Katinka Hosszu (HUN) after the victory and WR in the 100m back - Photo credit: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

A happy man after this second day was Brazil’s Felipe França Silva, winner of the men’s 100m breaststroke, in a new Championships record of 56.29. The South American star, swimming in lane 7, managed to beat the WR holder Cameron van der Burgh (RSA, fourth), and the fastest of the semis, Adam Peaty (GBR, who had qualified first for the decisive race in a Championships record of 56.43, and got the silver).

Less than one hour before the individual title, França Silva was involved in relay action: the first-ever race of the men’s 4x50m medley in a FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) was won by Brazil in a new World Record time of  1:30.51. Guilherme Guido, Felipe França, Nicholas Santos and Cesar Cielo took an early and decisive control of the race and improved the time of 1:32.78 (also a WR) established in the morning heats by the Russians, who could not make the podium (4th), behind France (silver) and USA (bronze).


Felipe Franca Silva (BRA): 3 gold medals in a couple of hours!
Photo credit: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

At the end of the session, the Brazilian quartet in the mixed 4x50m medley relay – also a première in the history of this competition – obtained the third gold medal of the day for the South American nation, touching home in 1:37.26. Felipe França was again one of the protagonists of this victory, naturally swimming the breaststroke leg, and helping his teammates Etiene Medeiros, Nicholas Santos and Larissa Oliveira successfully concluding an outstanding day for Brazil!

The third WR of the evening went to Chad Le Clos (RSA), in the men’s 100m butterfly, in 48.44 – the South African, the FINA Best Male Swimmer of 2014, was slightly better than Evgeny Korotyshkin (RUS), who had swam 48.48 in 2009. It was the second gold for Le Clos in Doha, after the win in the 200m free in the initial day. Ryan Lochte (USA) was a distant seventh in the race, finishing in 50.23.

Other finals of the day included the men’s 100m backstroke, where Mitchell James Larkin (AUS) was the only man under 50 seconds, touching home in 49.57, and getting his first gold at this level – Matt Grevers (USA), the winner in 2012 was third, while Stanislav Donets (RUS), the 2010 champion, was ninth in the semis; in the men’s 400m IM, and in the absence of WR holder and winner in 2006, 2008 and 2010, the US star Ryan Lochte, the 2012 champion Daiya Seto (JPN) did not find any difficulty in revalidating his title in 3:56.33. Seto swan very fast until the 300m-mark (he was then under the WR pace by -1.21), but his freestyle leg was not so successful and the best global mark of 3:55.50 from 2010 remains for now in the charts; in the women’s 50m breaststroke, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) had approached the WR (28.80) of Jessica Hardy (USA) in the semi-final with a Championships best of 28.81, and was naturally expected to do better in the final. It didn’t happen though: in an intense duel with Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson, the fight between the two contenders was favourable to the Lithuanian champion, who touched first in 28.84, against Atkinson’s 28.91. It was the first medal in the history of the Championships for Jamaica; in the men’s 4x200m free, a thrilling fight between USA, Russia and South Africa ended up in favour of the North Americans, winners in 6:51.68.


Chad Le Clos (RSA), new WR in the 100m butterfly - Photo credit: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia

After the first two days of competition in Doha, seven World Records were already established in the Hamad Aquatic Centre.

 

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Daiya Seto (JPN), gold medallist in the men's 400m IM: "Kosuke Hagino is a great rival for me, we race each other on the national level, we've been swimming together since we're 10 years-old and we're good friends."

Katinka Hosszu (HUN), gold medallist and new WR holder in the women's 100m backstroke: "I thought a lot last night about how I did yesterday. Coming into today, I was just trying to do my best. During the World Cup season, I was three times close to the WR, about 14 hundredths of a second, so I'm just really excited that I finally got the WR."

Cameron van der Burgh (RSA), 4th in the men's 100m breaststroke: "I'm coming back from a shoulder injury and I haven't trained for about four months. Just to be in the final was a suprise so I'm looking forward to the next season to train again and take it up."

Chad Le Clos (RSA), gold medallist and new WR holder in the men's 100m butterfly: "I think timing is important to get the WR. You have to race to win. There was lots of pressure from the media and others on my shoulders and I wanted to show FINA and the world that I am the best swimmer in the world."

Jazmin Carlin (GBR), silver medallist in the women's 800m freestyle: "For me the 800m is very tough as turns aren’t the strongest part of my race. My legs are very sore but the silver is a great way to end this year. I’ve raced Belmonte a lot this season and it’s good to have had that head-to-head racing with her."