Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia won her third gold and fourth medal overall at the Short Course World Swimming Championships on Saturday, breaking the championship record in the 200m individual medley.
She won double gold on day one of the event, in the 400m individual medley and the 200m butterfly and followed up with silver in the 800m freestyle.
US star Ryan Lochte, who shares a medal haul of three golds with the Spaniard, was also in action in the 100m individual medley semi-finals.
PHOTO: AFP
He qualified fastest for yesterday’s final in a new championship record of 50.81 seconds.
Germany’s Markus Deibler, brother of 50m butterfly world record-holder, Steffan, who also competed on day four, qualified in second with a 52.08 mark, breaking the German record. Kenneth To of Australia is also through in third with a time of 52.08.
Lochte has contested three events so far this week, winning gold in the 200m freestyle and breaking world records in the 200m and 400m individual medleys.
According to USA Swimming, he is scheduled for the 100m individual medley final and the 200m backstroke and may also race in the 4x100m medley relay.
Rebecca Soni claimed the breaststroke double, winning the 100m in a championship record one minute, 3.98 seconds to add to her 50m gold. Leisel Jones took silver in one minute, 4.26 seconds, while China’s Ji Liping won bronze in one minute, 4.79 seconds.
Venezuela’s Albert Subirats won his country first gold medal at a world championships, beating Ukrainian youngster Andrii Govorov and world record holder Steffan Deibler to the wall in 20.40 seconds. Govorov posted a time of 22.43 seconds, while Deibler finished in 22.44 seconds. All three were inside the championship record.
Deibler said he was fatigued after a busy season.
Another South American, Brazil’s Cesar Cielo, will go for his second gold of this event in yesterday’s 100m freestyle final after clocking a championship record 46.01 seconds in his semi-final.
The Netherlands won the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in three minutes, 28.54 seconds, their championship record good enough to beat the US in silver and China in bronze.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite