15th FINA World Championships : Seven nations with gold in eight finals

RENANG, The eighth and last day of the swimming competitions at the 15th FINA World Championships was marked by the variety of nations getting gold in the eight finals in the programme. Only one country – France - clinched two gold medals, thanks to the performance of Camille Lacourt in the men’s 50m backstroke, and after the surprising disqualification of USA in the men’s 4x100m medley relay. With this final outcome, the French delegation arrived third (nine podium presences, including four titles) in the swimming medals’ table, behind USA (29, comprising 13 gold) and China (also nine awards, but five wins).

In the women’s 50m breaststroke, the duel between the two world record performers Yulia Efimova (RUS) and Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) ended up in the Russian’s favour, while Japan got the gold in the men’s 400m IM: but when everyone expected a win from Kosuke Hagino, it was his teammate Daiya Seto who got the crown.

Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) was the best in the 50m free (Fran Halsall, in bronze, gave the only medal for Great Britain in the swimming competition), and in the men’s 1500m free Yang Sun (CHN) comfortably won but could not approach his World Record set precisely one year ago at the 2012 Olympics.

Hungary has good reasons to celebrate with the victory of Katinka Hosszu in the women’s 400m IM, but the home crowd also vibrantly cheered the silver performance of Mireia Belmonte (ESP). The only US title of the day happened in the women’s 4x100m medley, with Franklin, Hardy, Vollmer and Romano perfectly controlling the operations in the water and… on the starting blocks!

At the end of the session, were given the FINA Championships Trophies to the best Male and Female swimmer, as well as the best Team of the competition.

Among men, the award went to Yang Sun (CHN), while Katie Ledecky (USA) was the winner in the women’s field. Both athletes medalled in the same events: 400m, 800m, 1500m free and 4x200m free relay – all in gold for Ledecky and titles for Yang in the individual events and bronze in the relay. Moreover, the US and Chinese star were the second swimmers in the history of the Championships to have won in the same edition the longest free events in the programme: before Ledecky and Sun, only Hannah Stockbauer (GER) in 2003 and Grant Hackett (AUS) in 2005 respectively, had achieved the same feat.

The Trophy for the best Team went without surprise to the USA.

15th FINA World Championships :Thank you Barcelona! See you in Kazan!

AKUATIK, Shortly after the conclusion of the swimming finals, the Closing Ceremony of the 15th FINA World Championships gathered all the flags of the 180 participating countries in Barcelona (ESP), while the FINA flag was officially given to the city of Kazan (RUS), the next organiser of FINA’s major event in 2015.

“We come to the end of a great Aquatic Festival here in Barcelona! During two weeks, our best athletes performed at the highest level with remarkable results. My sincere thank you to all of them! The venues, the Host Broadcaster, the spectators, the organisation and the hosts’ hospitality were amazing”, said FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione. “The 15th FINA World Championships has increased the importance and value of all our aquatic disciplines and FINA brand gained more exposure and prestige. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to all Spanish and Catalan authorities, to the Organising Committee Barcelona 2013, to the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation, and to the volunteers for their contribution, support and excellence in staging these 15th FINA World Championships here in Barcelona. These Championships were unforgettable!” added Dr. Maglione.

MEDALS TABLE

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
USA	15	10	9	34
CHN	14	8	4	26
RUS	9	6	4	19
FRA	4	1	4	9
HUN	4	1	2	7
AUS	3	11	0	14
GER	3	3	4	10
BRA	3	2	5	10
RSA	3	1	1	5
ESP	1	6	5	12
ITA	1	3	1	5
DEN	1	3	0	4
JPN	1	2	3	6
GRE	1	1	0	2
LTU	1	1	0	2
SWE	1	1	0	2
NED	1	0	3	4
TUN	1	0	1	2
COL	1	0	0	1
CAN	0	3	4	7
POL	0	2	1	3
UKR	0	1	4	5
GBR	0	1	1	2
BEL	0	1	0	1
MNE	0	1	0	1
MEX	0	0	4	4
NZL	0	0	3	3
CRO	0	0	1	1
FIN	0	0	1	1
MAS	0	0	1	1
TRI	0	0	1	1
	68	69*	67	204

