By Stephen J. Thomas
ATHENS, Greece August 17. A SENSATIONAL performance from 15-year-old Hungarian Daniel Gyurta was the highlight of the prelims this morning.
Gyurta must have just been approved for release from the Hungarian factory that has produced names such as Norbert Rozsa, Guttler Karoly and Joszef Szabo!
(Actually, Swimming World magazine has documented Dani's amazing progress since he was an 11 year-old. That's when he first predicted he'd win the gold in athens at age 15.)
The 137lb, 5' 9" youngster clocked 2:11.29 – going out in only 1:04.64 but coming home like a train. His time swiftly moves him to 12th all-time performer and just 0.06 of a second outside the Hungarian record held by Rozsa, set at the Barcelona Games back in 1992.
The two "big guns" both swam well. The 100-meter gold medalist, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima (pictured), won his heat in the second fastest time of 2:11.97, while world record-holder American Brendan Hansen (who finished behind Gyurta) clocked 2:12.77 – the fifth best time of the morning.
The media were closely watching Kitajima for his dolphin kick this morning … but it did not surface!
Promising Italian teen Paolo Bossini clocked 2:12.09 and Mike Brown (2:12.69) will be the last hope for a medal for the Canadians.
Russian born Vlad Polyakov, who represents Kazakhstan, lives in Florida and swims at the University of Alabama, caught the eye with his PR of 2:12.96, good for sixth placed, while World Champs silver medalist, Brit Ian Edmond, swam 2:13.08 for seventh.
The USA's Scott Usher 2:13.59 and Aussie Jim Piper 2:13.79 also advanced to the next round.
The most notable nonqualifier was Russian Dmitri Komornikov, former WR-holder in this event and ranked seventh in the world before Athens, who finished 17th.
Men 200m Breaststroke Heats
Record Splits Name NOC Location Date
WR 2:09.04 29.22 1:01.88 1:35.38 HANSEN Brendan USA Long Beach (USA) 11 JUL 2004
OR 2:10.16 30.43 1:03.91 1:37.12 BARROWMAN Mike USA Barcelona (ESP) 29 JUL 1992
Event No: 18
Rank Heat Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m 100m 150m Time Time
Behind
1 6 2 GYURTA Daniel HUN 0.83 30.85 1:04.64
33.79 1:37.61
32.97 2:11.29
33.68
2 4 4 KITAJIMA Kosuke JPN 0.76 29.52 1:02.75
33.23 1:36.97
34.22 2:11.97
35.00 0.68
3 4 5 BOSSINI Paolo ITA 0.87 30.04 1:03.20
33.16 1:37.35
34.15 2:12.09
34.74 0.80
4 4 3 BROWN Mike CAN 0.81 30.36 1:03.62
33.26 1:38.01
34.39 2:12.69
34.68 1.40
5 6 4 HANSEN Brendan USA 0.73 29.65 1:03.27
33.62 1:37.73
34.46 2:12.77
35.04 1.48
6 5 8 POLYAKOV Vladislav KAZ 0.79 30.15 1:03.82
33.67 1:38.41
34.59 2:12.96
34.55 1.67
7 6 3 EDMOND Ian GBR 0.81 30.96 1:04.26
33.30 1:38.11
33.85 2:13.08
34.97 1.79
8 5 3 FALKO Grigori RUS 0.87 31.39 1:05.19
33.80 1:39.29
34.10 2:13.45
34.16 2.16
9 5 5 USHER Scott USA 0.75 30.50 1:04.60
34.10 1:39.32
34.72 2:13.59
34.27 2.30
10 6 5 PIPER Jim AUS 0.81 30.15 1:03.70
33.55 1:38.40
34.70 2:13.79
35.39 2.50
11 5 6 IMAMURA Genki JPN 0.76 30.93 1:04.91
33.98 1:39.65
