GLASGOW, Scotland, December 21. THE top-line swimmers for Team USA came up big for the Stars and Stripes tonight at the Duel in the Pool as Tom Shields crushed his American record in the men’s 200 fly to cut the gap to two points.
Shields held off an early challenge by Velimir Stjepanovic with a sweltering time of 1:50.61. That put him third in the world behind Chad le Clos (1:48.56) and Pawel Korzeniowski (1:50.43). The effort also helped Shields become the first American under 1:51, breaking his American record of 1:51.31 set at the Berlin stop of the FINA World Cup this year.
Stjepanovic took second overall in 1:52.06 after leading early on, while Roberto Pavoni touched third overall in 1:52.87.
Bence Biczo (1:53.16), Tyler Clary (1:53.44), David Verraszto (1:54.51) and Tom Luchsinger (1:54.61) also competed in the finale.