Kiwi switches his focus to longer distance
New Zealand swimmer Corey Main is looking forward to his favoured distance after his finishing eighth in his first final appearance at the world championships in Budapest yesterday.
The Florida-based Main could not better his semifinal time in the final of the 100m backstroke, stopping the clock at 53.87sec, yesterday.
The 22-year-old is, however, looking forward to his favoured 200m backstroke in two days, pleased with the speed generated in the 100m backstroke and buoyed by competing in his first final at a world championship.
‘‘I set myself up pretty well in the heats, and then in both the semifinal and final. I was really consistent which I was happy about, all under 54,’’ said Main.
‘‘My strategy was to go out pretty hard and come home even harder,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a tough field and I knew I had to keep up with their pace as much as I could.’’
Main said the 200m was his bread and butter
‘‘It will be good to see how this speed works on the longer race. It’s a good confidence booster as well and will set me up for some excellent swims in the 200m back.’’
In the 100m Main found himself behind after the underwater start to trail the leaders by more than a second at the turn but his back end strength showed through with a strong final 50m which was only 0.34sec of a second slower than the winner Jaiyu Xu of China.
Xu won in 52.44sec ahead of Americans Matt Grevers and the Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Murphy.
Bradlee Ashby finished 29th in heats of the 200m butterfly in 2m 00.53sec, which was a shade over his entry time.
The 20-year-old made a conservative start and while he finished strongly, he was over three seconds outside the final spot for a semifinal swim.