Australian Jessicah Schipper and American Michael Phelps posted back-to-back world records on Thursday on a fast-paced opening day at the Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships.
Schipper electrified the crowd with a time of 2 minutes, 05.40 seconds in the women's 200m butterfly, breaking the previous record of 2:05.61 set by Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak at the World Championships last year, when Schipper was runner-up.
"I had a feeling I was going fast. I had to hold myself back in the first 50," said Schipper, who finished 1.12sec in front of Yuko Nakanishi of Japan (2:06.52).
"I can't believe I've finally done it. It has been a massive goal of mine for since, well, forever, but more than a year now," Schipper said.
Despite finishing more than a second back, Nakanishi's time set a new Japanese record.
Moments later, Phelps eclipsed his own world mark in the men's 200m butterfly with a time of 1:53.80, slicing 13-hundredths of a second off the 1:53.93 he set in Barcelona in 2003.
Phelps credited Schipper with providing some extra motivation and said the performance was his best since the 2004 Summer Olympics, where six of his eight medals were gold.
"As soon as I saw her split time, it definitely got me more excited," he said.
"This is probably the happiest I've been with my swimming since Athens. It's about time. I feel good. I feel relieved," Phelps said.
In other action, Japan's Hanae Ito upset world record holder Natalie Coughlin in the women's 100m backstroke, edging her US rival by three-hundredths of a second with a time of 1:00.63.
Coughlin, the only female in history to swim the women's 100m backstroke in under a minute, swam Thursday's final a half-second slower than her qualifying time of 1:00.06.
"I really don't know what it was, but it wasn't good. I was playing a little bit with my stroke during warm-up, but it didn't work to my benefit tonight," Coughlin said.
Japan's Reiko Nakamura placed third.
Canadian distance specialist Andrew Hurd and Victoria native Ryan Cochrane thrilled the hometown crowd by finishing first and third respectively in the men's 800m freestyle.
Hurd said later the roar of the crowd spurred him on "when it started to hurt" around the 500m or 600m mark.
In the men's 100m backstroke, American Aaron Piersol shattered the meet record with a time of 53.32 seconds, three-tenths ahead of teammate Ryan Lochte and more than a second ahead of the bronze medalist Tomomi Morita of Japan.
Strong performances from South Korean youngster Park Tae-hwan and China's Zhang Lin weren't enough to keep American Klete Keller off the top of the podium in the men's 200m freestyle.
Keller outdistanced Park by 1.31 seconds and Zhang by 1.39 seconds to take gold in the event with a time of 1:46.20.
Australian Ian Thorpe, who holds the world record in the men's 200 freestyle with a time of 1:44.06, is not competing here.
In the women's 200m freestyle, the USA's Katie Hoff edged a pair of Aussies, Linda Mackenzie and Bronte Barratt, to win gold with a time of 1:58.02.
The women's 1,500m freestyle saw American Kate Ziegler defeat teammate Hayley Piersol for the gold. Japan's Ai Shibata placed third, more than 16 seconds back of Ziegler.
The meeting continues through tomorrow.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about £2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported £400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported £400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported £900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically