New Zealand 21-4. Petar Muslim and Sandro Sukno scored five each for the Europeans. Spain helped United States of America to the airport with a 10-6 margin thanks to Albert Espanol with four goals and Guillermo Molina with three. The championship also saw the last of the talented centre forward John Mann (USA), who scored 10 goals.

Serbia settled for a 13-5 win over Romania with five Serbian players scoring twice and the match’s best Nicolae Diaconu (ROU). Hungary had to come back from 4-2 down at quarter time to send off Kazakhstan 16-7. Five Hungarians scored twice and Sergey Gubarev (KAZ) fired in three. Will this be the last we see of Sydney 2000 Olympic silver medallist Russian goalkeeper Nikolay Maximov (KAZ) at this level? He is 41, after all!

Italy, the London Olympics silver medallist, defeated China 11-3 with Alex Georgetti bagging four goals. Chufeng Zhang and Zhongxing Liang left as China’s best scorers with five each.

In the final match of the day, Australia downed Germany 8-4 with three players scoring twice for the Aussie Sharks. Heiko Nossek, who scored Germany’s first two goals, departs as his team’s leading scorer with 10.

Tuesday quarterfinal programme:

15:30  GRE     v          HUN              
17:00  CRO     v          AUS
20:15  MNE    v          SRB
21:45  ESP     v          ITA

MEDALS TABLE

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	10	6	2	18
RUS	7	3	2	12
GER	3	2	3	8
USA	3	2	2	7
BRA	1	2	2	5
ITA	1	2	-	3
GRE	1	1	-	2
TUN	1	-	1	2
FRA	1	-	-	1
ESP	-	4	4	8
CAN	-	2	2	4
UKR	-	1	4	5
AUS	-	1	-	1
BEL	-	1	-	1
JPN	-	1	-	1
MEX	-	-	3	3
MAS	-	-	1	1
NED	-	-	1	1
NZL	-	-	1	1
TOTAL	28	28	28	84

Fina World Championship 2013: Golden 10m triumph for Qiu

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Bo Qiu retained his 10m crown in spectacular style, defeating Olympic gold medallist David Boudia of the USA to bring China their ninth diving title out of 10 on offer at the FINA World Championships. Qiu uncorked two dives worth more than 100 points as well as a barrage of perfect 10 marks from the judges in a master class from the 10m tower. Qiu, the first man to retain the world platform crown since Russia's Dmitry Sautin in 1998, began inauspiciously in the first round after a shaky semi-final but only two of his six final dives turned out to be worth less than 99 points. 

Qiu, Olympic silver medallist behind Boudia at the London Games, amassed a colossal 581.00 points to win by a vast 63.60 points from Boudia (517.40). The American dived consistently but had to settle for the silver behind Qiu for the second successive World Championships. Germany's Sascha Klein, who shared gold with Patrick Hausding in the 10m synchro, the only title to escape China at the Montjuic Municipal Pool, finished third with 508.55 points, repeating the world bronze he achieved in 2011. Tom Daley of Great Britain, the 2009 world champion ahead of Qiu, held third spot for two rounds in the middle of the competition but faded to sixth (470.60). Olympic bronze medallist Daley has been plagued by injury and said he had been happy just to make the final. It was China's fifth men's 10m win in 15 editions of the championships.

Fina World Championship 2013: Two gold for USA; Sun (CHN) and France also shine

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Yang Sun (CHN) and Katie Ledecky (USA) were the first heroes of the inaugural day of the swimming competitions at the 15th FINA World Championships, taking place in Barcelona (ESP). In the decisive race of the men’s 400m free, the Chinese star clearly took control of the field, getting the gold in 3:41.59 - an expected triumph for the 2012 Olympic champion in the 400m and 1500m free.

In the women’s final, Ledecky also won comfortably (3:59.82), but everyone was expecting a better reaction from the Olympic champion Camille Muffat - however, the French was not in her best shape and only finished seventh in a modest time of 4:07.67. The home crowd could enjoy the silver performance of local star Melanie Costa, and New Zealand got her first women’s medal at Worlds thanks to the bronze effort of Lauren Boyle.

