The women’s 400m freestyle relay team of Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), Lacey Nymeyer (Tucson, Ariz.), Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Kara Lynn Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.) set an American record, posting a time of 3:35.68 en route to a silver medal. The U.S. built a slight lead by the 300-meter mark, but Australian Olympic gold-medalist Jodie Henry turned in a split of 53.12 to lead the hosts to victory. Winning the bronze medal was the Netherlands which posted a time of 3:38.61.
The world record-holding team of Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.), Neil Walker (Verona, Wis.), Cullen Jones (New Brunswick, N.J.) and Jason Lezak (Irvine, Calif.) earned Team USA’s first gold medal of this meet, posting a championship-record time of 3:12.72. Phelps opened the race to an early lead, and the team never trailed as it broke its own championship mark of 3:13.77 set at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal. Italy took the silver medal in 3:14.04, and France finished third in 3:14.68.
In the two individual finals, Team USA fell just short of the medal stand. In the women’s 400m freestyle, Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) posted a personal-best time of 4:05.65 to take fourth place. Kate Ziegler (Great Falls, Va.) finished sixth in 4:06.99, while world record-holder Laure Manaudou of France blew away her own championship record with a time of 4:02.61. In the men’s event, Team USA’s lone representative, Peter Vanderkaay (Rochester, Mich.), finished fifth in 3:46.36. The gold medal in the event went to Tae Hwan Park of Japan (3:44.30) while silver went to Ous Mellouli of Tunisa (3:45.12). Australia’s Grant Hackett won the bronze in 3:45.43.
In semi-final action tonight, six U.S. swimmers advanced to finals in their individual events. Coughlin is the fourth seed in the 100m butterfly with a time of 58.11, and Rachael Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.) touched in 58.39 for the sixth seed. Australia’s Jessicah Schipper (57.57) will enter tomorrow’s final as the top seed. Both American competitors in the women’s 200m individual medley also advanced. Hoff finished atop the field in 2:11.75, while Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio) is the fifth seed in 2:13.69. The ladies will go head-to-head tomorrow against Zimbabwe Olympian Kirsty Coventry, the second seed (2:12.50), and Australia’s Stephanie Rice, who finished third in 2:12.54.
For the men’s team, Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine) advanced in the 50m fly, posting a semi-final time of 23.42 to claim the second seed. Crocker will compete in the final tomorrow night and will go head-to-head with world record-holder and top seed Roland Schoeman of South Africa (23.18). After an exciting semi-final in the men’s 100m breaststroke, Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) advanced as the second seed (1:00.13). Hansen will face top seed and Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima (1:00.05) as well as number three finisher Alexander Dale Oen of Norway (1:00.69) in the final tomorrow night.
Finally, in open water competition earlier today, Kalyn Keller (Phoenix, Ariz.) earned Team USA its first open water medal when she finished second in the women’s 25K race. The race was suspended at the half-way point on Saturday and was re-started today. Keller started in fifth place, where she had been at the time of the suspension, but worked her way up to second to claim the silver medal.
The FINA World Championships are being broadcast live and on-demand at WCSN.com. In addition, Fox Sports is showing a daily highlight show featuring all the action from Australia. Check local listings for times.
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.
