ADVERTISEMENTImage Credit: WSCDoha
Sunday was the final day of the FINA short-course World Championships held in Doha where legendary Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjoetroem added two World Records to her name and South African Olympic Champion Chad LeClos made history by becoming the first person to sweep the butterfly events at a short-course Worlds.
Sjoestroem’s first World Record came in the women’s 100m butterfly where her time of 54.61 outclassed the rest of the field and Diane Duyet’s previous Record from 2009.
Having set the Championship Record only the day before, Sjoestroem was keen to also get the World mark and she did so by beating second place finisher, China’s Ying Lu by 0.64 seconds. Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen was close behind to take third.
The Swede’s second World Record came barely an hour later in the final of the women’s 200m freestyle.
Although initially it was Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu who had the race in control, as soon as she showed the slightest hint of fatigue on the last 50m, Sjoestroem responded swiftly to take the win and Record in a time of 1:50.78.
Hosszu finished second while Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands took third. The former World Record holder Federica Pellegrini had a dissapointing swim and finished fifth, three seconds behind the winner.
Elsewhere, South Africa’s Chad LeClos won the men’s 200m butterfly final in Championship Record time (1:48.61), adding to the 50m and 100m butterfly golds he had won earlier in the week.
He has become the first athlete ever at a short-course World Championship to make a clean sweep of the butterfly events.
However, other World Records were also set on the last day of competition in Doha.
The Netherlands showed the world their skills in the relay events by taking down the women’s 4×50m freestyle relay World Record with a 1:34.24. Once again, the team consisted of Inge Dekker, Femke Heemskerk, Maud van der Meer and Ranomi Kromowidjojo.
Not long after, Brazil’s Etienne Medeiros broke a “shiny suit” era World Record in the women’s 50m backstroke which had stood since 2009, postin a 25.67.
Already the World and Championship Record holder in the men’s 100m Individual Medley, all that Germany’s Markus Deibler was seeking to do was to set a new personal best. This he did (50.66) albeit by the tiniest margin of 0.15 seconds.
In total, 22 World Records were broken at this edition of the FINA short-course World Championships, surpassing the 18 World Record mark set in Manchester in 2008.
Article by Hugo Lowell