The most thrilling races happened with the relays’ confrontation: among women, USA recovered the title lost in 2005 for Australia (and then for the Netherlands), while among men the predictable win of the North Americans was denied by an inspired quartet of France.

In semifinal action, the highlights go to the elimination of WR holder in the 50m butterfly, Spain’s Rafa Munoz (ninth of the semis), and of the 2005 and 2007 champion Roland Schoeman (RSA, 10th). In the women’s 100m butterfly, 2012 Olympic silver medallist Ying Lu (CHN) will not swim the decisive race, after her 11th place in the semis. Michael Jamieson (GBR), also second in London in the 200m breaststroke, missed the cut for the 100m breaststroke (15th), while in the morning heats, Brenton Rickard (AUS), the 2009 world champion, could not 

Fina World Championship 2013: Champions China and Italy fail to make quarterfinals

AKUATIK INDONESIA, There can only be one winner and even champions have to fall by the wayside some time. This was the case during quarterfinal qualification matches on the fourth day of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool.

In the final match of the night, European champion Italy bowed out in controversial fashion, losing a penalty shootout 13-12 to world champion Greece.

China, fresh from a heroic World League Super Final victory in Beijing, was toppled by Netherlands, 2008 Olympic champion.In a must-win match for the Dutch women’s water polo programme, the women in orange emerged triumphant 11-10, a three-goal burst by Lieke Klaassen late in the match proving the difference. The hat-trick took her total to 16 for the championship, proving her worth to the team and the programme. A loss today could have had brutal ramifications back home.

In 2009, World League champion Montenegro arrived in Rome as the recently crowned king and also missed the top eight. The Dutch were in raptures, as if they had already won the title, while China struggled with the moment and will now head home to rethink their future.

The last match of the day also saw drama and excitement missing from some other encounters, as was the nature of this year’s championship where the bottom eight fly home halfway through. European champion Italy came from behind to lead in the final stages against Greece but the world champion levelled and forced the match to extra time. Both teams scored in the first period but not in the second. Italy missed three shots and Greece scored three for the victory.

The controversial part was where Roberta Bianconi failed to shot when the whistle sounded for the final shot, gifting the match to Greece.

Other matches went to form with Russia dispatching South Africa 22-3, Australia downing Uzbekistan 25-2, Spain bundling out New Zealand 18-6, Olympic champion United States of America beat Brazil 14-3, Canada defeated Kazakhstan 14-8 and Hungary had the better of Great Britain 14-5.

Most interest on Monday in quarterfinals, probably focuses on the clash between Olympic finalists USA and Spain.

Monday programme:

15:30 RUS vs CAN
17:00 AUS vs GRE
20:15 NED vs HUN
21:45 ESP vs USA 

MEDALS TABLE

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	8	6	2	16
RUS	7	3	1	11
GER	3	2	2	7
BRA	1	2	2	5
ITA	1	2	-	3
GRE	1	1	-	2
TUN	1	-	1	2
USA	1	-	1	1
ESP	-	3	4	7
CAN	-	2	2	4
UKR	-	1	4	5
BEL	-	1	-	1
MEX	-	-	3	3
MAS	-	-	1	1
TOTAL	23	23	23	69

Fina World Championship 2013: He claims second Barcelona gold

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Zi He claimed her second gold medal of the FINA World Championships when she added the 3m springboard title to the 1m crown she won five days earlier. He emerged triumphantly from the shadows of her illustrious predecessors Jingjing Guo and Minxia Wu and swooped to China's eighth Barcelona diving title out of nine so far contested, with one final still to come. It was China's seventh successive win in the event, following Guo's unique set of five and the 2011 victory of Wu, who did not defend her individual title in Barcelona but won a 3m synchro gold medal for the sixth time.

He, world and Olympic 3m silver medallist behind Wu in 2011 and 2012, amassed 383.40 points from her five final dives for a clearcut victory ahead of Chinese team-mate Han Wang (356.25) and Canada's Pamela Ware (350.25). Wang, who already had a 1m silver and two 1m bronzes in her world championship medal collection, claimed her first medal on the 3m board in China's fifth one-two in the event.

