Hardy: WR 29.58 - 50m Breaststroke
2008-04-10
Craig Lord
Jessica Hardy (USA) shattered the world record in the 50m breaststroke at the world short-course championships here at the MEN Arena in Manchester, her 29.58 eclipsing the 29.90 of Jade Edminstone (AUS); titles for Lochte (USA) and Tancock (GBR)

Jessica Hardy (USA) shattered the world record in the 50m breaststroke at the world short-course championships here at the MEN Arena in Manchester, her 29.58 eclipsing the 29.90 that had stood to Jade Edminstone (AUS) since 2005.

Edminstone finihsed fifth on 30.39 in a final that saw Yulia Efimova (RUS) finished second on 30.22 only to find herself disqualified for a false start. Joint silvers went to Britain's Kate Haywood and Australian Kate Katsoulis, on 30.35.

Hardy said: 'I've been training hard. To do that sort of time is impressive. I'm really happy. I wasn't expecting it. I mean, we don't race short-course meets, basically, ever, so I didn't know what to set my goals as, but I'll take that time. I've been working real hard - harder than ever.' On the suit, she added: 'I love the new suit. I don't know percentages or how much it improves it or whatever, but I'm comfortable in it and I feel more confident than ever.'

Hardy gets US$15,000 for breaking the world record. They played U2's 'what you don't have you don't need it now'. Hardy agreed when asked what she would do with the dosh: 'I don't need anything - shopping a little maybe. But I'll just try to save it.'

With a nod to Hardy, Haywood, said with a smile: 'I am chuffed with that. It's pretty cool being in a world record race. It's a shame it was not me but there you go.'

Ryan Lochte (USA), coached by Gregg Troy in Florida, retained his 400m medley crown at the world short-course championships here at the MEN Arena in Manchester, his versatility, scope and advantage in skills allowing him to fall shy of best yet emerge head and shoulders above his teammate Robert Margulis, the pair giving the Stars and Stripes a one-two in 4:03.21 to a best time for the silver medallist, of 4:03.74. The bronze went to Ioannis Drymonakos (GRE) in 4:05.11, 0.03sec off best.

It was clear that Lochte was in a league apart not just on the clock. He raced with control, poise, doing just enough to stay ahead and conserving enough energy for later events.

As he received his gold medal, he watched Britain's Liam Tancock, coached by Ben Titley at Loughborough University, claim the host nation's first gold medal of the championships by threatening his 100m backstroke world record. Lochte's 2006 standard of 49.99sec, worthy of the crown in Shanghai, survived, but Tancock's 50.14sec shatteried the European, Commonwealth and British records. The national record had stood to Gregor Tait in a time now 1.84sec slower than Tancock's best. The silver medal went to American Randal Bal, in 50.42, bronze going to Russian Stanislav Donets, in 50.53.

The new top six:


49.99 Lochte USA 2006
50.14 Tancock GBR 2008
50.32 Marshall USA 2004
50.42 Bal USA 2008
50.53 Donets RUS 2008
50.58 Rupprath GER 2003

Tancock said: 'I'm a bit lost for words. I was an outside smoker in lane eight and after last night (semis), people may have written me off. I'm an out-and-out sprinter and not really known for short-course, so to achieve that it just great.'

The 22-year-old, who set the 50m backstroke world l/c record last week at the Olympic trials in Sheffield, said: 'That was really good. It is great to do it in front of a home crowd. I'm chuffed to bits, it will probably sink in in the next few days. Now I need to sit down with my coach Ben Titley as there is lots to improve on. There are split seconds everywhere. It proves my training is going right. I had some great performances last week but I am really pleased with that in the 100m as that is what I will do at the Olympics. Everything is geared to the Olympics. I hope what I did here inspired a few people.' And a few more to come and watch the championships at the MEN Arena, too, he added.

The women's 100m was similarly swift. The crown went to US-based Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), coached by Kim Brackin in Austin, Texas, in a championship and African record of 57.10 (off a 27.85 split). Silver went to Kateryna Zubkova (UKR) in a European record of 57.15 (inside Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou's 57.34 from last December), with Sanja Jovanovic (CRO) third in 57.80. Just outside the medals was Rachel Goh (AUS), her 57.83 the second Commonwealth record she had set in 24 hours, after a heats effort of 58.10. Fellow Dolphin Belinda Hocking, 16, was just 0.4sec behind her teammate in the final, on 57.87.

The sub 58 club now reads:


56.51 Coughlin USA 2008
57.10 Coventry ZIM 2008
57.15 Zubkova UKR 2008
57.34 Manaudou FRA 2007
57.75 Hlavackova CZE 2002
57.80 Jovanovic CRO 2008
57.83 Goh AUS 2008
57.87 Hocking AUS 2008

Coventry was back in the water within 10 minutes, racing into the 100m medley final on 1:00.14. All part of the race practice for Beijing.

The 100m breaststroke saw another championship record bite the dust, Igor Borysik (UKR) the champion in 57.74. The standard had stood to teammate Oleg Lisogor at 58.14 since Shanghai 2006. Lisogor swam faster in Manchester, on 58.08 but had to settle for bronze behind Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) on 57.92, a Commonwealth record inside the 58.03 that had stood to Britain's James Gibson since 2004. Gibson finished 8th at a home worlds, on 59.38.

Peter Mankoc (SLO) made it championship record number four of the session with a 50.04 victory in a 100m butterfly. The 29-year-old led the way with a 23.34 split at 50m and hung on to keep Adam Pine (AUS), 32, at bay, on 50.54, shy of the 50.09 he set in the semi-final. The bronze went to Nikolay Skvortsov (RUS) in 50.78. Mankoc's time is third best ever, just ahead of Pine's heats time. Some way to go to Ian Crocker's stunning 49.07 blast from 2004.

Francesca Halsall (GBR) raced into lane four of the 100m freestyle final with her third British record of the day, in 53.20sec. In morning heats she shaved 0.02sec off the British record that had stood to Susan Rolph at 53.26 since 1999, before clocking 26.01 in the 50m butterfly, 0.35sec inside the national standard that had stood to Ros Brett since 2005. Halsall was back in later to qualify for the butterfly final in seventh, on 26.24. The woman at the helm, Felicity Galvez (AUS) clocked a championship record of 24.58.

There was more good news for Britain when Mark Foster, 37, went into the final of the 50m freestyle at the helm, on 23.32, with Jose Meolans, the Argentinian who stopped the short-course king in 2002, second in, on 23.43, with danger man Lochte, after that medley victory, third through on 21.46 and hoping to make the most of the absence of the fastest five in the world, short-course, this season.