Descenza joins world record spree

ROME – Mary Descenza thrust herself into title contention with the 16th world record of the swimming World Championships yesterday, surprising herself in the heats of the 200m butterfly.

‘Oh my God I didn’t even think I was going that fast,’ said Descenza, who clocked 2min 04.14sec to lower the previous record of 2:04.18 set by China’s Liu Zige in winning Olympic gold on August 14 last year in Beijing.’I obviously didn’t have that in my plan, but I’ll take it,’ added Descenza, a Tyr-sponsored swimmer who swam in the all-polyurethane Jaked bodysuit with the logo blacked out.The Jaked and its brothers have contributed to an explosion of world records at these championships.With the meet not even half over the tally of 15 world records at the 2007 worlds in Melbourne had been surpassed, and swimmers were closing in on the 25 set at the Beijing Olympics.Descenza sliced three seconds off her personal best time, and was more than a second faster than defending champion Jessicah Schipper of Australia.She admitted the performance upped the ante for the semi-finals and Thursday’s final.’I guess I’m going to feel some pressure that I have to go faster. Maybe I’ll have to reassess my goals and just reorder them, get everything set up for tonight,’ she said.Heats of the men’s 100m freestyle promised sizzing semi-final and final action, with the eight fastest qualifiers all under 48 seconds.American David Walters led the way with a time of 47.59.Olympic gold medallist Alain Bernard was fourth-fastest in 47.80 and French teammate Frederick Bousquet sixth-quickest in 47.89. Bernard and Bousquet will be trying to bounce back in the individual event after a shock third-place finish in the 4x100m free relay on Sunday.Canada’s Brent Hayden and Italy’s Filippo Magnini, who shared the world title in 2007, both advanced, Hayden with the fifth-fastest time and Magnini 13th in an event that is without world record-holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia because of illness.Aleksanda Gerasimenya of Belarus notched a championship record of 27.65 to lead the way into the women’s 50m backstroke semi-finals.Olympic silver medallist Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was fastest in the heats of the 200m individual medley with a time of 1:56.34. Beijing bronze medallist Ryan Lochte also advanced, and the two will battle for the ultimate prize in the absence of world record-holder Phelps, who isn’t swimming the event this year.After a morning off, Phelps was due back in action on Wednesday night, trying to bounce back from a shock defeat in the final of the 200m butterfly.Germany’s Paul Biedermann, who erased Aussie legend Ian Thorpe from the record books with his victory in the 400m free, seized Phelps’s world title and world record in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday.Phelps insisted he wasn’t too unhappy with his swim, given the time off he took after the Olympic Games.But the 14-time Olympic champion clearly didn’t enjoy the sensation of losing. ‘I know I didn’t train much this year. For right now, I’ll take it – but I’m not pleased,’ he said.Phelps’s coach Bob Bowman was steamed that on the same day that Phelps went down, world swimming’s governing body announced that the ban of the high-tech bodysuits will be delayed until next April or May.While the technology will be rolled back, with no polyurethane allowed, it won’t go into effect in January as first expected.’We’ve lost all the history of the sport,’ Bowman said. ‘Does a 10-year-old boy in Baltimore want to break Paul Biedermann’s record?’- Nampa-AFP