Fina World Championship 2013: Thomas Lurz wins 25km, his second gold and fourth medal in Barcelona

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Germany's Thomas Lurz, 33 years old, won his first title in the 25km event to become the only male swimmer to have won a gold medal in every open water discipline. "I'm really satisfied with this gold. Now I have been at the top of the podium at every distance in the open water world championships," said the swimmer, who raced a total of 45km, winning a medal in each of four open water events in the last seven days.

Brian Ryckeman of Belgium finished four tenths of a second behind the German swimmer. Russia's Evgeniy Drattcev earned a bronze medal. Russia has won a record 16 world championship medals in 16 editions of FINA open water swimming championships.

Fina World Championship 2013: Grimaldi (ITA), the best in the women's 25km

AKUATIK INDONESIA, Martina Grimaldi of Italy won her first title in the 25km in Moll de la Fusta harbour narrowly beating Angela Maurer of Germany. In the 10km distance Grimaldi owns a complete set of open water medals. She was the 10km champion in the 2010 Open water world championships in Roberval, Canada, finished second in the 2011 edition of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Shanghai, and earned a bronze in her own country during the Rome World Championships in 2009.

Maurer hoped to celebrate her 38th birthday today with a gold medal but will have to settle for her second consecutive silver medal in this event. The German swimmer won her first medal in the 25km, a bronze in the very first edition of the FINA Open Water Swimming Championships in Honolulu. Maurer was the world champion in this distance four years ago in the 2009 FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome. Two years ago she earned a silver medal in this event in Shanghai. In this same harbour 10 years Maurer earned a silver medal finishing another Italian swimmer, Viola Valli in the 10K.

Fina World Championship 2013: Russia completes golden sweep after free combination win

AKUATIK INDONESIA, In the last final on the programme, the number-1 nation in the sport delivered a flawless performance at the Palau Sant Jordi, obtaining their fourth title in the event with a total 97.060. Proving imperial in all seven routines, Russia completed their second sweep of gold in-a-row at World Championships (also pocketing the competition’s best team Trophy).

Spain, whose team took a disappointing fourth in Shanghai in 2011 behind Canada, regained second spot, 10 years after their first success in the free combination, also a silver, at the inaugural edition of the event at home. In 2005 and 2009 respectively, Spain completed a set of world medals in the event, winning bronze in Montreal and gold in Rome.

Performing on a medley of Elvis Presley, the host squad presented a superb routine, offering an astonishing array of lifts and throws, frequently punctuated by bursts of applause and wild cheering, for a total score of 94.620

FINA World Championships 2013: Thomas Lurz powers his German teammates to gold in Team 5km event

AKUATIK INDONESIA, The team from Germany fueled by 33 year old Thomas Lurz captured the 5km Team event today. Isabelle Harle and Christian Reichert were part of the gold medal winning German team finishing in 52:54.9. Lurz now has a complete set of medals after having previously place second in the 5km on Saturday and third in the 10km on Monday. In the 2011 Shanghai edition the German team, which include Lurz and Harle, placed third.

Spyridon Gianniotis led the Greek team to their silver medal performance posting a time of 54:03.3, more than a minute slower than the German champions. Gianniotis won the Olympic gold medal in the 10km at the London Olympic Games and was the winner of Monday's 10km in Barcelona.  Kalliopi Araouzou who finished fourth in both the women's 5km and 10km and Antonios Fokaidis joined in his team's efforts.

Just two tenths of a second back was the team of Brazil which has been swimming extraordinarily well in this harbour. Poliana Okimoto Cintra, the winner of Tueday's women's 10km race was teamed with Allan Do Carmo and Samuel De Bona and the trio swam well enough to earn a bronze medal. Australia was fourth, Italy finished fifth and the USA, the reigning champions from Shanghai placed sixth.

MEDALS TABLE (26/7)

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	6	5	2	13
RUS	5	2	-	7
GER	2	1	2	5
BRA	1	2	2	5
GRE	1	1	-	2
TUN	1	-	1	2
USA	1	-	-	1
CAN	-	2	1	3
ITA	-	2	-	2
ESP	-	1	4	5
UKR	-	1	2	3
MEX	-	-	2	2
MAS	-	-	1	1
TOTAL	17	17	17	51