Israelis continue to struggle at Swimming World Championships in Barcelona

Gal Nevo can only clock a time of 1:59.37 minutes in the 200-meter butterfly heats, more than two seconds slower than his Israeli record, to finish in 25th place overall.

By REUTERS
Gal Nevo 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Gal Nevo 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
BARCELONA – Israel’s swimmers suffered a third straight day of frustration at the World Championships in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Gal Nevo could only clock a time of 1:59.37 minutes in the 200-meter butterfly heats, more than two seconds slower than his Israeli record, to finish in 25th place overall.
Nevo will be expecting to at least reach a semifinal on Wednesday when he takes part in one of his main events, the 200m individual medley.
Imri Ganiel ended the men’s 50m breaststroke in 45th place in a time of 28.48 seconds.
In other news Sun Yang eased into the final of the men’s 800-meter freestyle on Tuesday as he continued his bid for a hat-trick of distance golds at the worlds.
The towering Chinese matched a feat previously achieved only by Grant Hackett when he romped to the 400-meter freestyle title on Sunday, becoming only the second man after the Australian to claim world titles at 400, 800 and 1,500 meters.
While Sun’s three titles have come at two different championships – he won the 800 and 1,500 in Shanghai two years ago and was second in the 400 – he is on course to match Hackett’s three golds from the 2005 edition in Montreal.
“I feel good, the kind of feeling you always have in the preliminaries,” Sun, gold medalist at 400 and 1,500 meters at last year’s London Olympics, told reporters.
The 22-year-old said he was not thinking about breaking Zhang Lin’s world record for the 800, which is not an Olympic event, which his compatriot set in Rome in 2009 with the aid of a nowbanned non-textile suit.
Sun was second-quickest in the 800 heats on Tuesday behind Connor Jaeger of the United States, with Canada’s Ryan Cochrane, silver medalist in Shanghai and third at the Rome world championships in 2009, third fastest.
Allon Sinai contributed to this report.