Victory reduces Le Clos to tears

CHAD UPSETS HOME-CROWD FAVOURITE South African snatches title he last won in 2013.

Chad le Clos won the men’s 200m butterfly gold medal at the world championships yesterday after defeating home-crowd favourite Laszlo Cseh, the defending champion, in Budapest.

South Africa’s Le Clos, the 2012 Olympic champion, clocked one minute 53.33 seconds with Hungary’s Cseh, 0.39sec behind, taking silver and Japan’s Daiya Seto earning bronze at 0.88sec.

Having won the world title in 2013, Le Clos took silver behind Cseh two years ago in Kazan.

“I’m still happy with the second-place, the time is quite good to get the silver medal,” said Cseh, 31, who has battled Le Clos in recent years, and was roared on by the crowd at the Duna Arena.

“It’s great, I think if anyone can beat me, it is normal that it is Chad, because he’s one of the best in the world and it’s always great to race against him.”

World records, meanwhile, continued to fall at the world championships as the United States quartet in the mixed 4x100m medley relay lowered the mark in blistering fashion yesterday.

Four world records were set on Tuesday and fast racing was plainly evident in the morning as the US team of Ryan Murphy, Kevin Cordes, Kelsi Worrell and Mallory Comerford posted three minutes 40.28 seconds in the heats.

The US time smashed the mark set by Britain at the 2015 championships in Kazan, Russia, by 1.43sec as they qualified nearly four seconds ahead of the field.

The mixed medley relay was added to the world championships two years ago and in June the International Olympic Committee put the event into the Tokyo 2020 Games programme.

Comerford led the quartet home in the mixed gender event and Murphy said the Olympic addition was “exciting for the sport”.

Australia’s Oceania record time saw them qualify in second, with world champions Britain posting the fourth best time.

Australia’s otherwise quiet world championships were given a lift when Cameron McEvoy’s bid for a first global title in the men’s 100m freestyle began in energetic style. McEvoy topped qualifying and was the only man under 48 seconds in the preliminary heats, posting a punchy 47.97.

“With the improvement and the depth of the 100m freestyle, you have to nail it the way you want it and hope for the best,” said McEvoy. – AFP