MEDAL TABLE 1 CHN 11 9 3 23 2 RUS 8 4 1 13 3 USA 4 3 2 9 The FINA World Championships Herald - 2015 Monday, 3 August № QIU BO’S M TRIUMPH SEALS A RECORD MEDAL HAUL For the first time in history one country won 10 gold medals in diving events at a single World Championships. China won the last two events of the 2015 edition – Qiu Bo claiming the men’s 10m gold after Wang Han and Yang Hao took the inaugural 3m springboard mixed synchro contest – to outstrip the nine golds they won two years ago in Barcelona. The superlatives continue: 10 golds Bo’s win was his third in succession, a feat last achieved in 1986 by Greg Louganis. for China There were also three silver and two bronze for the Oriental powerhouse, with only three other nations – Italy, North Korea and Great Britain – picking up one gold each. Wang Han, who earlier helped China win its first ever mixed synchro gold, said the country’s continued success was driven by the growing strength of their rivals. >>>>>> P 56 The FINA World Championships Herald-2015 Monday, August 3, 2015 55.74 - the new women’s 100m fly world record. DAY In Sunday’s semi-final Sweden’s Sarah Sjorstrom set the new mark, beating the previous best by 0.24 seconds. SWIMMING • FINAL BEHIND THE SCENES By Andy Potts, photo: Ramil Gilvanov By Darya Turceva, photo:Rinat Nazmetdinov RECORDS Split second timing AND RELAY The “Herald” found out how best to measure times DRAMA and catch false starts. ccuracy is the most important CAMCODERS/VIDEO The swimming thing in timed competitions CAMERAS competitions at the Alike swimming. Fractions of High speed cameras are installed 2015 FINA World a second can mean the di erence at the finish line of the pool. They are Championships got o to a between triumph and failure so our used to assess possible false starts. pools are kitted up with high-tech The data from the starting blocks is fl ying start on Sunday with precision gear. usually enough, but FINA also requires the fi rst world record a visual confirmation. Timekeepers tumbling in the fi rst race of STARTING BLOCKS report to the judges; the judges check the afternoon session. Each of the lanes has a starting the video and then decide whether to block at each end. Depending on the disqualify a swimmer. The system has weden’s Sarah Sjostrom improved distance, races can start at either end already been tested in Kazan. In one on the 100m fl y championship – but they always finish closest to of the relay heats a swimmer dived in Srecord she set in Rome in 2009, the cameras. before his team-mate had touched powering to 55.74 and slicing 0.24 The blocks have sensors to record the sensor. The difference was just seconds of Dana Vollmer’s World the time when swimmers jumped 0.08 seconds, but FINA rules allow Record mark from London in 2012. into the water and speakers so the for no more than 0.03. That threw down a gauntlet to her ri- athletes can hear the starting whis- vals ahead of today’s fi nal – and fulfi lled tle. False starts are spotted by com- THE QUANTUM her pre-tournament plan to the letter. paring the time from the blocks with TIMER “It was in my plan to set a record in the time when the starting signal was This is the real heart of the pool, the semi-fi nal, because in the fi nal I am given.. processing all the information and in a di erent physical state. I was quite measuring the time. In swimming slow in the fi rst 50 meters but later I sped TOUCH SCREENS times must to accurate to one hun- up. I’ve been waiting for this for so long, Swimmers ‘clock in’ to confirm dredth of a second, so the supertim- I was preparing for this.” their own times by hitting a sensi- er does not need to run at full pow- Sjostrom’s sprint set the tone for a tive panel installed in the pool wall. er. The equipment is hidden under thrilling day of racing that saw golds for The sensors cover the full 2.5m width the stands near the timekeepers. The China, the USA, Australia and France – of each lane and are in place at each data is processed into graphics and as well as a rapturously-received silver end. To activate, a minimum force of tables that are shown in the com- for Russia in a pulsating men’s 4x100 to 2.5 pounds is required. Without this mentary boxes, to the TV directors round o the action. restriction the system could be ac- and, of course, to fans watching the The rivalry between France’s Florent cidentally triggered by the flow of big screens in the arena. Manadou and Russia’s Vladimir Morozov fastest start and held o his Chinese rival Results. Swimming the water. is one of the most eagerly-anticipated of until the closing stages but Sun’s great- Women’s 400m free RED LINE the championship and audiences got a er experience of distance swimming ul- UNDERWATER SCREENS The red line can only be seen by sneak preview of the swimmers’ form in timately saw him defend his world title. 