Translated material
Didn't come out tall
In Melbourne, Russian swimmers have not yet reached the medals
The past day at the World Aquatics Championships in Australia was marked by four world records. Two were installed in the men's 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke finals, the other two in the women's heats - in the 200m freestyle semi-finals and the 100m backstroke final. Three out of four world achievements were chalked up by Americans and one by an Italian.The legendary Aaron Piersol became the first “spinist” to swim 100m in 53 seconds. The American improved the previous world record, which belonged to him and dates back to 2005, by 0.19 seconds. From now on, the best result for men at this distance is 52.98 seconds.
Piersol's teammate Natalie Coughlin largely repeated the scenario of her compatriot. At the same distance - 100m backstroke, only for women, Coughlin swam by 0.14 seconds. faster than her own result, also a world record, and finished with a new world achievement - 59.44 seconds.
Ten-time world champion Michael Phelps set a new benchmark for possible followers by completing the 200m freestyle with a fantastic result of 1:43.86. Phelps, who held various records during his swimming career over several years, dealt the Australians a rather painful blow this time. The previous world achievement belonged to the favorite of the local public, Ian Thorpe - 1:44.06 and lasted almost six years. Let us remember that before the start of this season, Thorpe announced that he had decided to end his sports career. It seems that the American Phelps has firmly established himself in his place in the crown distances.
By the way, the American’s main opponent in this final was Pieter van den Hoogenband. However, this time the Dutchman lost to Phelps by about 0.2 seconds. Korean swimmer Tae Hwan Park, who completed the top three, lost 0.05 seconds to Hoogenband. At this championship, Park already won gold in the 400m freestyle. So we can assume that in the future this 18-year-old Korean swimmer will become a serious competitor for the same Phelps.
Federica Pellegrini, who won one of the semi-finals in the 200m freestyle, also set a world record of 1.56.47 seconds. “To be honest, I didn’t expect such agility from myself,” the athlete from Italy said after the swim.
Russian fans who care about this sport can only rejoice for humanity on a global scale. The past three days of the World Championships in Melbourne did not bring any medals to Russian swimmers. And although there are five days left until the end of the competition, reality casts doubt on the forecast of the head coach of our team, Alexander Klokov, who previously stated that in Melbourne his players are capable of winning from five to seven awards. The leaders of the Russian team connected medal plans with several swimmers - world champion in short course Yuri Prilukov, silver medalist of the 2003 world championship Arkady Vyatchanin, bronze medalist of the 2000 Olympics Roman Sludnov and young talent Anastasia Ivanenko. However, Nastya did not go to Australia due to doping problems. Sludnov did not make it to the finals of the 100 and 50 m breaststroke, explaining this by a change in priorities, since at the moment his studies come first. Prilukov and Vyatchanin finished fourth in their respective distances - 400 m freestyle and 100 m backstroke. And Bogomazova showed the eighth result in the 100 m breaststroke final, citing the fact that foreign swimmers are taller.