A day of world records
budapest — Britain’s Adam Peaty has broken a pair of 50-metre breaststroke world records on the same day at the world championships, and Canada’s Kylie Masse took down a mark from the rubbersuit era.
Later, Lilly King of the United States broke the world record for the women’s 100m breaststroke winning the gold. King clocked one minute 04.13 seconds in the final, beating Ruta Meilutyte’s 2013 record, with compatriot Katie Meili taking silver, 0.90sec back, and Russia’s Yuliya Efimova earning bronze at 0.92.
Peaty set the first mark on Tuesday with a time of 26.10 seconds in the morning preliminaries, shaving 0.32 seconds off the standard he set at the 2015 worlds in Kazan, Russia. He went even faster during the evening semifinals of the non-Olympic event, touching in 25.95. When Peaty saw the time, he mouthed in disbelief, “No way.” “This morning prepared me to do a world record again, it was just me easing through the stroke, touching the wall, progressing to the semifinal,” said Peaty. “It was the same tonight, I was on such a massive high from this morning. I’ve learned from the experience that I’ve had the last two years.
“I came in tonight, I actually thought I’d go slower as I was a little less energetic, but tomorrow’s the day to do it.”
Having won the 100m breaststroke gold on Monday, Peaty showed his blistering form over the shorter distance by breaking the 26-second barrier. The scorching time left his rivals in his wake as Brazil’s Felipe Lima was 0.73secs back, while South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh was third fastest into the final at 0.79.
“It’s impressive eh, he’s the first one in history (to go under 26 seconds),” said Van der Burgh. “He’s a legend, it’s a privilege to watch such amazing swimming in my lifetime.” However, Lima insisted Peaty will not have everything his own way on Wednesday. “It’s insane, but the final will be another race,” said the Brazilian.
Masse won the women’s 100 backstroke with a time of 51.10 — 0.02 better than the mark set by Britain’s Gemma Spofforth’s at the 2009 worlds in Rome, the last hurrah for rubberised suits that allowed swimmers to re-write the record book. “I didn’t realise I had broken the record until the finish, I’m so happy,” said a stunned Masse.
Kathleen Baker of the United States took silver, at 0.48sec back, while Emily Seebohm of Australia brushed off a cold to claim bronze, 0.49 behind. “It’s awesome, I kinda thought she would do it,” said Seebohm, the 2015 world champion, of Masse’s record.
“I didn’t come in saying ‘I’m going to defend my title’, but to rather enjoy racing these girls, they’re fantastic, there’s great depth in the backstroke. If I hadn’t got a cold last week, I could have been a bit stronger on that last leg, but I’m proud to be back on the podium after Rio,” she added having finished seventh in the 2016 Olympic final.
“I did a big job to turn it around from the hole that I was in, it’s my best time since 2015.” Katie Ledecky of the United States made history by becoming the first woman to win 12 world swimming championship gold medals with victory in the 1500m freestyle.
Ledecky, 20, clocked 15 minutes, 31.82 seconds with Spain’s Mireia Belmonte taking silver at a huge 19.07secs back, while Italy’s Simona Quadarella earned bronze at 22.04.
Ledecky now has 12 gold medals from world championships making her the most decorated female as she passed Missy Franklin of the USA, who has 11 worlds gold medals.
This was Ledecky’s third gold of these championships — from a possible six she could finish with — and she led from the start.
Chinese superstar Sun Yang won the men’s 200m freestyle gold to add to his Olympic title in the same event.
Sun touched the wall first in one minute 44.39 seconds with Townley Haas of the United States taking silver, at 0.65sec back, while Russia’s Aleksandr Krasnykh earned bronze at 0.84.
“I paid attention to detail and followed the instructions of my coach,” said Sun, who punched the water in triumph after his victory.
This was Sun’s second gold of these championships after his victory in the 400m freestyle final on Sunday.
He will bid for the treble in Wednesday’s 800m freestyle final — the event he has dominated for the last three world championships since 2011 in Shanghai. Sun timed his 200m race to perfection.
He was fourth at the halfway point, but had caught leader and defending champion James Guy of Great Britain, who finished fifth, by the final turn and powered home to victory.
His win means the 25-year-old Sun is now the 200m freestyle champion at both the worlds and Olympics, after his victory at the Rio de Janeiro Games last year.
The freestyle expert now has nine gold medals to his name spanning four world championships.
He holds a world title in each of the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.