Hansen kicked off the evening with gold in the 100m breast, once again holding off Japanese rival Kosuke Kitajima down the stretch for the victory, his eighth career world medal. Hansen held the advantage at the turn, but Kitajima threatened to overtake him with less than 25 meters left. Hansen maintained his lead to finish with a time of 59.80, 16-hundredths faster than Kitajima, who clocked a 59.96 for the silver. Australia’s Brenton Rickard won bronze in 1:00.58.
The 17-year-old Hoff carried the momentum through the end of the night, once again challenging the world record in the 200m individual medley. Hoff, the current American record-holder, was under world record pace through the breaststroke leg, but the four-tenths lead could not quite carry her through to the wall in time. Hoff touched in 2:10.13, breaking the championship record she set in 2005 in Montreal. Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, who trains in the United States with Longhorn, won the silver medal with a time of 2:10.76, and Stephanie Rice of Australia was the bronze medalist in 2:11.42.
Smack dab in the middle of the two golds, Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) captured a bronze medal and set the American record in the 100m butterfly with a time of 57.34. The five-time Olympic medalist lowered the former mark of 57.58 that Dara Torres set at the 2000 Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. Coughlin led by almost two-tenths at the turn, but the closing speed of the Australian duo of Libby Lenton and Jessicah Schipper proved to be too much. Lenton pulled out the win, posting a championship-record time of 57.15, with Schipper clocking a 57.24 for the silver.
Olympian Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine) was the silver medalist in the 50m fly as South Africa’s Roland Schoeman defended his world title in the sprint fly event. Crocker finished in 23.47, almost three-tenths behind Schoeman, who touched in 23.18. Jakob Andkjaer of Denmark earned bronze with a time of 23.56.
In semifinal action, six Americans advanced to finals in their respective events, and two are the top seed heading into Tuesday evening’s finals. Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) set a championship record en route to the top seed in the men’s 100m backstroke. Lochte was under world-record pace through the first half of the race, posting a semifinal time of 53.51. Great Britain’s Liam Tancock grabbed the second seed in 53.71, and world-record holder Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) will challenge from lane three in the final as the third seed (53.92).
Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) will swim in lane four in tomorrow night’s final of the women’s 100m breast after clocking a 1:06.72 in her semifinal heat. She will face a challenge from world-record holder and defending champion Leisel Jones of Australia, who is the second seed (1:07.13). Ukraine’s Anna Khlistunova rounds out the top three. American Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) is the fifth seed with a time of 1:07.92.
Other U.S. qualifiers for tomorrow night’s finals include Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) in the 200m free and Coughlin in the 100m back. In one of the most highly anticipated races of the meet, Phelps will go head-to-head with Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, the first time the two have faced each other since the 2004 Olympic Games. In that 200 free race in Athens, van den Hoogenband edged out Phelps for the silver medal, with now-retired Australian Ian Thorpe winning the gold. The Dutch Olympian is the top seed for the final, swimming a 1:46.33 in his semifinal heat. Phelps’ qualifying time of 1:46.75 was just four-tenths behind that.
In her signature event in which she also holds the world record, Coughlin is the fourth seed for Tuesday’s final in the 100m back. She posted a time of 1:00.64, which is just 13-hundreths behind top seed Emily Seebohm of Australia, who swam a 1:00.51 in tonight’s semifinal. France’s Laure Manaudou and Japan’s Ito Hanae round out the top three.
The FINA World Championships are being broadcast live and on-demand at WCSN.com. Visit wcsn.com/swimming for the complete schedule. 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.
