American Blake Pieroni led from start to finish in the men’s 200 free, touching the wall in 1:41.49 to take the gold. He was able to hold off a hard-charging Danas Rapsys from Lithuania, who closed with an impressive 25.96 final 50. In third was Australia’s Alexander Graham in 1:42.28.
It was not a best time for Pieroni, who swam a 1:41.15 earlier in the year at the Singapore World Cup in November. He remains the second fastest American all-time in the 200 SCM free behind Ryan Lochte.
Pieroni (on bouncing back to win gold): “It was a great race, probably not a perfectly split race but I felt a lot better than this morning. This morning was kind of a struggle, and I definitely wanted to go out a bit faster tonight. Not necessarily 2 seconds faster at the 100, but regardless of the time or how it was split I’m happy with the win.”
Immediately after the race Graham, who is coached by Bond’s Richard Scarce, said: “I had a good heat this morning and wasn’t really expecting to make the final to be honest and dropped a lot of time in that race, so was stoked with that.
“It is my first world championship final as an individual, so I am stoked to come away with a medal,” he added.
USA’s golden day continued with yet more success, this time in the Men’s 200m Freestyle. See all the action live on ? https://t.co/bEozhdW5qV #FINAHangzhou2018 pic.twitter.com/6fkVONExMn
— FINA (@fina1908) December 12, 2018
Congratulations
Congratulations!
Congratulations ???????