SWIMMING: Jessica Hardy Breaks World Record, Wins Gold at FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 10, 2008 Contact: Karen Linhart (719-440-2424, /klinhart@usaswimming.org) Jessica Hardy Breaks World Record, Wins Gold at FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships Team USA sets American record in men's 800m free relay MANCHESTER, England-Jessica Hardy (Long Beach, Calif.) set one for the record books Thursday, breaking the world record in the 50m breast at the 9th FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships in Manchester, England. Hardy broke her first short course world record with a winning time of 29.58. Hardy is now the current 50m breast world champion in both short course and long course meters. In the men's 800m free relay, the U.S. men's team set an American record with a time of 7:00.19. The team of Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.), Robert Margalis (Flushing, N.Y.), Larsen Jensen (Bakersfield, Calif.), Doug Van Wie (Charlotte, N.C.) swam a strong race, besting the previous record by more than a second. The U.S. team, placed fourth in the event, while Australia won gold in 6:55.65, Great Britain won silver in 6:56.52, and Italy won bronze in 6:58.39. Members of Team USA also had a strong showing in the men's 400m I.M., taking home both the gold and silver medal in the event. Lochte took home his first individual gold medal of the meet, winning with a time of 4:03.78. Margalis finished right on Lochte's heels to earn silver in 4:03.74, while Greece's Ioannis Drymonakos won bronze in 4:05.11. In the men's 100m back, Randall Bal (Fair Oaks, Calif.) swam a personal best time to earn the silver medal in 50.42. Bal finished just behind Great Britain's Liam Tancock, who won gold in 50.14. The bronze medal went to Russia's Stanislav Donets."At the 50 meter mark, I barely touched the wall,"Bal said. I don't know whether it hampered me or helped me, but it was a great swim by the whole crew with nearly five guys under the 51 (seconds)."In the women's 100m back final, Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.) placed sixth in 58.22. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry won gold in 57.10, setting a championship record. Ukraine's Kateryna Zubkova was second in 57.15 and Croatia's Sanja Jovanovic was third in 57.80. Team USA's Mark Gangloff (Akron, Ohio) just missed a medal in the final of the men's 100m breast. Gangloff tied for fourth in 58.14. Ukraine's Igor Borysik won gold in 57.74, Russia's Cameron Van der Burgh won silver in 57.92 and Ukraine's Oleg Lisogor won bronze in 58.08. In the women's 800m free, Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio) placed seventh in 8:22.94 and Maggie Bird (Muncie, Ind.) was ninth with a time of 8:28.56. Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington won the gold medal in 8:08.25, setting a championship record and less than three tenths of the world record held by U.S. National Team member Kate Ziegler. Australia's Kylie Palmer was second in 8:12.32 and Spain's Erika Villaecija was third in 8:13.93. In semifinal action, Team USA's Lochte and Bryan Lundquist (Marietta, Ga.) both had a strong showing in the men's 50m free. Lochte swam a 21.46 and Lundquist finished in 21.55 to qualify third and fourth for the final. In the women's 100m free, Emily Silver (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) and Kara Denby (Simi Valley, Calif.) both advanced to Friday's final. Denby qualified seventh in 53.78 and Silver qualified eighth in 53.85. Rachel Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.) advanced to the final in the 50m fly. Komisarz qualified sixth in 26.12. Hoelzer finished fourteenth in 26.66. In the women's 100m I.M., Mary Descenza (Naperville, Ill.) finished tenth in 1:01.26 and Julie Stupp (St. Louis, Mo.) was twelfth in 1:01.51. Preliminary races will resume Friday, April 11 at 9 a.m. BST and finals and semifinals will begin at 7 p.m. BST. During the evening session, medals will be awarded in the men's 200m breast, 400m free, 50m free, 200m I.M., and the women's 100m free, 200m back, 50m fly, 400m free, 100m I.M., and 400m medley 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.