Meilutyte Makes It A Brace: 1:03.52
Dec 15, 2012 - Craig Lord
Istanbul, World Short-Course Championships, Day 4 finals:
Women's 100m breaststroke
Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 15, claimed her second gold of the championships with a 1:03.52 national record that kept Alia Atkinson (JAM) at bay in another national record, of 1:03.80, Rikke Pedersen (DEN) taking bronze in 1:04.05.
Meilutyte, based in Plymouth, led from go to gold, turning in 30.04 and returning in 33.48 for a championship record. Atkinson lost a fraction on the champion on each 50m of the race, splitting 30.20 and 33.60. A 200m ace, Pedersen turned in 7th at half-way, on 30.83 and then laid down a 33.22 to challenge the 1:04 mark as the last in the final under 1:05.
The winning time places Meilutyte 4th on the all-time list, all suits, but second behind Jessica Hardy (USA), fifth tonight, on the all-time textile ranks. Atkinson enters the top 5 in textile at No 4. A year ago, Meilutyte's season best (albeit at a time when short-course was not - and had never been - a focus) was 1:08.30. The 24-year-old Jamaican has improved from a best of 1:06.05 at the Dubai championships just two years ago.
Swift swimming. Good to point that out but we hear this from the in-house commentary team: "the capacity is 10,500, … great crowd in tonight…" Actually, not much more than 1,000 people. That problem will never be resolved if it is not acknowledged.
Dubai 2010 compared:
History in the making:
World s/c Podiums
Title never retained
World Records
All-time textile rankings top 5: