2015 World University Games: Day 7 Finals Live Recap
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Women’s 50 free finals
Russia went 1-2 to kick off the evening with a bang.
Rozaliya Nasretdinova threw down a winning time of 24.91 to move to 18th in the world rankings, just half-a-second back of Aleksandra Gerasimenya’s meet record of 24.48 from 2013.
Elizaveta Bazarova claimed silver for Russia with a time of 25.05. Australia’s Holly Barratt, who had taken a five-year break from the sport before recently returning, continued her resurgence with a bronze-winning 25.08.
Austria’s Birgit Koschischek (25.17), USA’s Abbey Weitzeil (25.27), USA’s Madeline Locus (25.30), Italy’s Aglaia Pezzato (25.42) and France’s Lauriane Haag (25.54) closed out the finale.
Men’s 50 free finals
Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin kept Brazil’s Henrique Martins from a gold-medal trifecta by just .02 in the men’s splash-and-dash.
Tsurkin beat Martins, 22.22 to 22.24 in the sprint freestyle event as both are just on the outside of the top 20 in the world currently anchored by Fabien Gilot with a 22.13.
Martins had been looking for his third win after topping the 50 fly and 100 free earlier this week.
USA’s Paul Powers placed third with a bronze-winning time of 22.34.
France’s Yonel Govindin (22.41), Italy’s Giuseppe Guttuso (22.52), Russia’s Ivan Kuzmenko (22.44), USA’s Seth Stubblefield (22.44) and Poland’s Filip Wypych (22.58) also competed in the finale.
Women’s 50 breast finals
Ukraine’s Mariia Liver definitely proved herself to be the top sprint breaststroker of the meet with her gold-medal triumph in the 50-meter breast.
Liver clocked a time of 30.73 following her seventh-ranked season best of 30.69 from semis.
Ireland’s Fiona Doyle cranked out a silver-winning time of 31.09, just off her 17th-ranked season best of 30.99.
Italy’s Martina Carraro and USA’s Emma Reaney shared bronze with matching 31.11s.
Russia’s Natalia Ivaneeva (31.16), Japan’s Mina Matsushima (31.21), Italy’s Ilaria Scarcella (31.23) and USA’s Lilly King (32.15) comprised the rest of the championship heat.
Women’s 200 fly finals
China’s Zhou Yilin turned up the heat down the stretch to win the women’s 200-meter fly.
Zhou clocked a swift time of 2:07.69 to move to eighth in the world rankings.
Italy’s Alessia Polieri claimed silver overall in 2:08.66, just off her 16th-ranked season best of 2:08.62 from Italian Nationals.
USA’s Hali Flickinger threw down the hammer with a 33.23 final split to make her way onto the podium with a bronze-winning 2:08.80.
Italy’s Stefania Pirozzi (2:10.41), Japan’s Misuzu Yabu (2:10.78), Czech’s Barbora Zavadova (2:13.23), Canada’s Jacomie Strydom (2:13.24) and Germany’s Tina Rueger (2:13.78) finished fourth through eighth.
Women’s 800 free finals
USA’s Lindsay Vrooman unleashed a huge personal best to pick up the gold medal in the distance freestyle event.
Vrooman threw down a sizzling time of 8:26.67 for the win to jump to eighth in the world. She’s now the third-best American this year behind Katie Ledecky (8:11.21) and Becca Mann (8:24.13).
Vrooman’s effort blasted her previous best of 8:29.06 from last summer’s nationals.
Italy’s Martina Caramignoli earned silver with a time of 8:28.43 to move to 11th in the world rankings.
Australia’s Kiah Melverton snared bronze in 8:31.80, while Italy’s Martina De Memme took fourth in 8:38.66.
Japan’s Asami Chida (8:42.10), USA’s Kathryn Campbell (8:43.49), Poland’s Justyna Burska (8:44.03) and Czech’s Martina Elhenicka (8:52.44) finished fifth through eighth.
Men’s 400 IM finals
Jay Litherland blasted the field on the freestyle leg en route to winning the men’s 400-meter IM as part of a Team USA 1-2.
Litherland, who trailed 300-meter leader Keita Sunama by three seconds, threw down a sizzling 56.42 freestyle split to win the race in 4:12.43.
That swim vaulted him to fourth in the world rankings, and just missed Michael Weiss’ meet record of 4:12.00 from 2013. That swim also crushed Litherland’s previous personal best of 4:14.93 from last summer’s nationals.
400 IM World Rankings
[table “” not found /]USA’s Josh Prenot powered his way to silver with a 4:13.15 to move to eighth in the world rankings, while Sunama faded to bronze in 4:13.98 to tie Thomas Fraser-Holmes for 13th in the world.
Japan’s Takeharu Fujimori (4:15.41), Great Britain’s Max Litchfield (4:15.63), Australia’s Travis Mahoney (4:17.55), Czech’s Pavel Janecek (4:19.36) and Austria’s Jakub Maly (4:22.09) also battled in the finale.
Women’s 400 medley relay finals
Italy ended the chance for Team USA to have a clean sweep of the relays here in Gwangju in what proved to be an extremely close finish in the women’s 400-meter medley relay.
Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova (1:01.29), Ilaria Scarcella (1:07.23), Elena Di Liddo (57.09) and Laura Letrari (54.89) won the finale in 4:00.50.
Japan’s Miki Takahashi (1:01.71), Mina Matsushima (1:06.38), Rino Hosoda (58.43) and Yui Yamane (54.09) took silver in 4:00.61.
USA’s Elizabeth Pelton (1:00.53), Lilly King (1:08.02), Felicia Lee (58.15) and Shannon Vreeland (54.05) snared bronze overall in 4:00.75.
Russia (4:03.07), Australia (4:04.82), Germany (4:07.31), Canada (4:08.83) and New Zealand (4:09.18) also swam in the finale.
Men’s 400 medley relay finals
In another exciting finish, Russia clipped USA and Japan for the men’s 400-meter medley relay.
Russia’s Andrei Shabasov (54.74), Oleg Kostin (1:00.26), Evgeny Koptelov (51.03) and Mikhail Polishchuk (48.53) captured the victory in a time of 3:34.56.
USA’s Jacob Pebley (54.42), DJ MacDonald (1:00.73), Matt Josa (51.51) and Jack Conger (47.95) finished in second with a 3:34.61.
Japan’s Junya Hasegawa (54.18), Kazuki Kohinata (1:00.21), Masayuki Umemoto (51.48) and Toru Maruyama (48.95) claimed bronze in 3:34.82.
Australia (3:36.12), Great Britain (3:38.02), South Africa (3:41.33) and Poland (3:42.17) finished fourth through seventh.
France drew a disqualification for an early takeover between Quentin Coton and Jordan Coelho.
2015 World University Games, Day 7 Finals – Results
SCHEDULED EVENTS
- Women’s 50 free finals
- Men’s 50 free finals
- Women’s 50 breast finals
- Women’s 200 fly finals
- Women’s 800 free finals
- Men’s 400 IM finals
- Women’s 400 medley relay finals
- Men’s 400 medley relay finals
LIVE STREAM
Depending on your location, either FISU.TV or ESPN3.