Another day of disappointment for Israeli swimmers

Two hundredths of a second were all that stood between Gal Nevo and a place in the 200-meter individual medley semifinals at the swimming World Championships in Barcelona on Wednesday.

By ALLON SINAI
Israeli swimming team 311 (photo credit: Israel Swimming Association)
Israeli swimming team 311
(photo credit: Israel Swimming Association)
Two hundredths of a second were all that stood between Gal Nevo and a place in the 200-meter individual medley semifinals at the swimming World Championships in Barcelona on Wednesday.
Nevo clocked a time of 2:00.01 minutes to finish in what is a disappointing 18th position for him. He ended the event in 11th place at the last global championships two years ago and finished in an impressive 10th position at the London Olympics last summer.
However, he was far from his best on Wednesday and will be hoping to bounce back when he competes in his trademark event, the 400m IM, on Sunday.
Yakov Toumarkin ended the 200m IM heats in 20th place after recording a time of 2:00.13m. Toumarkin will take part in the 200m backstroke on Thursday, an event in which he reached the final at last year’s Olympics.
Amit Ivry set her second Israeli record of the championships on Wednesday, clocking a time of 28.75 seconds in the women’s 50m backstroke. Nevertheless, Ivry failed to advance to the semis, finishing in 20th place overall.
Later on in Wednesday’s competition, Sun Yang of China won a second consecutive men’s 800 meters freestyle gold at the world championships in Barcelona, his second title of the week following Sunday’s triumph in the 400 freestyle.
Olympic champion in London last year at 400 and 1,500 meters, Sun touched in a time of seven minutes 41.36 seconds, with American Michael McBroom taking silver in 7:43.60 and Ryan Cochrane of Canada bronze in 7:43.70.
Sun is only the second man after Australian Grant Hackett to win world titles at 400, 800 and 1,500 meters.
South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh won the men’s 50 meters breaststroke gold.
Van Der Burgh touched in a time of 26.77 seconds, a tenth outside the world record he set in Rome in 2009, with Australia’s Christian Sprenger taking silver in 26.78 and Van Der Burgh’s compatriot Giulio Zorzi bronze in 27.04.
It was the second gold of a fine session for South Africa after Chad le Clos won the men’s 200 meters butterfly earlier.
The 50 breaststroke does not feature in the Olympics.
In women’s competition, American teenager Missy Franklin won the 200 meters freestyle gold at the world championships.
Franklin touched in one minute 54.81 seconds, securing the 18-yearold’s third gold of the competition.
Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the 2009 and 2011 champion and world record holder, took silver in 1:55.14 and Camille Muffat of France won bronze in 1:55.72.Reuters contributed to this report.


Related Tags
Maccabiah