MONTREAL, 27 July 2005 — Roland Schoeman broke his second world record in 24 hours to win the 50 meters butterfly final on Monday and become the first South African to capture a world swimming championship.
The 25-year-old thrashed his way down the Montreal pool in a slick 22.96 seconds to shave 0.05 off the world record he set in Sunday’s semifinals and add a world title to his Olympic gold from Athens last year.
“I really didn’t expect that,” Schoeman said.
“To get under 23 seconds, to be the first person to do that, it’s quite phenomenal.”
Jessica Hardy also set a world record in the semis of the women’s 100m breaststroke on Monday while her fellow Americans Brendan Hansen and Katie Hoff swam the second fastest times in history to win gold in their respective finals. Hansen won the men’s 100m breaststroke after a desperate struggle with his Japanese rival Kosuke Kitajima while 16-year-old Hoff enhanced her reputation as one the rising stars of women’s swimming with a runaway victory in the 200m medley.
Jessicah Schipper won the women’s 100m butterfly final to provide Australia with their third gold medal from the first two days of the championships.
They were level with the US although the Americans are likely to surge ahead after leading the qualifying times in each of Monday’s semifinals. Aaron Peirsol and Natalie Coughlin, who hold the men’s and women’s 100m backstroke world records, both topped their events as expected while Hardy led the 100m breaststroke after stopping the clock at 1:06.20, beating the previous record held by Australia’s Leisel Jones.
Michael Phelps posted the fastest time in the men’s 200m freestyle semis to prove that he had recovered from his shock failure in the 400m freestyle on the opening day.
“I wanted to go out there and show everyone that what happened in the 400m should not sum up my meet,” Phelps said.
Grant Hackett, who cruised to victory in the 400m after Phelps failed to make the final, was fourth fastest in the 200m semis after conserving his energy for yesterday morning’s 800m heats.
But it was Schoeman, who became South Africa’s most decorated Olympian when he won gold, silver and bronze in Athens, who stole the limelight.
He flew off the blocks and quickly built up a lead, which he held right through to the end, leaving former world record holder Ian Crocker of the US in his wake.
Crocker took silver in 23.12 and Sergiy Breus of Ukraine the bronze in 23.38.
Hansen won in a time of 59.37, just 0.07 outside the world record he set at last year’s U.S. Olympic trials at Long Beach, California, to claim his first 100m title after a series of heartbreaking losses to Kitajima. The 23-year-old finished second to Kitajima at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona then again at Athens last year when he went into the Olympics as the hot favorite.
“This was a second chance for me and I didn’t want to screw it up,” Hansen said. “What makes a great swimmer is someone who can come back from a great disappointment and go even faster.”
