World University Games, Day 5 Finals: United States Secures Four Gold Medals, Three Games Records
Through the first four days of swimming at the World University Games, the United States had captured 12 gold medals of the 20 awarded. Only the team of neutral athletes (Russia) had captured more than one. That momentum continued at the start of night five as American swimmers stormed to three consecutive gold medals.
Leah Shackley came from behind for gold in the women’s 100 butterfly before Matt King took down South Africa’s Pieter Coetze in the men’s 100 freestyle final. Next, Kate Hurst and Gena Jorgenson pulled off a 1-2 finish in the women’s 1500 free. Later on, the Americans won another gold in the mixed 400 freestyle relay, bringing the team’s total to 16 gold medals and 29 total medals through five days of competition.
Coetze also won his second gold medal of the meet, touching first by two hundredths in the men’s 50 backstroke, while Japan’s Yumeno Kusuda was the winner of the women’s 200 breaststroke. Three Games records went down: Shackley in the women’s 50 back semifinals, the United States’ Leah Hayes in the women’s 200 free semis and the American team in the mixed relay.
Women’s 100 Butterfly Final
Leah Shackley of the United States was upset one day earlier in the 100 backstroke final, but she got the better of the field in this 100 butterfly. Shackley was just off the lead at the halfway point, training Australia’s Josephine Crimmins and Hungary’s Beatrix Tano, but a 31.00 closing split blasted her ahead of the field by almost four tenths.
Shackley secured gold in 58.16, her fourth medal of the Games after earlier winning 200 back gold, 100 back silver and mixed 400 medley relay gold. Tanko took silver in 58.55, just clipping Crimmins (58.62).
Men’s 100 Freestyle Final
South Africa’s Pieter Coetze is in the midst of a phenomenal week of racing in Berlin, having clocked a sub-52 performance for gold in the 100 backstroke two days earlier, and he was the slight favorite for gold in the 100 freestyle after splitting 47.88 leading off his country’s 400 freestyle relay. But American Matt King had other plans. King went out first at the halfway point and held tough as Coetze closed in the finishing meters.
King touched in 48.01 to win gold, just off the 48.00 he split leading off the Americans’ gold-medal-winning 400 free relay. King will have further chances to swim the event with the mixed 400 free relay at the end of Monday’s session and the men’s medley relay at the end of the meet. Coetze took silver in 48.12, with neutral athlete Aleksandr Shchegolev earning bronze in 48.34, just ahead of Romania’s Patrick-Sebastian Dinu (48.40).
Women’s 1500 Freestyle Final
Japan’s Niko Aoki had the advantage for the first half of the 1500 free final, but American swimmers Gena Jorgenson and Kate Hurst climbed back into contention and eventually took over the race. In the final third of the event, the two Americans swam nearly stroke-for-stroke. Jorgenson led at most intermediate splits, and she had upped the advantage to 0.61 on the final turn, but Hurst had something left to give in the closing meters.
Coming home in 29.80, Hurst came over the top of Jorgenson at the very end. She touched in 16:15.40, four hundredths ahead of Jorgenson’s 16:15.44. Hurst’s gold medal was the 15th for the U.S. team while this podium sweep gave the team 27 medals for the competition. Aoki was unable to remain in contention for the top-two spots, but she secured bronze in 16:19.81, well clear of fourth-place British swimmer Fleur Lewis (16:25.71).
Men’s 50 Breaststroke Semifinals
The top-four swimmers in the men’s 50 breaststroke semifinals all came out of the second heat, with Italy’s Federico Rizzardi leading the way in 27.28. He was followed by Japan’s Reo Okura (27.42), Germany’s Jeremias Pock (27.53) and the Czech Republic’s Vojtech Janecek (27.68).
The United States’ Nate Germonprez was the winner of the first semi in 27.71, just ahead of Poland’s Dawid Wickiera (27.72). Wickiera is the only swimmer in the final who has already won a medal this week, taking silver in the 100 breast and bronze in the 200-meter race, while Germonprez just missed in fourth place in the 100. Brazil’s Henrique Borges Fonseca (27.81) and Great Britain’s Archie Goodwin (27.82) got into the final, just denying Estonia’s Henrique Borges Fonseca (27.83) and Brazil’s Guilherme De Godoy Camossato (27.84).
Women’s 50 Backstroke Semifinals
Fresh off her gold medal in the 100 fly, Leah Shackley grabbed lane four in the 50 back final, breaking the Games record in the process. Shackley came in at 27.66, breaking the previous record set by Poland’s Adela Piskorska two years ago. Shackley has now broken the FISU records in all three backstroke events this year after twice crushing the mark in the 200 back and also lowering the mark in the 100 back semis.
Shackley will not be going for a backstroke sweep in the final because fellow American Kennedy Noble got the win in Games-record time in the 100 back. Noble took second in the 50-meter semis in 27.81, also under the previous record. Third went to South Africa’s Olivia Nel at 27.96. Shackley, Noble and Nel all compete for NC State University.
South Africa’s Michaela De Villiers (28.00), Piskorska (28.14), Italy’s Federica Toma (28.35), Korea’s Eunji Lee (28.56) and Italy’s Francesca Pasquino (28.69) also reached the final.
Women’s 200 IM Semifinals
Expect another dominant swim from Leah Hayes in the women’s 200 IM final. She already topped the 400 IM by almost four seconds, and she led the semifinal round of the 200 IM by 1.77 seconds. Hayes posted a time of 2:10.01, clipping the Games record of 2:10.03 set in 2017 by Japan’s Yui Ohashi. Hayes also surpassed her previous season-best time, the 2:10.83 which she swam for fourth place at U.S. Nationals.
Taking second in the round was Teagan O’Dell, the other American who already took silver behind Hayes in the 400 IM. Another 1-2 finish could be in order after O’Dell clocked 2:11.79, well ahead of third-place swimmer Ashley McMillan of Canada (2:13.08). Also qualifying for the final were France’s Camille Tissandie (2:14.07), Italy’s Chiara Della Corte (2:14.20), neutral athlete Iana Shakirova (2:14.46), China’s Ge Chutong (2:14.62) and Japan’s Rio Sato (2:14.71).
Women’s 200 Freestyle Semifinals
Cavan Gormsen of the United States was nowhere close to the lead throughout the first semifinal of the women’s 200 free. But she was unstoppable on the final length, completing a comeback from sixth at the halfway point to first at the finish. Gormsen touched in 1:58.22, just over a quarter-second clear of Portugal’s Francisca Martins (1:58.49). Martins already won silver in the 800 free.
There was a third-place tie between France’s Lucile Tessariol and China’s Ai Yanhan, with both clocking 1:58.59. Ai already won gold in the 100 free in Berlin. Canada’s Julia Brousseau (1:58.99), Italy’s Giulia D’Innocenzo (1:59.03), Germany’s Nicole Maier (1:59.22) and American Isabel Ivey (1:59.25) also reached the final. Ivey went sub-1:58 leading off the U.S. women’s 800 free relay, giving her the best time of the meet thus far, so she will be lurking from lane eight despite her rough semifinal swim.
Men’s 50 Backstroke Final
South Africa’s Pieter Coetze added to his gold medal in the 100 back with another triumph in the 50, but this one required extra effort to get to the wall first thanks to a blazing finish from Korea’s Yoon Jihwan. Coetze appeared to have the field put away just past the midway point of the race, but Yoon surged over the closing meters and came in just two hundredths behind.
Coetze touched in 24.49, followed by Yoon’s 24.51. Coetze will have to wait for the World Championships to take another shot at the long-standing African record of 24.34, set by Gerhard Zandberg in 2009. Bronze here wet to the United States’ Daniel Diehl, who got off to the best start in the field before finishing in 24.75. Diehl matched his finish from the 100-meter race while teammate Will Modglin, the runnerup in the 100 back, finished fourth in 24.78.
Men’s 100 Butterfly Semifinals
Earlier in the meet, Italy’s Simone Stefani was the gold medalist in the 50 fly, and now a pair of his countrymen will try to match that feat across twice the distance. Michele Busa qualified first for the final in 51.52, a half-second clear of the field, while Gianmarco Sansone took third overall in 52.07. Not to be outdone, a pair of Germans are in the field with Ole Eidam second (52.03) and Bjorn Kammann fifth (52.24).
Korea’s Kim Jihun placed fourth in 52.20, with Uzkebistan’s Eldorbek Usmonov sixth in 52.30. Usmanov was the silver medalist in the 50 fly. Ukraine’s Ihor Troianovskyi (52.32) and Taiwan’s Wang Kuan-hung (52.35) also made the final, denying the two swimmers who tied for ninth at 52.36, Australia’s Thomas Nankervis and the United States’ Kamal Muhammad.
Later on, a swim-off was held to determine first alternate. Muhammad won in 51.90 while Nakervis also swam much quicker than the semifinal at 52.07.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke Final
Japan put on a show in the women’s 200 breast, with Yumeno Kusuda emerging as the clear star. Kusuda dominated the event throughout and ended up winning gold by almost two seconds. She posted a time of 2:26.15 to win gold by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, her countrywoman Yuymi Obatake came from fifth place entering the final length to make it a 1-2 finish, with Obatake finishing in 2:28.17.
Spain earned its first swimming medal of the World University Games as Alina Fernandez Gonzalez touched in 2:28.48, denying Hungary’s Aliz Kalmar (2:28.82) a spot on the podium. The United States’ Katie Christopherson was in medal position for most of the race, but she ended up falling to fifth.
Mixed 400 Freestyle Relay Final
The United States remains undefeated in the relays after crushing the field in the mixed 400 free relay. The American team had qualified first and entered as heavy favorites, and the race for gold was essentially over after leadoff swimmer Matt King established a considerable advantage right away. Two hours after winning individual gold in the 100 free, King led off in a time of 48.28 that was less than three tenths off his mark from the individual event.
David King went next, splitting 48.35, and Isabel Ivey clocked 54.13 on the third leg. Maxine Parker anchored in 53.51 to secure the win, with the Americans’ final time of 3:24.27 setting a new Games record, faster than the 3:25.38 posted by China two years ago. The Americans now have 16 gold medals for the competition and 29 total podium finishes.
Japan swam in second place for the entire race and pulled out a silver medal in 3:26.86. The team of Takumi Mori, Takaki Hara, Ayu Mizoguchi and Rio Suzuki competed for the Japanese team. Bronze went to South Africa’s Guy Brooks, Ruard Van Reen, Olivia Nel and Michaela De Villiers in 3:28.51. Italy placed fourth in 3:28.57, only six hundredths behind the South Africans. Agata Ambler actually passed De Villiers on the first 50 of the anchor leg, but De Villiers battled back to put her team on the podium.
