SWIMMING: Hoff Breaks Second American Record of the Weekend at The Missouri Grand Prix

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 Contact: Karen Linhart (719-866-3588 / klinhart@usaswimming.org) Hoff Breaks Second American Record of the Weekend at The Missouri Grand Prix Katie Hoff lowers American record in 200m free Columbia, Mo.-Katie Hoff (Baltimore, Md.) broke her second American record of the meet with her standout swim in the women's 200m free during Sunday morning finals of The Missouri Grand Prix. Hoff's gold-medal winning time of 1:56.08 lowered the previous 200m free American record set by Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) at World Championships in 2007. Coughlin was second in the event, taking home the silver medal with a time of 1:57.47. Kara Lynn Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was third with a time of 1:58.72. Hoff, Coughlin and Joyce all wore the new Speedo LZR RACER suit during their swim. Hoff took home her second gold of the morning with a win in the women's 400m I.M. Hoff's time of 4:34.53 set a U.S. Open record. Finishing behind Hoff was Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, who placed second in 4:37.70. National teamer Caitlin Leverenz (Tucson, Ariz.) was third in 4:40.70. Like Hoff, Phelps also took home two gold medals in the 200m free and 400m I.M. Sunday morning. In the 200m free, Phelps won gold in 1:45.71, setting a Mizzou pool record. Klete Keller (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished second to win silver in 1:47.54 and Erik Vendt (North Easton, Mass.) won bronze in 1:49.08. In his last event of the day, Phelps won gold in the 400m I.M. with a time of 4:14.08. Brazil's Thiago Pereira won silver in 4:18.49 and Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) won bronze in 4:22.06. In her second race of the day, Joyce came within .06 seconds of breaking the American record in the 50m free. She bettered her own personal best time set at the 2007 World Championships, as well as the pool and meet record when she clocked the gold-medal time of 24.59. American-record holder Dara Torres (Parkland, Fla.) touched in at 24.85 for second, while Coughlin took third in 25.22. Brazil's Cesar Cielo collected his second gold of the meet when he posted a time of 22.01 in the 50m free. France's Fred Bousquet took home the silver in 22.05 and Serbia's Milorad Cavic rounded out the top three in 22.29. Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.) recorded the top U.S. time of 22.37 to finish fourth. Trojan Swim Club's Keri Hehn emerged with her first gold medal of the meet in the 200m breast in a time of 2:27.13. Germany's Anne Poleska swam the silver-medal time of 2:28.89. Olympian Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) hit the wall third in 2:29.08. Eric Shanteau (Lilburn, Ga.) posted the top time of 2:10.86 in the men's 200 breast followed by Scott Usher (Laramie, Wyo.) in 2:11.80. Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.), who owns the world record in the event, finished third in 2:12.51. Prelims will continue Sunday evening at 4:30 p.m.(CST) with the men's and women's 100m fly, 100m back, 100m breast, 200m I.M, the men's 1500m free, and the women's 800m free. Check usaswimming.org for results and highlights. About USA Swimming As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit usaswimming.org.