Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr
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GOLD COAST, Australia, August 21. SHORTLY after Missy Franklin clipped the Pan Pacific record in the B final (see below), USA’s Katie Ledecky came along and dropped the time even more with a blazing 1:55.74 to win the 200-meter freestyle at Pan Pacs. That swim lowered Franklin’s meet record of 1:56.04, and nearly beat Laure Manaudou’s 2007 Australia All-Comers record of 1:55.52.
It’s not the same level of speed as Ledecky had at U.S. Nationals, where she moved to second in the world with a 1:55.16, but it was all she needed to easily win the Pan Pacs title.
Australia’s Bronte Barratt charged to silver with a 1:57.22, off her 13th-ranked season best of 1:56.61 from the Australian Nationals. USA’s Shannon Vreeland took bronze in 1:57.38.
Australia’s Melanie Schlanger (1:57.39), Canada’s Samantha Cheverton (1:58.96), Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi (1:59.08), China’s Zhang Sishi (1:59.29) and Japan’s Yasuki Miyamoto (1:59.94) also swam in the A final.
A Final Results
1 LEDECKY, KATIE 17 UNITED STATES 1:56.45 1:55.74P 930 r:+0.68 27.49 56.61 (29.12) 1:26.10 (29.49) 1:55.74 (29.64) 2 BARRATT, BRONTE 25 AUSTRALIA 1:57.65 1:57.22 895 r:+0.68 27.72 57.27 (29.55) 1:27.68 (30.41) 1:57.22 (29.54) 3 VREELAND, SHANN 22 UNITED STATES 1:57.40 1:57.38 891 r:+0.78 27.72 57.17 (29.45) 1:27.40 (30.23) 1:57.38 (29.98) 4 SCHLANGER, MELA 27 AUSTRALIA 1:57.16 1:57.39 891 r:+0.74 27.43 57.12 (29.69) 1:27.39 (30.27) 1:57.39 (30.00) 5 CHEVERTON, SAMA 26 CANADA 1:58.80 1:58.96 856 r:+0.70 28.24 58.35 (30.11) 1:28.48 (30.13) 1:58.96 (30.48) 6 IGARASHI, CHIHI 19 JAPAN 1:59.96 1:59.08 854 r:+0.67 27.76 58.23 (30.47) 1:28.77 (30.54) 1:59.08 (30.31) 7 ZHANG, SISHI 20 CHINA 1:59.45 1:59.29 849 r:+0.68 27.86 57.97 (30.11) 1:28.85 (30.88) 1:59.29 (30.44) 8 MIYAMOTO, YASUK 19 JAPAN 2:00.17 1:59.94 835 r:+0.76 27.93 58.53 (30.60) 1:29.27 (30.74) 1:59.94 (30.67)
Missy Franklin definitely showed signs of having completely shaken off her back spasm issues with a sterling 1:56.04 during the B final. That swim lowered the Pan Pacs record of 1:56.10 set by Allison Schmitt when she won the event in 2010. It’s also faster than Franklin’s season best of 1:56.40 and moved her to seventh in the world. Her time also would have placed her second in the A final if she had made it through this morning.
Australia’s Emma McKeon finished second in 1:57.21 with Hong Kong’s Camille Cheng taking third in 1:58.99.
Canada’s Alyson Ackman (1:59.25), New Zealand’s Samantha Lucie-Smith (2:00.75), Japan’s Aya Takano (2:00.90), Hong Kong’s Hang Yu Sze (2:02.65) and Canada’s Tabitha Baumann (2:03.25) also swam in the consolation heat.
B Final Results
9 FRANKLIN, MISSY 19 UNITED STATES 1:57.63 1:56.04P 922 r:+0.77 27.32 56.64 (29.32) 1:26.07 (29.43) 1:56.04 (29.97) 10 MCKEON, EMMA 20 AUSTRALIA 1:57.87 1:57.21 895 r:+0.77 27.55 57.44 (29.89) 1:27.37 (29.93) 1:57.21 (29.84) 11 CHENG, CAMILLE 21 HONG KONG 2:00.66 1:58.99 855 r:+0.68 27.25 57.07 (29.82) 1:27.58 (30.51) 1:58.99 (31.41) 12 ACKMAN, ALYSON 21 CANADA 2:00.43 1:59.25 850 r:+0.63 27.91 57.82 (29.91) 1:28.38 (30.56) 1:59.25 (30.87) 13 LUCIE-SMITH, SA 22 NEW ZEALAND 2:00.52 2:00.75 819 r:+0.75 28.41 58.96 (30.55) 1:30.31 (31.35) 2:00.75 (30.44) 14 TAKANO, AYA 20 JAPAN 2:00.93 2:00.90 816 r:+0.74 28.66 59.60 (30.94) 1:30.65 (31.05) 2:00.90 (30.25) 15 SZE, HANG YU 26 HONG KONG 2:02.93 2:02.65 781 r:+0.69 28.28 59.56 (31.28) 1:31.57 (32.01) 2:02.65 (31.08) 16 BAUMANN, TABITH 19 CANADA 2:02.79 2:03.25 770 r:+0.71 28.87 1:00.03 (31.16) 1:32.22 (32.19) 2:03.25 (31.03)
