Two Championships records fall at FINA Short-course Worlds
Two Championships records fell on
the third competition day at the FINA short-course swimming World Championships
as Siobhan Bernadette Haughey and Li Bingjie both triumphed on Saturday.
Haughey, who smashed the world
record to win the women's 200m freestyle on Thursday, brought her good form to
the 100m freestyle race on Saturday.
The 24-year-old swimmer from Hong
Kong, China touched the wall first in 50.98 seconds, slicing 0.16 seconds off
the Championships record set by Ranomi Kromowidjojo in Hangzhou three years
ago.
Swede veteran Sarah Sjostrom was
0.33 second behind Haughey to finish second while American Abbey Weitzeil took
the bronze medal in 51.64 seconds.
"This is my first-ever
short-course World Championships and to get two gold medals, that's
amazing," said Haughey who grabbed two silver medals in the 100m and 200m
freestyle events at the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. "I feel really
good how everything is going so far."
Long-distance specialist Li Bingjie
also made a splash by winning the women's 800m freestyle with a new tournament
record of 8:02.90. The previous Championships record of 8:03.41 was set by
Spaniard Mireia Belmonte in 2014.
"I have thought about winning
the event," said the 19-year-old Chinese, "The result is event better
than I have expected. "
Li has set her goal for the Asian
Games to be held next year in Hangzhou, China. "I hope I could make
breakthrough there and I will try to win as many as golds. "
In the men's 100m butterfly race,
Italian Matteo Rivolta led the eight finalists in 48.87 seconds. The
30-year-old believed that winning a gold at his age was special.
"This was my first ever final
at short course World Championships, and the first at any worlds since
Barcelona 2013," revealed Rivolta. Source: Xinhua