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IRVINE, California, August 21. USA's Rebecca Soni gave the world record a bit of a run, but settled for a destruction of the meet record in the women's 200 breast at the Pan Pacific Championships.
Soni clocked a blazing-fast time of 2:20.69, far surpassing Penelope Heyns' meet record of 2:23.64 set in 1999. She also crushed her previously top-ranked time of 2:21.41 set at the Mare Nostrum in Barcelona, but came up short of Leisel Jones' fastest time in a textile of 2:20.54 from 2006. Overall, Soni's effort of 2:20.69 stands sixth all time. Annamay Pierse (2:20.12), Soni (2:20.22, 2:20.38) and Jones (2:20.54, 2:20.58) own the top five times ever.
Jones, meanwhile, won the battle for second-best with a time of 2:23.23, bettering her second-ranked season best of 2:23.45 from the Australian Nationals in March. Pierse placed third overall in 2:23.65 to move to fourth in the world. Japan's Satomi Suzuki captured fourth in 2:23.83 to wind up fifth in the world. Only one other swimmer has cleared 2:24 this year as Russia's Anastasia Chaun clocked a 2:23.50 to win the European title.
USA's Amanda Beard touched fifth in 2:24.30, while Australia's Sarah Katsoulis took sixth in 2:24.38. Japan's Rie Kaneto (2:24.85) and Canada's Martha McCabe (2:27.33) rounded out the top eight.
USA's Micah Lawrence won the B final in 2:25.19 to move into the top 15 in the world rankings.
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