Roma 09: Nevo sets Israeli record, just misses 200m final

Comes within a mere 14 hundredths of a second of becoming the sixth Israeli to reach a swimming World Championship final.

By ALLON SINAI
gal nevo 88 (photo credit: )
gal nevo 88
(photo credit: )
Gal Nevo came within a mere 14 hundredths of a second of becoming the sixth Israeli to reach a swimming World Championship final on Wednesday, finishing the 200 meters Individual Medley in ninth position with a new Israeli record time of 1:58.25 minutes. Earlier in the day, the 21-year-old ended the Israeli team's wait for a semifinal in these championships in Rome, improving on his personal best by more than a second in the heats, touching the wall after 1:58.55m. Nevo improved his record by another 30 hundredths in the evening semis, but he still came up just short of a place in the final and had to settle for a very respectable ninth-place finish. Nevo will now turn his attention to Sunday's 400m IM in the hope of finally reaching a major final after also just missing out in the 200m and 400m IM at the Beijing Olympics last summer. Earlier in the day, Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or improved his Israeli record in the 100m freestyle by nine hundredths of a second, clocking a time of 48.93 seconds. However, his result was not good enough to clinch a place in the semifinals, with the youngster finishing in 29th position out of 202 swimmers. Also Wednesday, Amit Ivry (30.32s) and Anna Volchkov (30.59s) finished the 50m backstroke in 62nd and 68th place, respectively.