ADVERTISEMENTThe Brazilians proved to be a dominant force in Doha on the second day of competition as the South American contingent took gold in three events.
The first gold came in the very first event of the evening in the men’s 4×50m medley relay where the quartet of Guilherme Guido, Felipe Silva, Nicholas Santos and Cesar Cielo took more than two seconds off the existing World Record, touching in a 1:30.51.
Perhaps spurred on by the early success in the relay, Felipe Silva was quickly back in the pool racing the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke where he out-touched Great Britain’s Adam Peaty to take the title and set a new Championship Record of 56.29. Olympic Champion and World Record holder Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa finished out of the medals in fourth.
It was then in the last event of the finals session that Brazil pipped Great Britain to the wall in the mixed 4×50m medley relay. The team of Etienne Medeiros, Felipe Silva, Nicholas Santos and Larissa Oliveira barely managed to hold off the British team, winning by a mere 0.20 seconds. Italy finished third while although World Record holders, once again the Americans found themselves in fourth place, missing the podium altogether.
Earlier, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu seemed to have found some extra energy after yesterday’s frustration of losing twice to Mireya Garcia by setting a World Record in the women’s 100m backstroke (55.03). She successfully held off Australia’s former Olympic Champion Emily Seebohm and Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina who finished second and third respectively.
Not long after, Japan’s Daiya Seto won the 400m Individual Medley, becoming the first Japanese swimmer ever to become both the long and short course World Champion in this event. He beat his childhood rival Kosuke Hagino much in the same way as he did at last year’s FINA World Championships.
Meanwhile, South African Chad LeClos also claimed a World Record in the men’s 100m butterfly. The male world swimmer of the year led from start to finish to win in a time of 48.44.
In the men’s 4×200m freestyle relay, the United States team of Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte, Matt McLean and Tyler Clary won gold in 6:51.68. Italy finished second while Russia came third.
Article by Hugo Lowell
Image Credit: WSCDoha