Americans Lenny Krayzelburg, Neil Walker and Jenny Thompson each set a short course world record on the second, and final day of competition of the FINA World Cup meet in College Park, Maryland.
Krayzelburg blasted the 200m backstroke in 1:52.47, just squeaking by the old mark of 1:52.51 set by Spain’s Martin Lopez-Zubero in October 1991. “I knew it would be fast,” said Krayzelburg. “I was very confident this was going to be very close [to the record] or even break it.”
Walker, who has swum fast consistently throughout the two-day meet, broke the 50m backstroke mark by the smallest margin possible–one one-hundredth of a second. Walker stroked the two-lapper in 24.12 seconds, erasing the mark of 24.13 set by Germany’s Thomas Rupprath a year ago and tied by Australia’s Matt Welsh last February. “I had a great swim,” said Walker. “I think I did everything right.”
Another swimmer who did everything right was Thompson, whose 26.00 for the women’s 50m fly shaved .05 sec off the mark she set last December. “The excitement [after Krayzelburg’s record] really pumped me up and I really wanted a world record, too,” said Thompson, who is completing her pre-med studies at Mills College.
Women’s Events
Thompson finished the meet with five victories, three of them last night. In addition to her world record in the 50 fly, the 26-year-old Stanford grad took the 100m free in 53.49, just off hr American record of 53.34, and the 100m I.M. in 1:01.00. Both wins came against top-notch competition: In the free, Thompson edged comebacking teammate Dara Torres (54.07) and Slovakia’s Martina Moravcova (55.06), winner of the 200; in the medley, Moravocova finished a strong runner-up.
B.J. Bedford won the women’s 100m backstroke in a swift 59.27, completing her sweep of the three dorsal events. Second place in the 100 back went to Samantha Arsenault, a 17-year-old from Massachusetts better known as a freestyler.
Kristine Quance-Julian, another comebacker, finally struck gold in the 200 breast, clocking a solid 2:26.49 to edge Germany’s Anna Poleska and Australia’s Brooke Hanson. Earlier in the evening, the USC grad finished a strong second in the 400 IM, her third silver medal in the two day meet.
The winner of the 400 IM was Romania’s Beatrice Caslaru, with a very fast 4:34.43. The previous evening Caslaru took the 200 medley.
Lindsay Benko, another USC grad, won the 400m free in 4:07.66, two seconds ahead of Sweden’s Josefin Lillhage.
Stanford’s Shelly Ripple was the surprise winner of the 200 fly with a solid 2:10.02, more than a second ahead of Canada’s Jennifer Button with 1998 US national champion, Molly Freedman, in third.
Germany’s Janne Schaefer took the 50 breast in 31.79, a stroke ahead of SMU grad Katie McClelland.
Men’s Events
Ed Moses, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, won the men’s 100m breast in 1:00.18, completing his sweep of all three breaststroke races. Finland’s Jani Sievinen also completed a hat trick, taking the 200 IM in 1:58.83 to go with his victories in the 100 and 400 medley races the night before.
Stanford grad Sabir Muhammad, now training in Hawaii, took the 100m fly in 52.39 seconds, a hair off his own American mark of 52.25. Former teammate Dod Wales, the American record-holder for 100 yards, was second, just ahead of Australia’s Adam Pine.
Jason Lezak, who a day earlier had tied Muhammad’s American record in the 100 free (48.19) took the 50 in 22.05, with Muhammad second and Walker third.
Chad Carvin won the 1500m freestyle by a pool length over Spain’s Frederick Hviid, touching in 15:05.43. A day earlier, the Arizona grad had broken a 16-year-old American record in winning the 400 free (3:42.16).
Hungary’s Bela Szabados, training at the Trojan Swim Club, won the 200 free in 1:46.15, edging Carvin and Josh Davis, the American record-holder in the event (1:45.24).
The World Cup meet in Maryland was the first of 12 stops on the World Cup tour for 1999-2000. The next meet takes place in Edmonton, Canada this weekend.