An american medley

GWANGJU (S Korea), July 28

Duncan Scott swam the second-fastest relay split of all time in the anchor leg of the men’s 4x100m medley today, overhauling his US and Russian rivals to secure gold for Britain and deny Caeleb Dressel a seventh world title in Gwangju. Britain’s come-from-behind victory came in the penultimate event of a pulsating last night in the pool. It came just before the US women set a world record to win the medley relay, with Regan Smith breaking the backstroke record in the lead-off leg. 

Scott plunged into the pool with ground to make up on the United States after Dressel opened up a lead for Nathan Adrian with a typically blistering butterfly leg, with Russia also breathing down the American’s neck.

However, the Glasgow-born 22-year-old swam an incredible 46.14 seconds, the fastest since American Jason Lezak’s 46.06 at the Beijing Olympics, to run down Adrian and give Britain the gold and their first win over the US in the event. “I can’t say I thought I had that split in me,” said Scott, still rubbing his head in disbelief. 

An elated Peaty said he was so pumped he would not sleep for three days. The team also included James Guy and Luke Greenbank.

Happy tears?

South African Zane Waddell (24.43s) grabbed a surprise gold in a blanket finish to the men’s 50m backstroke, ahead of Russians Evgeny Rylov and Kliment Kolesnikov, the world record holder. Only 0.08 seconds separated the top three.

In the women’s 50m breaststroke, America’s Lilly King got to the wall first in 29.84s, while in the next lane 14-year-old Italian Benedetta Pilato burst into tears after seeing her name in the silver medal position ahead of Russia’s Yuliya Efemova.

“We got to the wall and she was crying immediately,” said King. “I didn’t know if it was happy tears or sad tears, she’s 14. But I think they were happy tears, I hope they were.” The third of the water-churning one-lap dashes saw Simone Manuel complete the 50/100m freestyle double, the American getting her fingertips to the wall ahead of Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and Australian Cate Campbell.

Florian Wellbrock also got his name in the record books after the German added the 1,500m freestyle crown to his 10km open water gold in Gwangju, becoming the first athlete to win titles in two different sports at a single World Championships.

Daiya Seto brought some cheer to 2020 Olympics hosts Japan by winning the men’s 400m individual medley for a third time, while Hungary’s ‘Iron Lady’ Katinka Hosszu became the first woman to win five world titles in the same event. The 30-year-old won her first world gold in Rome and 10 years later she is still setting the standard, coming home 1.68 seconds ahead of China’s Ye Shiwen, with Japan’s Yui Ohashi taking bronze. — Reuters

Swimmer arrested

South Korean police have banned Hungarian swimmer Tamas Kenderesi from leaving the country as they investigate allegations of sexual harassment against the Olympics bronze medallist. Kenderesi was arrested in the early hours of Sunday and questioned over an incident at a nightclub, an official at the Gwangju Seobu Police Station said. Kenderesi would not be allowed to leave South Korea for the next 10 days. 

Podium protests 

The executive director of the governing body (FINA), Cornel Marculescu, said he hoped there would be no repeat of the podium protests that marred the World Championships this week and that athletes would lose their medals if there was. Australia’s Mack Horton and Briton Duncan Scott refused to share the podium with Sun Yang after his victories in the 400m and 200m freestyle events last week.