First record broken at world championships
Lithuanian Meilutyte blitzes in breaststroke
BARCELONA: Lithuanian teenager Ruta Meilutyte lit up the second day of action at the world swimming championships with the first world record of the week as Brazil, Australia, Hungary and Sweden all struck gold at Barcelona’s hilltop Palau Sant Jordi on Monday.
Following up on her Olympic title in London last year, the 16-year-old Meilutyte scorched to a time of 1:04.35sec in the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke, shaving a tenth off the previous record of 1:04.45 set by American Jessica Hardy in 2009.
Cesar Cielo of Brazil claimed a second consecutive 50m butterfly title, Australia’s Christian Sprenger took gold in the 100m breaststroke and there were triumphs for Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in the 200m individual medley and Swedish teenager Sarah Sjostrom in the 100m butterfly.
Hosszu’s race produced the biggest surprise of the day when Chinese Olympic champion Ye Shiwen failed to defend her title and finished outside the medals in fourth.
Meilutyte, who trains in England and is chasing the tiny Baltic nation’s first world championship gold, had already gone close to the world record in her heat on Monday morning with a time of 1:04.52.
She then became the first Lithuanian woman to break a swimming world record since the country gained its independence from the Soviet Union more than two decades ago.
Improving on Hardy’s time had been ‘‘one of her dreams’’ and was more important than winning the final, which was to be swum overnight, Meilutyte told reporters.
Australia came into the champion- ships hoping to put a woeful performance at the London Olympics behind them and Sprenger gave them just the tonic they were seeking when he came from behind to beat Olympic champion and world record holder Cameron Van Der Burgh in the day’s opening final.
Van Der Burgh, who was coming back from a knee injury, led at the turn but Sprenger powered through to touch in a time of 58.79sec, with the South African just behind in 58.97sec. Felipe Lima of Brazil took bronze with 59.65sec.
‘‘I remember getting to that first wall and thinking, man I’m travelling really fast and it’s not even hurting at all, so I knew I was on track,’’ Sprenger said.
‘‘I could see Cameron in the corner of my eye and I knew he had gone out fast, but I have a stronger back end so it was my turn to come back.
‘‘The first thing I saw was Cameron’s block and it had the two lights showing and I thought: ‘I think I’ve got him’. And then I turned around and saw 58.7 and it blew my mind.’’
Victory for Brazilian Cielo, gold medallist in Shanghai, made him the second man to win the 50m butterfly twice after South Africa’s Roland Schoeman.
In a relatively slow race, Cielo touched in 23.01sec and was close to tears on the podium as his national anthem boomed out around the arena. American Eugene Godsoe took silver and Fred Bousquet of France was third.
‘‘It was a very tense final, everyone was very nervous,‘‘ Cielo said. ‘‘I think my finish was the key.’’
Sjostrom, who won the 100m butterfly at the 2009 championships in Rome, reclaimed the title after a fourth-placed finish in Shanghai.
The 19-year-old touched in a time of 56.53sec, while Australia’s Alicia Coutts repeated her silver from 2011 with 56.97sec. Olympic champion and world record holder Dana Vollmer of the United States was third in 57.24sec.
Coutts went on to claim another silver in the 200m medley which may help make up for the disappointment of surrendering the lead to the United States on the final leg of Sunday’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
Hungary’s Hosszu, sixth in Shanghai and a bronze medallist in Rome in 2009, led on all four legs and touched in a time of 2:07.92sec. Coutts finished in 2:09.39sec, repeating her second place from 2011.