Dubai: The American swimmers continued with their unchallenged momentum at the top of the medal standings on the penultimate day of the 10th Fina World Swimming Championships (25 metres) at the Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sports Complex yesterday.
After ending the third day [Friday] with a total of 15 medals that included seven gold, three silver and five bronze, the US pushed further in the clear when Rebecca Soni added another gold to the tally, bettering her own championship record (1:03.98) as Russia kept up gamely as challenger as Stanislav Donets took home his second gold, this time in the men's 50-metres backstroke.
Later in the penultimate race of the night, Spain's Mireia Belmonte took her third gold medal of this meet with an amazing swim to upset Americans Ariana Kukors and Melissa Franklin in the women's 200-metres individual medley.
Great race
"It was a great race, another fast race and a little tough this time. I saw Leisel [Jones] next to me as I tried to outswim her," Soni told media after taking her second gold medal here.
At the end of the races yesterday, the US was being followed by Russia, Spain, China and France in the overall medal standings with none of them really in a realistic position of challenging the Americans with one day left of these championships. And with Ryan Lochte showing no signs of slowing down while rewriting one more championships record — this time in the 100-metres individual medley — the Americans are looking at a strong showing today.
With the maximum number of medals on offer in today's finale here, Soni was relishing the challenge of adding more colour to her collection. "I am now excited to look forward to the 200-metres after the 50-metres and 100-metres to do what I'm used to do," the 23-year-old from New Jersey said.
For the past few years Soni has been contesting a friendly rivalry in the pool from Australia Leisel Jones. "It's always great to race Leisel and I look forward to many more contests between us in the pool," the American said.
Also standing out with a second personal gold medal was Russian Donets when he clinched the top spot with a new championship time of 22.93 seconds in the men's 50-metres backstroke leaving Sun Xiaolei (23.13 seconds) and Spaniard Aschwin Wildeboer (23.13 seconds) tied in second for the silver. Donets had won the 100-metres backstroke gold on the opening day on last Wednesday.
"For me this winter season has been the best capping it off with two wins here. I wish this is not a temporary phase, but something that I can carry forward to the future," Donets said. Meanwhile, Albert Subirats added a second medal — this time a gold — with a win in a new championships record in the men's 50-metres butterfly to hand Venezuela their second medal in these championships. Subirats had taken the silver behind Russia's Evgeny Korotyshkin in the men's 100metres butterfly on the second day of the competition. Ukraine's Andrii Govorov took the silver in a time of 22.43 seconds and defending world champion Steffan Deibler of Germany had to stay content with the bronze in a time of 22.44 seconds while also denying Australian Geoff Huegill a memorable comeback.
See also Page 43
