Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom yesterday limbered up for a world sprint double with the fastest 50m freestyle heat as a fatal nightclub accident shook the World Aquatics Championships.
Eight athletes were among the injured after a balcony at a nightclub in Gwangju collapsed in yesterday’s early hours, sending party-goers plummeting more than 5m onto people below. Athletes among the people injured were from the US, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Brazil and Italy.
In the pool, Sjostrom clocked 24.26 seconds to top the women’s 50m free preliminaries ahead of Australia’s Cate Campbell (24.40) and American Simone Manuel (24.41) as the trio resumed battle after Friday’s 100m final.
“It is what it is,” Campbell said the morning after claiming silver behind defending champion and Olympic gold medalist Manuel in the 100m. “It is a little bittersweet. I’ve managed to get on the podium every time I’ve swum the 100 at a world championship, which is a pretty remarkable achievement in itself, so I’m focusing on the positives.”
Sjostrom, who took bronze in the 100m free, was poised to become the first woman to win three world championship gold medals in the 50m butterfly before yesterday evening’s finals.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri qualified fastest for the men’s 1,500m freestyle final in a time of 14 minutes, 45.80 seconds as the Olympic champion chases a world title treble in the pool’s toughest event.
The Italian will look to crack Sun Yang’s world record of 14 minutes, 31.02 seconds in this weekend’s final, with the Chinese giant choosing not to contest the 1,500m.
Sun, who retained his 200m and 400m freestyle titles this week, has been the target of protests from athletes following bombshell claims in a leaked International Swimming Federation doping panel report that alleged he allowed blood samples to be smashed with a hammer after a visit from testers last year.
American Lilly King, who has been critical of Sun in South Korea, fired off a 30.18 to go second-fastest in the heats of the women’s 50m breaststroke as she looks to defend the title she won in 2017.
Sun departed the championships after China finished a distant sixth in Friday’s 4x200m freestyle, but not before firing a parting shot at his critics.
“I shouldn’t have to put up with these kinds of insults,” said the three-time Olympic gold medalist, who insisted that he was standing up for all athletes by refusing to allow what he called “unlicensed” testers take his samples.
“I’m protecting myself and all athletes. Everything I have said is true, I have nothing to prove,” he added.
American superstar Caeleb Dressel could add two more gold medals to the three he has already bagged this week when he attempts to retain his 50m free and 100m fly titles.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS