Main secured his first final; Robinson takes big jump

Corey Main set two personal bests to qualify for the finals of the 100m backstroke on day two of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.

The 21-year-old secured his first world championships final with a 53.76s effort in the semifinal to be eighth fastest of nine swimmers into the final.

Earlier the US-based swimmer from the Howick Pakuranga club went 53.93s, to edge under his previous best, to be ninth fastest from the heats. In his evening semifinal Main started conservatively, but used his back-end strength to power home in 53.76 to further lower his personal best.

Emma Robinson, from the Capital club, secured a personal best finishing 11^th fastest in heats of the 1500m freestyle.


IMAGE: Emma Robinson (Credit: Ian MacNicol)

The Queensland-based swimmer clocked 16:25.78 in her heat, more than five seconds off her entry time, and means she has improved over 40 seconds in the last six months in this new Olympic event.

In other swims Matthew Stanley was 14^th fastest in heats of the 200m freestyle in 1:48.02, which disappointed the Rio Olympian who had been in sparkling form in his lead-up to the championships.

US-based North Canterbury swimmer Natasha Lloyd was 29^th of 48 starters in the 100m breaststroke in 1:10.11 and 17-year-old Gabrielle Fa’amausili from the United club in Auckland was 26^th fastest of 59 starters with a time of 1:01.80 in heats of the 100m backstroke.

There is only one Kiwi swimmer on the programme on day three with High Performance Centre swimmer Bradlee Ashby makes his first appearance in the 200m butterfly.

Results, heats day 2:

Women 100m backstroke: Kylie Masse (CAN)( 58.62, 1; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 58.80, 2; Emily Seebohm (AUS) 58.95, 3. Also: Gabrielle Fa’amausili (NZL) 1:01.80, 26.

Men 100m backstroke: Jiayu (CHN) 52.77, 1; Matt Grevers (USA) 52.92, 2; Gigory Tarasevich (RUS) 53.18, 3. Also: Corey Main (NZL) 53.97, 9.

Women 100m breaststroke: Lilly King (USA) 1:05.20, 1; Yuliya Efimova (RUS) 1:05.60, 2; Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 1:05.81. Also: Natasha Lloyd (NZL) 1:10.11, 29.

Men 200m freestyle: Yang Sun (CHN) 1:45.78, 1; James Guy (GBR) 1:46.22, 2; Mikhail Dovgal Yuk (RUS) 1:46.47, 3. Also: Matthew Stanley (NZL) 1:48.02, 29.

Women 1500m freestyle: Katie Ledecky (USA) 15:47.54, 1; Mireia Belmonte (ESP) 16.05.37, 2; Yawen Hou (CHN) 16:05.87, 3. Also: Emma Robinson (NZL) 16:25.78, 11.

Semifinals, men 100m backstroke: Jiayu Xu (CHN) 52.44, 1; Ryan Murphy (USA) 52.95, 2; Matt Grevers (USA) 52.97, 3. Also: Corey Main (NZL) 53.76, 8.

Images Credit: Ian MacNicol

For further information contact:

IAN HEPENSTALL
Media Liaison
Swimming NZ Events
Sports Media NZ Ltd
Mob +64 275 613181
E: ian@sportsmedianz.com
Skype: kiwiheps


Follow Swimming New Zealand on social media.

Facebook: @swimmingnewzealand and @HighPerformanceSNZ
Twitter: @SwimmingNZ
Instagram: @swimming_nz