Australian Grant Hackett became the first swimmer to win four world titles in the same event on Sunday as he claimed his fourth straight 1 500m freestyle crown at the 11th World Swimming Championships.
Hackett (25) won his third title of the 2005 championships, after his triumph in the 400m freestyle and a world-record-breaking victory in the 800m freestyle.
Hackett, unbeaten in his signature event since 1996, led from the start and won in 14 minutes and 42,58 seconds, while behind him American Larsen Jensen turned back a challenge from Britain’s David Davies to take the silver in 14:47,58.
Davies, who had briefly edged ahead of Jensen with 100m left, couldn’t shake the American and ended up with bronze in 14:48,11.
In a curtain-raiser to Hackett’s anticipated race, his compatriot Jade Edmistone broke the women’s 50m breaststroke world record with a time of 30,45 seconds.
Edmistone (23), swimming in her first major international long course meet, broke the previous record of 30,57 set by Zoe Baker, who represented Britain when she set the record at Manchester, England, on July 30 2002.
”It feels fantastic,” said Edmistone. ”I can’t describe it any more than that. I was going in thinking this is my lane, my race. I tried to block everything else out. To be number one and get the world record is unbelievable.”
American Jessica Hardy took the silver in 30,85 seconds, and Australia’s Brooke Hanson earned the bronze in 30,89.
Baker, who now swims for New Zealand, was fifth.
Australia also topped the podium in the women’s 50m freestyle, with Lisbeth Lenton grabbing the gold in 24,59 seconds. Marleen Veldhuis of The Netherlands was second in 24,83 and China’s Zhu Yingwen was third in 24,91.
Aristeidis Grigoriadis of Greece won the men’s 50m backstroke, clocking 24,95 seconds to edge Australian Matt Welsh by four-100ths of a second.
Britain’s Liam Tancock was third in 25,02, while Germany’s Thomas Rupprath, who set the world record of 24,80 in winning the world title in Barcelona in 2003, was sixth, right behind American Aaron Peirsol — the world-record-holder and world and Olympic champion in the 100m and 200m backstrokes.
Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who settled for silver behind Michael Phelps in the men’s 200m medley, made the most of the American world-record-holder’s absence from the 400m medley as he won in 4:09,63.
Cseh improved his own European record in a comfortable win over Italy’s Luca Marin (4:11,67) and Tunisian Oussama Mellouli (4:13,47). — Sapa-AFP