3:59.13 USA Katie Ledecky There are screens on the bottom TV viewers and not by fans in the the men’s relay fi nal. Morozov produced Afterwards he said he’d been swim- of each lane to tell the swimmers stands. It is superimposed on the pic- Netherlands Sharon van a powerful swim, posting a personal best ming through the pain barrier after suf- 4:03.02 Rouwendaal how far is left to swim. This is use- ture and moves at the speed of the of 46.95 to become the only swimmer to fering a hand injury. “I had an injury but ful at long distances like 800m and world record - if the leading swim- break 47 seconds in the race. That hauled it was my dream to win here in Kazan,” Jessica 1500m where it can be unclear just mer finishes before the red line, it 4:03.34 Australia Ashwoord Russia into contention in the third leg, he said. “As an athlete I can expect some how much of the race is left. Pre- means a new world record has been but Manadou and his team-mates left injury problems so when the doctor ad- viously assistants used to count the set. Yesterday TV audiences saw the with gold. Incredibly Fabien Gilot record- vised an operation I had to say no be- Results. Swimming passing laps but there was distract- system in action as Sarah Sjostrom ed a reaction time of dead zero at the cause of the Worlds.” Men’s 400m free ing for the athletes. Now it’s all done broke the record in the women’s start of the third leg. Guy, meanwhile, admitted that he by technology. 100m fly. 3:42.58 China Sun Yang The excitement meant that few no- didn’t expect to be among the medals in ticed the absence of the highly-fancied this race and was hoping to use his sil- American and Australian squads – nei- ver medal as a stepping stone towards 3:43.75 Great Britain James Guy ther of whom qualifi ed. “It was a di erent further glory in Rio next year. Ryan victory compared to 2013: we changed There were high hopes of another 3:44.59 Canada Cochrane strategy, we changed some of our swim- world record in the women’s 400m free, mers, but it paid o . It’s also di erent with Katie Ledecky (USA) in fi ne form go- Results. Swimming without the Americans and Australians, ing into the race. She proceeded to dom- Women’s 4x100 freestyle relay but it’s still a world title.” inate from start to fi nish and for a long Australia and the USA were both time she was ahead of the pace for the 3:31.48 Australia highly visible in the women’s 4x100, win- record she set in Australia in 2014. In the ning gold and bronze as the Netherland end, though, she could not maintain that 3:33.67 Netherlands took silver. For Australian sisters Cate and speed. But she still achieved a new Cham- Bronte Campbell it was a family dream pionship best of 3:59.13, beating Federica 3:34.61 USA come true. Pellegrini’s time in Rome in 2009. “In 2013 we got a silver together and “Maybe you guys are disappointed that was amazing but to stand on the that I didn’t set a new record, but I’m not Results. Swimming. podium together in front of the world to disappointed at all,” Ledecky said after the Men’s 4x100 freestyle relay sing your national anthem with your big race. “I was happy with my speed and sister is something that not many people happy with the win. It was a good race. 3:10.74 France get to do,” said Bronte. “It’s fl attering when people expect re- The fi rst individual medals were also cords every time, but I was only thinking 3:11.19 Russia decided. China’s Sun Yang overcame spir- about winning the race and being the ited resistance from Britain’s Jamie Guy best in the world. Running after a new 3:12.53 Italy to win the men’s 400m free.