Taiwanese Olympian Wang Kuan-hung yesterday qualified for tonight’s men’s 200m butterfly final at the World Aquatics Championships, squeezing into the top eight with a time of 1 minute, 54.97 seconds.
Earlier in the day, he finished fourth overall in the qualifying heats with a time of 1:55.17, 0.96 seconds behind Japanese Olympic silver medalist Tomoru Honda.
The 21-year-old Taiwanese won a silver medal in the men’s 200m butterfly at the FINA Swimming World Cup meet in Singapore on Nov. 16, 2018, with a time of 1:52.38, and in 2019 won a silver medal in the men’s 200m butterfly at the Toyota US Open Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1:55.82.
Photo: Reuters
He also won bronze medals in the 200m butterfly at last year’s Swimming World Cup meets in Berlin and Toronto, finishing in 1:51.04 and 1:51.15 respectively, and competed for Taiwan at the Tokyo Olympics.
French star Leon Marchand swam second-fastest in yesterday’s semi-final in 1:54.21, easing into the final a day after smashing Michael Phelps’ last remaining world record.
Marchand won the men’s 400m individual medley on the opening night of competition on Friday, coming home in 4:02.50, more than a second off Phelps’ benchmark of 4:03.84.
Photo: AFP
Set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it was the longest-held world record in swimming.
Also yesterday, Britain’s Matthew Richards won the men’s 200m freestyle title in 1:44.30, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte won the women’s 100m breaststroke title in 1:04.62 and American Ryan Murphy won the men’s 100m backstroke final in 52.22 seconds.
It was the US’ second gold medal of the night, after Katie Ledecky won the women’s 1,500m freestyle earlier in the evening.
Australian Kaylee McKeown took home the women’s 100m backstroke title in 57.53 seconds, beating Regan Smith of the US on 57.78 and American Katharine Berkoff on 58.25.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,