* 2 silver medals in the men's 50m backstroke

15th FINA World Championships : FINA and OC praise successful edition in Barcelona (ESP)

AKUATIK, Before the last swimming session, FINA and the Organising Committee (OC) of the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona (ESP) expressed their satisfaction for the outstanding success of the competition. In a joint Press Conference in the main venue of the Championships, the Palau Sant Jordi, FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione, and the co-presidents of the OC, Maite Fandos (Vice Mayor of Barcelona) and Fernando Carpena (President of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation) highlighted the competitive aspects, but also the sport and social legacy left by FINA’s major event.

“Barcelona became the world capital of sport for these two weeks and this positive impact, in terms of media exposure, will bring significant benefits for our city and for our region. From a touristic point of view, the images of our city were seen in more than 200 territories around the world; we also had more than 13,000 news in Spanish media related with the Championships, which is an outstanding figure”, stated Maite Fandos.

FINA World Championships 2013:Orlando Duque crowned high diving World Champion

AKUATIK. In the third and final day of the high diving competition, Colombian Orlando Duque became the first man to claim the high diving world champion title in the event premiere at a FINA World Swimming Championships in front of more than 10,000 spectators.

Orlando Duque will go down in history as the male athlete to claim the first High Diving World Champion title ever.

The Colombian diver only managed to extend his advantage in points on round five after a very tight closing competition day. The first three rounds ended up with four athletes tied in the first position on 102.60 points: Briton Gary Hunt, Russian Artem Silchenko, Mexican Jonathan Paredes and Ukrainian Anatolii Shabotenko.

An also very even fourth round saw the majority of participants display the most difficult dives of their repertoire, and a triple somersault with four twists gave Gary Hunt 170.10 points lifting him up to the first position. Matt Cowen (135, 10), Jonathan Paredes (129, 85) and Orlando Duque (129, 60) where second, third and fourth classified after four rounds.

It all came down to round five, where a poorly executed four somersaults with one and a half twists dive by Gary Hunt made him lose the lead to Orlando Duque. The Colombian diver got the maximum score with 142.80 points –only 0.90 points more than Hunt - after performing a triple back somersault with three twists, followed by Jonathan Paredes (132.60) and Michal Navratil (119.60), thus becoming the first male athlete to win a World Championship ever. Gary Hunt commented on his last jump: "I failed when hitting the water. I was too focused on the start. The water approaches so quickly when you are falling at 80km/h …I got it wrong by just a second. "

Duque, who’s 38 years old, became today the second diver this age to win a medal at a World Championships together with American Ginger Huber, who claimed silver in the women’s event. "Being the champion of the first edition of this 15th FINA World Championships is fantastic. It's amazing, "said Duque in the mixed zone. The podium was completed by Gary Hunt, who won silver with 589.30 points, and Jonathan Paredes, bronze with 578.35 points.

The first High Diving event of a World Championships exceeded the expectations in its premiere at Barcelona 2013. Now it shall be decided whether it becomes a regular event in FINA tournaments to come.

FINA World Championships 2013: Olympic silver medallist Spain now crowned World Champion

AKUATIK. Spain completed the business it did not quite finish last year at the London Olympic Games by defeating Australia 8-6 in the gold-medal final of the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool. It was silver behind United States of America in London while Australia claimed bronze. Tonight it was a well-deserved gold as the best team at these championships and now the top nation on the planet for women’s water polo. It was victory for head coach Miki Oca and his resolve and faith in his players, led by the indefatigable Jennifer Pareja, voted the championship’s Most Valuable Player.

Throw is a startling 11-save effort by goalkeeper Laura Ester and she was undoubtedly the best in her class in Barcelona. Spain was confident from the start and managed to out-defend the Aussie Stingers who looked nervous and times and never got into high-scoring mode.

Australia lost star Rowena Webster on three majors before the third break and others followed in a match where both teams received 15 major fouls apiece. Australia had a penalty blocked by Ester and an unexpected unforced error by Stingers goalkeeper Kelsey Wakefield - who was pushing Ester for the best in Barcelona - proved critical when just one behind. Roser Tarrago shot from near halfway and Wakefield tried unsuccessfully to collect with one hand. Never mind, the Spanish defence proved the winner, disrupting Australia at every stage of the match.

In the bronze-medal clash, played as the second match of the first session, Hungary won the first medal for its country (the men will play Montenegro in the men’s final on Saturday) with a 10-8 margin over Russia, who led 3-1 during the first quarter. Hungary started shooting go-ahead goals late in the second period, meaning Russia had to play catch-up water polo. Hungary kept 19-goal Ekaterina Prokofyeva scoreless and Russia kept 18-goal Barbara Bujka off the scoresheet. Her back-up centre forward, though, Ildiko Toth, struck three times.

In the play-off for fifth and sixth, scheduled as the curtain-raiser for the gold-medal final, Olympic and World Cup champion United States of America beat outgoing world champion Greece 15-12 in a penalty shootout after the match was tied at 10-10 by fulltime and 11-11 after two extra periods. USA sent in all four shots in the shootout while Greece missed two. The pair played in the same group and USA won that encounter 12-8. USA stretched its lead over Greece in World Championship play to seven and the win was one place better that Shanghai 2011 when it lost by five goals to Australia. In the play-off for seventh and eighth, Netherlands turned a 5-1 opening quarter into a 12-9 victory with Lieke Klaassen scoring three penalty goals to become the championship’s highest goal-scorer with 25. It was a rematch of the 7-8 classification match at Shanghai 2011, which the Dutch also won.

Immediately after the match, Dutch gold medallists from the Beijing Olympics - Iefke van Belkum and Biurakn Hakhverdian - announced their retirements. This leaves just goalkeeper Ilse van de Meijden and Smit as the remaining gold medallists.

The Media All Star team was named with the championship’s Most Valuable Player, Jennifer Pareja (ESP), leading the group. She was joined by the best goalkeeper, Spain’s Laura Ester, centre forward Barbara Bujka (HUN) and field players Rita Keszthelyi (HUN), Lieke Klaassen (NED), Jennifer Pareja (ESP), Ekaterina Prokofyeva (RUS) and Rowena Webster (AUS).

Final classifications:

1. Spain
2. Australia
3. Hungary
4. Russia
5. United States of America
6. Greece
7. Netherlands
8. Canada
9. China
10. Italy  
11. Kazakhstan
12. New Zealand
13. Great Britain
14. Brazil
15. South Africa
16. Uzbekistan

FINA World Championships 2013: Two more gold for Lochte (USA), his overall tally reaches 23!

AKUATIK. Ryan Lochte (USA) earned two gold medals in the sixth session of the swimming competition at the 15th FINA World Championships, having now an accumulated number of 23 awards in FINA’s major event since 2005. His latest successes happened in the 200m backstroke, where he easily revalidated his 2011 title, this time in 1:53.79. In the last final of the evening, he was essential in the triumph of his team in the 4x200m free relay. The other two podium presences of Lochte in Barcelona were in the 200m IM (gold) and in the 4x100m free (silver). 

Other highlights of this sixth day included the surprising win of Yulia Efimova (RUS, 2:09.41), in the women’s 200m breaststroke. In the semis, Rikke Pedersen (DEN) had established a new World Record of 2:09.11, but she was slower in the decisive race, getting the silver in 2:20.08. In the men’s 200m breaststroke, Daniel Gyurta, from Hungary, became the first man with three wins in this event, after his golden performances also in 2009 and 2011. His time of 2:07.23 is a new Championships and European record, and is faster than the World Record he had set at the 2012 Olympics, when he won this distance. The current WR holder, Japan’s Akihiro Yamaguchi had a poor performance, finishing seventh.

In the initial final of the day, Cate Campbell (AUS) earned her first world title, by clinching the gold in the 100m free. She left behind her the 2012 Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED, third) and the world record holder in this event since Rome 2009, Germany’s Britta Steffen (sixth).

In semi-final action, Lochte had still energy to qualify first for the 100m butterfly decisive race, while teammate Missy Franklin was also the fastest in the 200m backstroke. In this event, Federica Pellegrini (ITA) could not reach the final, concluding in ninth. In the men’s 50m free, Florent Manaudou (FRA), the Olympic champion, will swim the final in lane 4, after clocking 21.37 in the semis. Cesar Cielo (BRA), 2011 champion and WR holder, has the third time (21.60), while Australian sprinter James Magnussen was only ninth in 21.79.

FINA World Championships 2013: MEDALS TABLE

MEDALS TABLE (2/8)

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	13	7	4	24
USA	12	8	7	27
RUS	8	5	3	16
AUS	3	7	-	10
GER	3	3	4	10
BRA	2	2	4	8
RSA	2	1	1	4
FRA	2	-	4	6
HUN	2	-	2	4
ESP	1	5	5	11
ITA	1	3	-	4
GRE	1	1	-	2
SWE	1	1	-	2
TUN	1	-	1	2
COL	1	-	-	1
LTU	1	-	-	1
CAN	-	2	3	5
JPN	-	2	2	4
DEN	-	2	-	2
POL	-	2	-	2
UKR	-	1	4	5
BEL	-	1	-	1
GBR	-	1	-	1
MEX	-	-	4	4
NED	-	-	2	2
NZL	-	-	2	2
FIN	-	-	1	1
MAS	-	-	1	1
	54	54	54	162

Fina World Championships 2013: Hungary and Montenegro to battle for men's gold medal

AKUATIK. Multiple Olympic champion Hungary and Montenegro will do battle for the FINA Men’s Water Polo World Championships at the Bernat Picornell Pool on Saturday. A reshaped Hungary, a far cry from the triple Olympic champions of the new millennium, pushed London Olympic champion Croatia out of title contention with an 11-10 victory built on better extra-man statistics and the stopping power of goalkeeper Viktor Nagy.

The first semifinal produced an upset according to many pundits, except anyone related to Hungary. The Hungarians, under new head coach Tibor Benedek, himself one of the world’s most decorated athletes, grabbed the lead in the second quarter, took the match to 10-7 early in the fourth, watched Croatia level at 10-10 and then celebrated when Denes Varga scored the winner at 1:58.

It was a return to the glory days for the Hungarians and the man with more gold medals than anyone in the history of the game, Tamas Kasas, visited his countrymen in the changing rooms afterwards. Also watching on was the coaching maestro and architect of those three gold medals from 2000, Denes Kemeny.

In the second medal semifinal, Montenegro hammered outgoing world champion Italy into submission with a stunning 10-8 victory engineered on a 3-0 opening burst that became 5-1 at halftime and 9-4 by the final break. You could smell the fear in the Italian camp as Montenegro shunned the form of the Italian team with its five wins, while Montenegro started the championship with a 6-4 loss to Greece.

It was a tournament of toppled champions and Montenegro wanted Italy to join the rest out of the limelight, although Italy will have a chance for some consolation of a lower podium finish when facing Croatia.

In the round of 5-8 semifinals, there was high drama in the clash between Serbia and Spain. The home team won 14-13 in sudden death penalty shootout after the match was tied at 6-6 at fulltime, 8-8 after extra time and 11-11 after the first rotation of five attempts each. The winning goal by Xavier Garcia came on the sixth shot of sudden death.

In the other 5-8 semifinal, Greece had the better of the high-flying Australia 11-9.

Saturday’s final classification round:

15:00 For 7th & 8th Game 41 AUS vs SRB
13.00 For 3rd & 4th Game 43 CRO vs ITA
20.45 For 5th & 6th Game 42 GRE vs ESP
22:15 For 1st & 2nd Game 44 HUN vs MNE

Fina World Championships 2013: World Record for Pedersen (DEN) in the women's 200m breast

AKUATIK. The fifth session of finals was highlighted, in terms of performances, by the new World Record in the women’s 200m breaststroke by Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN) in the first semi-final of the event. The Danish swimmer clocked an impressive 2:19.11, improving the previous world global mark (2:19.59) set by Rebecca Soni (USA) at the London Olympic Games. Pedersen is naturally the athlete to beat in the decisive race, but Yulia Efimova, from Russia, is not far, with a 2:19.85 effort in the semis. It was the third World Record of the Championships, all in women’s events - Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) in the 100m breaststroke and Katie Ledecky (USA) in the 1500m free are the two other WR performers so far.

In terms of medals, the five finals gave two titles to USA and also two gold medals to China. In all of these events, logics prevailed, with Ryan Lochte confirming his good shape in the men’s 200m IM and getting the third consecutive gold in this distance since 2009. Additionally, it was his first individual podium presence in Barcelona. In the women’s 4x200m free relay, the North Americans were also the favourites and touched home first for the fifth title in the last six editions of these Championships.

From the Chinese side, 2008 Olympic champion Zige Liu is back at the top, with a brilliant triumph in the women’s 200m butterfly, in front  of the audience’s hero Mireia Belmonte and well ahead of her compatriot Liuyang Jiao (sixth) the reigning Olympic winner. In the women’s 50m backstroke, it was another Chinese affair, with WR holder Jing Zhao defeating her teammate and revelation of the current season, Yuanhui Fu.

Last but not least, Australia took the last gold at stake, by winning the always prestigious men’s 100m free. James Magnussen, from Australia, imposed his class in 47.71, and could forget his silver medal in London, behind Nathan Adrian, this time the bronze medallist in the Catalan capital.

Fina World Championships 2013: MEDALS TABLE

MEDALS TABLE (2/8)

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	13	7	3	23
USA	10	8	5	23
RUS	7	4	3	14
GER	3	2	4	9
AUS	2	6	0	8
BRA	2	2	4	8
RSA	2	1	1	4
FRA	2	0	4	6
ITA	1	3	0	4
GRE	1	1	0	2
HUN	1	0	1	2
TUN	1	0	1	2
COL	1	0	0	1
LTU	1	0	0	1
SWE	1	0	0	1
ESP	0	5	5	10
CAN	0	2	3	5
JPN	0	2	2	4
UKR	0	1	4	5
BEL	0	1	0	1
DEN	0	1	0	1
GBR	0	1	0	1
POL	0	1	0	1
MEX	0	0	4	4
NZL	0	0	2	2
MAS	0	0	1	1
NED	0	0	1	1
	48	48	48	144

FINA World Championships 2013: Duque, the King in Barcelona!

AKUATIK, He was already the most iconic athlete in High Diving. His successes at the Cliff Diving World Series, his charisma and his experience (38 years old) had made Orlando Duque, from Colombia, a symbol of this thrilling and challenging discipline. Today, in the port of Barcelona (ESP) he officially became the first men’s world champion in High Diving, after a brilliant final, in which he was able to mix technique, steadiness and harmony in all three dives he performed. Moreover, he also won the first title ever for Colombia in the history of the FINA World Championships. Duque, literally meaning Duke, was this time King in Barcelona!

In the end of the two-day competition – the first two dives for each of the 13 participating athletes in this première were executed on July 29 -, the Colombian star concluded in 590.20, a mere 0.90 points ahead of silver medallist, Gary Hunt, from Great Britain. Hunt, 10 years young than Duque, was the fourth after Monday’s preliminaries, but two very solid dives (DD 3.8 and 6.3!) allowed him to gain the leadership after the fourth round. But a less successful last combination (DD 5.6) dictated his second place. The bronze went to Jonathan Paredes, the 23-year-old athlete from Mexico, who was also third after the first session of heats.

Duque has been competing in this sport for the last 15 years, and was the man to beat in this final, but Hunt, the winner of the World Series in the last three years had also the eyes at the first official world title in High Diving. Presenting the most difficult dives of the final – notably the above mentioned 6.3, an impressive three somersaults and four twists, the highest possible DD in diving -, the British star is known for pushing always further the boundaries of difficulty in the sport he loves.

Paredes is the rookie of the company. At 23, the Mexican diver is evolving very fast and has demonstrated in the past two years that the fear of the height is now just a bad memory

FINA World Championships 2013: Treble for Franklin, Phelps inheritance for Le Clos

AKUATIK, Missy Franklin (USA) bagged her third Barcelona gold and Chad le Clos (RSA) claimed one more global title that had belonged to Michael Phelps on Day 4 of swimming at the FINA World Championships. Yang Sun (CHN), furthering his quest for a distance freestyle treble, added the 800m crown to the 400m title he won on Day 1, while Cameron van der Burgh made it double gold on the day for South Africa with victory in the men's 50m breaststroke. 

Franklin, golds in the 100m backstroke and 4x100m freestyle relay already in her possession, beat defending champion Federica Pellegrini (ITA) in the 200m freestyle. She seized the lead from Olympic 400m freestyle champion Camille Muffat (FRA) on the second length and won in 1:54.81, with Pellegrini charging through the field to claim silver in 1:55.14 and Muffat taking the bronze in 1:55.72. World record holder Pellegrini, Olympic champion in 2008, said she had had a difficult year and the result was very encouraging for the future. "I'm really surprised with the silver medal," she said.   

Le Clos (RSA), who beat Phelps in the 200m butterfly at the 2012 London Olympics, inherited the great man's world crown in the same event, the American having won it at five of the last six World Championships before retiring after the London Games with a record 18 Olympic gold medals to his name. Le Clos swung past Pawel Korzeniowski (POL) on the last length to win in 1:54.32. Korzeniowski, who won the title when Phelps did not defend it in 2005, took the silver in 1:55.01 and Peng Wu (CHN) the bronze (1:55.09) for his fourth World Championship medal in the event, following a silver and two bronzes.

FINA World Championships 2013: Olympic medallists battle way to women's world final

AKUATIK, Australia and Spain will clash on Friday for the FINA Women’s Water Polo World Championship at the Bernat Picornell Pool.

Australia will be seeking a second crown to go with its win in the inaugural women’s World Championships in 1986 - ironically, also in Spain (Madrid) - and Spain will finish higher than before, having done no better than seventh in Melbourne 2007 and 11th in Shanghai two years ago.In London, Spain finished with silver and Australia bronze so two of the top three teams in the world will clash in a real blockbuster.

Australia defeated Russia 9-6 with Nicola Zagame claiming three goals and Spain won a see-sawing encounter with Hungary 13-12 - the winning two goals coming from Laura Lopez in the final quarter.

In the round of 5-8 semifinals, Greece beat Canada 12-8, thanks to four goals from Christina Tsoukala, and Olympic champion United States of America led by three goals early in the final quarter before just holding out Netherlands 12-11.
This means Greece will play USA for fifth and Canada faces Netherlands for seventh.

Friday's final classification round:

15.00 For 7th & 8th Game 41 CAN vs NED
16:30 For 3rd & 4th Game 43 RUS vs HUN
20.45 For 5th & 6th Game 42 GRE vs USA
22.15 For 1st & 2nd Game 44 AUS vs ESP

FINA World Championships 2013: MEDALS TABLE

MEDALS TABLE (1/8)

NF	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
CHN	11	6	3	20
USA	8	7	4	19
RUS	7	4	3	14
GER	3	2	4	9
BRA	2	2	3	7
RSA	2	1	1	4
FRA	2	0	3	5
AUS	1	5	0	6
ITA	1	3	0	4
GRE	1	1	0	2
TUN	1	0	1	2
COL	1	0	0	1
HUN	1	0	0	1
LTU	1	0	0	1
SWE	1	0	0	1
ESP	0	4	5	9
CAN	0	2	3	5
UKR	0	1	4	5
JPN	0	1	1	2
BEL	0	1	0	1
DEN	0	1	0	1
GBR	0	1	0	1
POL	0	1	0	1
MEX	0	0	4	4
NZL	0	0	2	2
MAS	0	0	1	1
NED	0	0	1	1
	43	43	43	129

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