Mellors, who first broke the Games record during prelims this morning, lowered his own mark in the 400m IM with a time of 4:12.94. The time was more than a second better than his prelims swim of 4:14.10. Team USA enjoyed a 1-2 finish as Alex Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich. / Michigan) won silver, touching in 4:17.34. Bronze went to Italy’s Federico Turrini in 4:19.96.
Adam Ritter (Reynoldsburg, Ohio / Arizona) was the next to take down a Games record, winning the 200m freestyle in 1:47.42. Ritter, who first set the record during the prelims, shaved 1.07 seconds off his own mark.
“To say I’m happy is maybe an understatement,” said Ritter. “My goal this summer was to go 1:47, so to go 1:47-mid is great – especially going into an Olympic year. It gives me a lot of confidence for my training.” American teammate Shaun Phillips (Spring Hill, Tenn. / Stanford) finished sixth in the 200m free in 1:49.01.
Kelsey Ditto (Austin, Texas / Longhorn) added the lone individual medal for the women tonight, capturing bronze in the 1500. Ditto finished in 16:36.31, behind Swiss Olympian Flavia Rigamonti (16:05.90) and Japan’s Chika Yonenaga (16:27.86). “It’s been a really good learning experience,” said Ditto of her Games experience. “The athlete village has been great and the spirit of Team USA has been amazing. Even when you’re not feeling your best, you still want to race your best for the USA, because everyone is so supportive.”
The women’s 400m medley relay team of Brooke Bishop (Los Altos, Calif. / Stanford), Jessica Embick (Portland, Ore. / Mt. Hood Swim Team), Elle Weberg (Boca Raton, Fla. / Florida Atlantic) and Lauren English (Lincoln Park, N.J. / Cougar Aquatic Team) made the final podium appearance tonight, winning silver in 4:03.96. The relay, which set a Games record during prelims this morning, trailed eventual gold-medalist Japan by just two-hundredths at the 150-mark, but Japan outpaced the American team on the breaststroke and fly legs to up the margin. Japan finished in a new Games record time of 4:03.11. Canada was third in 4:04.62.
In other races, Joe Doyle (Columbus, Ohio / Ohio State) won the consolation final of the men’s 50m fly in 24.27, while Peter Verhoef (Newport News, Va. / Georgia) was sixth in 24.76. The gold medal in the event went to Sergeii Brues of the Ukraine.
The women’s 50m fly saw a tight field in which first place and seventh place were separated by just .27 seconds. Team USA’s Elaine Breeden (Lexington, Ky. / Wildcat) touched 7th in 27.08. First place went to Austria’s Fabienne Nadarajah in 26.81 while Japanese swimmers Yuka Koto and Masae Oshimi tied for second in 26.82. American Erin Reilly (Sacramento, Calif. / Cal-Berkeley) was 12th overall in 27.37.
The final day of swimming starts tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. local time.
About USA Swimming: As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit USA Swimming on-line.