34.74 2:14.10
34.45 2.81
12 4 1 PARKIN Terence RSA 0.82 30.80 1:04.96
34.16 1:38.89
33.93 2:14.12
35.23 2.83
13 5 2 PODOPRIGORA Maxim AUT 0.86 31.17 1:05.56
34.39 1:39.91
34.35 2:14.31
34.40 3.02
14 6 7 BODOR Richard HUN 0.76 30.14 1:04.07
33.93 1:38.67
34.60 2:14.36
35.69 3.07
15 2 4 LAI Zhongjian CHN 0.87 30.97 1:05.05
34.08 1:39.92
34.87 2:14.61
34.69 3.32
16 4 6 COOK Christopher GBR 0.78 30.05 1:03.50
33.45 1:38.06
34.56 2:14.68
36.62 3.39
17 5 4 KOMORNIKOV Dmitry RUS 0.93 31.14 1:05.56
34.42 1:40.59
35.03 2:14.92
34.33 3.63
18 4 8 KRUPPA Jens GER 0.83 30.09 1:04.42
34.33 1:39.83
35.41 2:15.29
35.46 4.00
19 3 2 SIRISANONT Ratapong THA 0.77 30.96 1:05.12
34.16 1:39.92
34.80 2:15.39
35.47 4.10
20 3 3 DYMO Valeriy UKR 0.90 31.12 1:05.71
34.59 1:41.03
35.32 2:15.52
34.49 4.23
21 3 4 SVEINSSON Jakob Johann ISL 0.84 31.06 1:05.71
34.65 1:41.12
35.41 2:15.60
34.48 4.31
22 6 8 WILLIAMSON Michael IRL 0.76 30.85 1:05.22
34.37 1:40.08
34.86 2:15.75
35.67 4.46
23 4 2 HARRISON Regan AUS 0.73 30.65 1:04.47
33.82 1:39.39
34.92 2:15.86
36.47 4.57
24 2 1 FISCHER Eduardo BRA 0.77 30.73 1:04.82
34.09 1:39.85
35.03 2:16.04
36.19 4.75
25 5 1 DUBOSCQ Hugues FRA 0.76 30.15 1:04.16
34.01 1:39.88
35.72 2:16.56
36.68 5.27
26 5 7 van VALKENGOED Thijs NED 0.80 30.12 1:03.98
33.86 1:39.11
35.13 2:16.80
37.69 5.51
27 6 1 GUSTAFSSON Martin SWE 0.76 31.02 1:05.08
34.06 1:40.28
35.20 2:17.12
36.84 5.83
28 2 5 ALEXANDROV Mihail BUL 0.75 30.84 1:05.72
34.88 1:41.25
35.53 2:17.19
35.94 5.90
29 6 6 KNABE Morgan CAN 0.74 29.85 1:03.38
33.53 1:39.26
35.88 2:17.20
37.94 5.91
30 3 6 MALEK Daniel CZE 0.81 31.74 1:07.14
35.40 1:42.84
35.70 2:17.47
34.63 6.18
31 2 6 DAID Sofiane ALG 0.82 31.33 1:06.54
35.21 1:42.10
35.56 2:17.78
35.68 6.49
32 3 7 BALDIN Aleksander EST 0.81 31.62 1:06.92
35.30 1:42.50
35.58 2:17.90
35.40 6.61
33 3 8 ALYFANTIS Romanos Iason GRE 0.82 30.76 1:05.07
34.31 1:41.43
36.36 2:18.18
36.75 6.89
34 2 8 MORKOVIN Andrey UZB 0.88 31.18 1:05.87
34.69 1:41.66
35.79 2:18.48
36.82 7.19
35 1 3 ALLY Bradley BAR 0.73 31.71 1:07.30
35.59 1:42.92
35.62 2:18.64
35.72 7.35
36 2 2 TAHIROVIC Emil SLO 0.76 30.74 1:05.29
34.55 1:41.43
36.14 2:18.65
37.22 7.36
37 3 1 ROGULJ Vanja CRO 0.78 31.57 1:06.02
34.45 1:41.36
35.34 2:18.81
37.45 7.52
38 1 1 MOLINA Miguel PHI 0.78 31.53 1:06.10
34.57 1:41.60
35.50 2:19.19
37.59 7.90
39 2 3 LABOWITCH Ben NZL 0.89 31.24 1:05.65
34.41 1:41.68
36.03 2:19.25
37.57 7.96
40 4 7 FACCI Loris ITA 0.84 31.11 1:05.82
34.71 1:41.93
36.11 2:19.38
37.45 8.09
41 2 7 TAM Chi Kin HKG 0.81 32.00 1:06.82
34.82 1:42.38
35.56 2:19.48
37.10 8.19
42 1 4 WANG Wei Wen TPE 0.68 31.76 1:06.84
35.08 1:43.13
36.29 2:20.65
37.52 9.36
43 1 5 FALL Malick SEN 0.86 31.51 1:07.29
35.78 1:44.25
36.96 2:22.31
38.06 11.02
44 1 2 DAUTARTAS Edvinas LTU 0.92 31.87 1:07.69
35.82 1:45.26
37.57 2:23.12
37.86 11.83
45 1 7 POSTICA Sergiu MDA 0.94 32.67 1:10.08
37.41 1:47.90
37.82 2:27.21
39.31 15.92
46 1 6 KRAMARENKO Anton KGZ 0.68 32.96 1:09.76
36.80 1:48.28
38.52 2:28.59
40.31 17.30
3 5 PIHLAVA Jarno FIN
DNS