Four-time Olympic champion Yana Klochkova failed to qualify yesterday for the final of the women's 400m individual medley on the opening day of the European swimming championships.
The 25-year-old Ukrainian, who won the 200m and 400m individual medley at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics, finished her heat in 4 minutes, 50.36 seconds -- 17 seconds slower than her own European record and 12th overall.
Klochkova took a break from training after Athens and is working her way back to full fitness for the Beijing Olympics.
Yana Martynova of Russia qualified fastest for the evening final with a time of 4:40.47. Alessia Filippi of Italy was second in 4:42.80 and Katinka Hosszu of Hungary was third in 4:42.86 at the National Swimming Center, where many top swimmers are treating the meet as a preparation for the Beijing Olympics.
Pawel Korzeniowski qualified fastest for the final of the men's 400m freestyle final with 3:47.70, more than a second faster than defending champion Yury Prilukov of Russia. Dragos Coman of Romania was third fastest in 3:49.02.
In the women's 50m butterfly heats, Inge Dekker led a 1-2-3 finish for the Netherlands with her time of 25.89. She was followed by Chantal Groot in 26.39 and Hinkelien Schreuder in 26.59.
World record holder Therese Alshammar was fourth while her Swedish countrywoman and defending champion Anna-Karin Kammerling did not race.
Aristeidis Grigoriadis of Greece qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the men's 100m backstroke in 54.81, ahead of Guy Barnea of Israel and Liam Tancock of Britain. Russian defending champion Arkady Vyatchanin qualified in 12th place in 55.62.
Alexander Dale Oen of Norway broke the six-year-old championship record in qualifying for the semi-finals of the men's 100m breaststroke in 1:00.11. Oleg Lisagor set the previous championship record of 1:00.29 at Berlin in 2002.
Hugues Duboscq of France was second and Oleg Lisogor of Ukraine was third.
In the women's 200m backstroke, Stanislava Komarova of Russia was fastest in the morning heats with a time of 2:11.27, ahead of two Hungarians, Nikolatt Szepesi and Evelyn Verraszto.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two