SWIMMING: Ryan Lochte and Women's 400m Medley Relay Set World Records at Short Course Worlds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, April 11, 2008 Contact: Karen Linhart (719-440-2424, /klinhart@usaswimming.org) Ryan Lochte and Women's 400m Medley Relay Set World Records at FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships Komisarz breaks American Record in 50m fly MANCHESTER, England-Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and Team USA's 400m medley relay broke two world records and won gold Friday on the third day of competition at the 9th FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships. Lochte took more than a second of the men's 200 I.M. world record with his time of 1:51.56, while the women's 400m medley team of Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.), Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.), Rachel Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.) and Kara Denby (Simi Valley, Calif.) broke the world record in 3:51.36. Lochte battled head-to-head with Great Britain's Liam Tancock for the first half of the 200m I.M., however, he surged ahead during the last 50 meters of the race to take the lead. Tancock finished second for the silver in 1:53.10 and Great Britain's James Goddard won the bronze in 1:55.15."Once you see a word record go, you have to take all that excitement in,"Lochte said. Like Lochte, the women's relay team battled closely with the second place finisher on their way to gold. The team took a strong lead during Hardy's breaststroke leg and Denby fought off the Australian team during the freestyle leg to finish in world record time."We knew it was going to be a close race,"Komisarz said after the win."We were shooting for the win and the world record came with it."Australia finished second in 3:52.01 and Great Britain was third in 3:53.02. Komisarz also took home an American record with her strong swim in the women's 50m fly. She placed fourth in the event with a time of 25.70, besting the previous American record of 25.83. Australia's Felicity Galvez won gold in the event and set a world record with her time of 25.32. Hinkelien Schreuder of the Netherlands won silver in 25.40 and the Netherland's Inge Dekker won bronze in 25.60. Hoelzer added to Team USA's medal count, taking home a bronze medal in the 200m back with a time of 2:03.85. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry broke her second world record of the meet on her way to gold in 2:00.91. Great Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds earned silver in 2:02.60. Mary Descenza (Naperville, Il.) finished seventh with a time of 2:06.14. In the men's 200m breast final, Ryan Hurley (Potomac, Md.) placed seventh with a personal best time of 2:09.53. Great Britain's Kristopher Gilchrist won gold in 2:06.18, Ukraine's Igor Borysik won silver in 2:06.21, and South Africa's William Diering won bronze in 2:06.85. Team USA's Denby and Emily Silver (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) both swam in the women's final of the 100m free and finished fifth and eighth, respectively. Denby's time was 53.00 and Silver finished in 53.64. The Netherland's Marleen Veldhuis won gold in 52.17, tying the championship record. Great Britain's Fran Halsall won silver in 52.79 and Finland's Hanna-Maria Seppala won bronze in 52.94. In the men's 400m free final, Robert Margalis (Flushing, N.Y.) placed eighth with a time of 3:45.31. Margalis, who earned a silver medal in Thursday night's 400m I.M., earned a spot in the final following a win in a swim-off against Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski. Yurly Prilukov of Russia won gold in 3:37.37, Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino won silver in 3:39.60, and Robert Renwick of Great Britain won bronze in 3:40.22. In the women's final of the same event, Team USA's Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio) finished eighth in 4:06.80. Australia's Kylie Palmer won the event in 3:59.23, setting a new Championship record. Romania's Alina Camelia Potec won silver in 4:01.06, and Great Britain's Joanna Jackson won bronze in 4:01.11. Another world record fell in the men's 50m free as Croatia's Duje Draganja surged ahead in the outside lane to beat the rest of the field by five tenths. Draganja won in 20.81, Great Britain's Mark Foster was second in 21.31, and South Africa's Gerhard Zandberg was third in 21.33. Team USA's Lochte finished fourth in 21.44 and Bryan Lundquist (Murrieta, Ga.) was eighth in 21.77. In semifinal action, Team USA advanced both of its swimmers to final in the men's 50m back. Peter Marshall (Atlanta, Ga.) qualified second in 23.57 and Randall Bal (Fair Oaks, Calif.) won his heat to qualify third in 23.60. The two swimmers will face each other in Saturday's final. Jessica Hardy set a championship record and advanced to the final in the women's 100m breast, qualifying with the fastest time of 1:04.63. Elizabeth Tinnon (Bowling Green, Ky.) placed ninth in 1:07.14 and will be an alternate for the final. In the men's 50m fly semifinal, Nick Walkotten (Hudsonville, Mich.) finished eleventh with a time of 23.39. Preliminary races will resume Saturday, April 12 at 9 a.m. BST and finals and semifinals will begin at 4:30 p.m. BST. During the evening session, medals will be awarded in the men's 50m back, and 50m fly, and the women's 100m breast, 200m I.M., and the 400m free relay. World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) will provide a live broadcast of the 2008 FINA World Swimming Championships on WCSN TV and through a free webcast on www.wcsn.com or www.fina.org. 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.