World University Games, Day 6 Finals: Leah Shackley Claims Third Individual Title; Aleksandr Stepanov, Leah Hayes Win Second Golds
The star of the swimming portion of the World University Games has been Leah Shackley, a 19-year-old from Bedford, Pa., and NC State University. On night six, Shackley captured her third individual gold medal of the competition and fourth gold medal as she charged to gold in the 50 backstroke.
Additionally, neutral athlete Aleksandr Stepanov pulled away from the field in the men’s 800 freestyle after previously earning gold in the 1500 free while Leah Hayes of the United States won her second gold medal in the 200 IM. Italian swimmers Gianmarco Sansome (100 breaststroke) and Federico Rizzardi (50 breaststroke) each earned a gold medal, and American Cavan Gormsen came from behind for a win in the women’s 200 free.
Men’s 100 Butterfly Final
Italy has now swept gold medals in the men’s sprint butterfly events. Giamarco Sansome stuck with the field in the early going and blasted ahead on the way home, his split of 27.31 eclipsing anyone else in the field by almost three tenths. He touched in 51.40 for gold. Previously, Simone Stefani won gold for the country in the 50 fly, so Sansome’s gold is the second for his country at this meet.
Germany’s Bjorn Kammann also had a strong finishing length to earn silver in 51.70 while Uzbekistan’s Eldorbek Usmonov claimed bronze in 51.84. Usmonov had the lead at the halfway point and held tough to return to the podium after previously taking silver in the 50 fly. Italy’s Michele Busa, the top seed entering the final, ended up fourth in 52.06.
Women’s 200 Freestyle Final
Cavan Gormsen was nowhere close to the field at the halfway point. She was almost two seconds behind the leader, U.S. teammate Isabel Ivey, and four tenths behind the seventh-place swimmer. But the University of Virginia standout is known for her finishing speed; the day before, Gormsen was sixth at the halfway point in her semifinal heat before pulling away to take the top seed. In the final, she did it again.
Gormsen turned on the jets on the third length, moving up to fourth place. Her 29.13 split coming home once again lapped the field, and she pulled ahead of the two swimmers who had set the pace for most of the race, Ivey and China’s Ai Yanhan. Gormsen touched in 1:57.21, crushing her previous best time of 1:58.04. She actually negative-split the race, going out in 58.61 and returning in 58.60 as she successfully executed a strategy never seen in the 200 free.
Ai touched second in 1:57.55, adding a silver medal to her gold from earlier in the meet in the 100 free. Ivey finished third in 1:57.58, reaching the individual podium for the first time after previously winning four gold medals on relays. Portugal’s Francisca Martins, the silver medalist in the 800 free, just missed with a fourth-place time of 1:57.85.
Men’s 800 Freestyle Final
Aleksandr Stepanov won his second gold in distance freestyle at the World University Games, and just like in the 1500 free earlier in the competition, he had to out-duel a tough Italian competitor. Stepanov, a neutral athlete from Russia, maintained the advantage throughout most of the race, but he could not shake Tomasso Griffante. Griffante was within seven hundredths with five laps remaining and still within a half second entering the final 150 meters.
But in the closing stages of the race, Stepanov picked up his speed while Griffante could not keep up. Stepanov ended up finishing almost four seconds clear of the field, an enormous amount compared to his 12-hundredth margin in the 1500 free. His time was 7:46.51, moving to No. 11 in the world rankings with his swim.
Griffante claimed silver in 7:50.50, while American Ryan Erisman swam in medal position for the final 600 meters of the race before claiming his second bronze medal of the meet. Five days after a podium finish in the 400 free, Erisman went 7:51.74, almost three seconds under his previous best time. Davide Marchello, the bronze medalist in the 1500 free, placed fourth (7:54.73).
Women’s 50 Backstroke Final
For the third time this week, Leah Shackley has claimed individual gold. In the 50 back final, Shackley emerged ahead off the start and never gave back any of her lead. She blasted to the finish in 27.31, clobbering the Games record of 27.66 she set in the semifinals. Shackley’s gold was her third individual win of the week after previously topping the 200 back and 100 butterfly. She also earned silver in the 100 back and gold with her American teammates in the mixed 400 medley relay. The 19-year-old has now broken five individual Games records at the meet.
Kennedy Noble, the American who edged Shackley for gold in the 100 back, took silver here in 27.67. Noble also won silver in the 200-meter race. Bronze went to South Africa’s Olivia Nel in 27.91, breaking the African record of 27.96 she set in the semifinals. All three of the medalists attend and compete for North Carolina State University, giving the Wolfpack the first podium sweep of any school at the Games.
Men’s 200 Backstroke Semifinals
David King has already helped the United States win gold in the men’s 400 free relay and mixed 400 free relay, and now the University of Virginia sophomore enters the 200 back final as the favorite after topping the second semifinal heat in 1:57.54. King owns a best time of 1:55.64, set at last month’s U.S. Nationals, and he will have familiar company in the final in American teammate Daniel Diehl. Diehl, already the bronze medalist in both the 50 and 100 back, is currently ranked fourth in the world in the event at 1:55.08, and he qualified fourth for the final in 1:58.17.
In between the two Americans were France’s Mathys Choichaoui (1:57.72) and neutral athlete Aleksei Tkachev (1:58.00), and the final will also include Canada’s Benjamin Loewen (1:58.78), Australia’s Stuart Swinburn (1:59.08), Italy’s Pitro Ubertalli (1:59.25) and Portugal’s Ricardo Matias Santos (1:59.30).
Women’s 200 IM Final
A dominant back half helped Leah Hayes complete the sweep of the individual medley events, and in the process, she turned in her fastest time in three years and a new FISU Games record. As usual for Hayes in medley events, she was well off the pace after the butterfly leg, but she moved up to second on the backstroke leg behind American teammate Teagan O’Dell, and then Hayes took off on breaststroke, splitting 37.48.
From there, gold was assured, and the question became time. Hayes owns a lifetime best of 2:08.91, posted on the way to bronze at the 2022 World Championships, but she had not been sub-2:10 since then. But here she hit the wall in 2:09.48, lobbing a half-second off the Games record she set in the semifinals and moving to No. 9 in the world rankings. Hayes captured the second gold for the University of Virginia in the session following Cavan Gormsen’s win in the 200 free.
O’Dell, meanwhile, fell to third on the breaststroke leg but roared back with a 30.76 freestyle split. That got her to the wall in 2:11.24 for a silver medal, her second medley silver of the week. Canada’s Ashley McMillan earned bronze in 2:12.63, Canada’s first medal of the Games.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke Semifinals
Emma Weber of the United States will be favored to earn her second breaststroke gold medal of the meet after she advanced to the 100 breast final in first position, more than a half-second clear of the field. Weber, a Paris Olympian in the event, overtook South Africa’s Lara Van Niekerk shortly after the halfway point and pulled away to win her heat in 1:07.28. Weber continued a strong session for the University of Virginia, following gold medals for Cavan Gormsen and Leah Hayes and a top-seeded performance from David King in the men’s 200 back semis.
Canada’s Shona Branton (1:07.82) and South Africa’s Simone Moll (1:07.94) were the only other swimmers to break 1:08 in the semifinals. Poland’s Barbara Anna Mazurkiewicz (1:08.15), Hungary’s Aliz Kalmar (1:08.31), Van Niekerk (1:08.46), Italy’s Francesca Zucca (1:08.89) and Japan’s Yuyumi Obatake (1:09.05) also advanced to the final. Japan’s Yumeno Kusuda, the gold medalist in the 200 breast, ended up 15th in 1:10.10.
Men’s 50 Freestyle Semifinals
Matt King already has gold in the men’s 100 free and a pair of relay medals from his efforts with American teammates, and now he heads into the 50 free final as the top seed. King blasted a mark of 21.93 in the second semifinal heat, the only time under 22 thus far at the competition. He will be surrounded in the final by Lithuania’s Jokubas Keblys (22.07) and Ukraine’s Illia Linnyk (22.08).
The other American, Daniel Baltes, took fourth (22.13), followed by Sweden’s Elias Funch Persson (22.15), Italy’s Giovai Guatti (22.17) and Andrea Candela (22.18) and Brazil’s Lucas Martins Costa (22.79).
Men’s 50 Breaststroke Final
Italy has a second gold medal in the session thanks to Federico Rizzardi, who dominated the 50 breast field by two tenths. Rizzardi blasted off the start and came up in front, and he never surrendered that lead, hitting the wall in 27.14 to win gold by almost two tenths.
Japan’s Reo Okura was behind in the opening stages, but he came through down the stretch to take silver in 27.33 while Poland’s Dawid Wiekiera secured bronze in 27.46, nine hundredths clear of American Nate Germonprez (27.55). Wiekiera was already the only swimmer with multiple breaststroke medals this week, having earned silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200, and he adds a third in the one-lap race.
Women’s 200 Butterfly Semifinals
Women’s 50 Freestyle Semifinals
Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay Final
