Chad, Cameron win silver
SOUTH AFRICA were denied gold in the pool at the swimming world championships yesterday when both Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh had to be satisfied with silver medals.
Swimming in the third event of the afternoon session in Kazan, Russia, double Olympic champion Le Clos was shaded by Hungarian Laszlo Cseh in the 200m butterfly final. The bald-headed European had been almost a second faster than Le Clos in the semi-finals on Tuesday, and yesterday his winning time of 1min 53.48sec was two-tenths of a second faster than the South African’s.
Le Clos led early in the race, but could not claw his way back from a slight disadvantage on the final length.
Two events later Van der Burgh could not exact revenge on Briton Adam Peaty in the 50m breaststroke final.
Peaty beat the South African into second in the 100m breaststroke race earlier in the week, and completed a double in the onelength event yesterday. He won in 26.51sec, with Van der Burgh earning his second silver of the meeting in a time of 26.66sec.
Van der Burgh swims in the preliminary round of the 200m breaststroke today, while Le Clos has another stab at gold in the 100m butterfly, with the first two heats of the event scheduled for tomorrow.
Katie Ledecky’s bid to become the first swimmer to win four individual freestyle titles at a world championships remained on track as the American claimed a stunning gold in the women’s 200 metres on Wednesday.
After qualifying for the final in seventh during a punishing schedule which meant Ledecky raced her semi-final 30 minutes after winning the 1,500m freestyle gold with a world record, the 18-year-old American touched first in one minute 55.16 seconds.
Ledecky’s win, achieved from lane seven, added to her golds in the 400m freestyle on the opening night and the 1,500.
With all eight swimmers in with a chance of a medal at the final turn, Federica Pellegrini of Italy denied a United States one-two by claiming silver in 1:55.32 seconds. World champion Missy Franklin took bronze in 1:55.49.
Sun Yang of China dug deep, also from lane seven, to win his second gold, the men’s 800m freestyle, after a thrilling battle with Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri. – Reuters