Print

Mail

wiki links

Park Tae-hwan wins 400m freestyle

Park Tae-hwan of South Korea pulled off an upset at the first swimming final of the world championships yesterday, coming from behind to knock off Australian favorite Grant Hackett in the 400m freestyle.

Park made a furious sprint over the final 50m, passing three swimmers -- Hackett included -- before he touched the wall in 3 minutes, 44.30 seconds to become South Korea's first world champion.

In fact, it was the first medal of any kind for the South Koreans in the history of the world aquatic championships.

Meanwhile, Michael Phelps got off to a winning start and fellow American Cullen Jones made swimming history.

Phelps, hoping to show he can make another run at Mark Spitz's Olympic record of seven gold medals, led off an American victory in the men's 400m freestyle relay at Rod Laver Arena.

Jones was also part of the four-man team, becoming the first black swimmer in US history to claim a world title.

While Phelps got off to a slow start, he rallied to put the Americans out front by the time Neil Walker jumped in the water. The Americans steadily pulled away, with Jones swimming the third leg and Jason Lezak bringing it home in a time of 3 minutes, 12.72 seconds.

It was the second-fastest time in history, eclipsed only by the world record of 3:12.46 turned in by the same foursome last August.

There were no surprises in the women's 400m freestyle. As expected, Laure Manaudou of France pulled away to a dominating victory, though she seemed a bit disappointed not to break her own world record.

Manaudou, who eclipsed American Janet Evans' 18-year-old record last May and took it even lower three months later, was nearly a half-second under record pace early in the race but faded at the end. She finished in 4:02.61.

The French star shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes when she saw the time, about a half-second off her world mark of 4:02.13 but her second meet record of the day. She beat the previous mark in the morning preliminaries.

Trailing Manaudou by more than a full bodylength was Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland, who took silver in 4:04.23. Japan's Ai Shibata claimed the bronze with a time of 4:05.19.

"It's amazing how she takes it out so fast," said American Katie Hoff, who finished fourth.

When Park won, he turned quickly to look at the scoreboard, thrusting both fists in the air. Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli took the silver and Hackett held on for the bronze after barely qualifying for the final.

The Australians had won the 400m free at every worlds since 1994. Hackett won at Montreal in 2005 after finishing second at the previous four championships, including three straight runner-up showings to now-retired countryman Ian Thorpe.

Hackett found himself swimming in an unusual spot: lane eight near the side of the pool. He usually has one of the prime lanes near the middle of the pool, but was relegated to the outside with a poor swim in the morning preliminaries -- barely making the final.
This story has been viewed 1647 times.