On a day when two other world records fell – to Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the 100 meters butterfly final and American Katie Ledecky in the 1,500m freestyle heats – 2014 Swimmer of the Year Hosszu powered to gold in two minutes 6.12 seconds.
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Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu celebrates after winning the women’s 200m individual medley final in a world record time at the Swimming World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Monday, August 3, 2015.
And the American should be glad she won’t have to deal with Katinka Hosszu, otherwise known as the “Iron Lady”, for the remainder of the 100-meter backstroke at the swimming world championships.
Her time of 55.64 seconds broke her previous mark of 55.74, set in the semi-finals on Sunday when she became only the second woman to dip below 56 seconds.
“I have been waiting six years to break my personal best time and now I have taken a few more tenths of a second off it – finally!” said Sjostrom as Denmark s Jeanette Ottesen came second with China s Lu Ying third.
Monday’s world record was the eighth of Ledecky’s career, in three different events: the 400-, 800- and 1,500 freestyles.
Adam Peaty gave Britain its first gold medal in the temporary pool at Kazan Arena with a comeback victory in the 100 breaststroke.
South Africa’s silver medal victor Cameron van der Burgh…
“With 25 metres to go he was still out in front but I have trained for moments like this”.
Former world record holder and current Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa led at the turn under Peaty’s pace set in April.
“It was hard. A pile of bricks came down on me in the last five meters”, Van der Burgh said. Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch earned bronze.
“There’s only one more tick box and hopefully I’m ready for that next year”, said Peaty, who is aiming for his first Olympics next summer in Rio de Janeiro.
Franklin finished fifth overall, almost a second behind top-seed Emily Seebohm of Australia, who blasted the second semi with a 58.56.
American Ryan Lochte produced a superb performance to qualify fastest for the men’s 200m freestyle final.
There will be a battle royal in the women s 100m breaststroke final on Tuesday with crowd favourite Yuliya Efimova of Russian Federation, who is back competing after serving a 16-month doping ban for taking steroids, going head to head with 18-year-old Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte. Also advancing to Tuesday night’s final were Camille Lacourt of France and Olympic champion Matt Grevers of the United States.
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Australia s Mitchell Larkin was the fastest into the men s 100m backstroke final on Tuesday.
