Connor Jaeger celebrates winning silver in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle at the 16th FINA World Championships at the Kazan Arena on Aug. 9, 2015 in Kazan, Russia.
Click here for a list of U.S. swimmers who medaled at the FINA World Championships.
KAZAN, Russia – Ryan Murphy (Jacksonville, Fla.), Kevin Cordes (Naperville, Ill.) Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash.) capped the XVI FINA World Championships for the United States Sunday by winning gold in the men’s 400m medley relay, turning in a time of 3:29.93.
Their gold was one of five medals for the U.S. on the final night of competition.
Connor Jaeger (Fair Haven, N.J.) set the American record on his way to silver in the men’s 1500m freestyle with a time of 14:41.20.
Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Maya DiRado (Santa Rosa, Calif.) also picked up silver for the U.S. in the men’s 50m backstroke and women’s 400m IM, respectively. Chase Kalisz (Bel Air, Md.) rounded out Sunday night’s medal haul with a bronze in the men’s 400m IM.
The Americans end the eight-day meet in the pool with 23 medals overall, including 8 gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze. The United States was the top country in the medal standings, and was awarded the FINA cup for its efforts.
In addition, American Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md.) was named the top female swimmer for her five gold medals and three world records over the course of the meet.
Men’s 400m Medley Relay
In Sunday night’s races, the U.S. won a nail-biter in the men’s 400m medley relay, out-touching Australia by 15-hundredths of a second.
The Americans trailed Great Britain and Australia after the breaststroke leg, but a strong butterfly leg by Shields vaulted the team into the lead at the 300-meter mark. From there, Adrian brought it home, holding off Australia’s Cameron McEvoy in the final 10 meters of the race.
Australia finished in 3:30.08, followed by France in 3:30.50.
“I don’t even know the times. I don’t know what anybody split, really,’ Adrian said. “Obviously all four of us did our part, or we wouldn’t be on top of the podium. We had four great swimmers on that relay right there, and we needed four good swims. None of us needed to be great, but we had to have four good swims. That’s kind of what I thought to myself and what I told the guys before the race. It’s a relay team. It’s not about any individual performance.”
Men’s 1500m Free
After a couple disappointing fourth-place finishes in the 400m and 800m distances, Jaeger finally made it to the podium in the 1500. In third place and chasing Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri and Canada’s Ryan Cochrane, Jaeger made his move at the 1000-meter mark.
He quickly passed Cochrane and started his hunt of Patrinieri. He came within a body length of Patrinieri but couldn’t catch the Italian. Patrinieri touched in 14:39.67 for gold, while Cochrane won bronze in 14:51.08. Jaeger’s teammate, Michael McBroom, was sixth in 15:06.81.
“My coach here, Bruce Gemmell, gave me kind of a sarcastic kick in the (butt), right before I was getting out of the pool,” Jaeger said. “He said, ‘It’s probably about time that record gets broken. It’s probably one of the longest ones standing.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you know, I think it is,’ just kind of joking back with him.
“To be able to have a good race like that and break the record, and of course get a silver medal – what a fantastic ending to the meet for me. I couldn’t really be happier with the outcome of that race. Getting two fourth places was really discouraging. I had a two-day break in between just to kind of pick my head back up today and realize there was a new chance at a medal and a best time and an American record.”
Men’s 50m Back
Grevers’ silver in the backstroke came in the first of three 50-meter events Sunday. He finished behind Camille LaCourt of France, 24.23 to 24.61. Ben Treffers of Australia was third in 24.69. Grevers also won bronze in the 100m back earlier this week and won gold swimming prelims of the 400m medley relay.
“I was really happy with that second place,” Grevers said. “Camille’s kind of in his own league there, so to be able to touch out the rest of the heat is a good thing. I don’t really even do the 50 back, so this was a nice little bonus event to come away with a medal. After the 400m medley relay, I’m going to have one of each color.”
Women’s 400m IM
DiRado made a strong move in the breaststroke leg of the women’s 400m IM, but in the end could not catch Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who finished first in 4:30.39. DiRado touched in 4:31.71. Canada’s Emily Overholt was third in 4:32.52.
DiRado is competing on her second World championships Team. She finished fourth in the 200m IM on the second night of the meet.
“I like to think that I’m just as good at the 200 as I am at the 400, but that’s generally never been the case,” DiRado said. “So to get fourth in the 200 and drop a second made me really excited about the 400, and I felt amazing this morning. I just stayed really calm in between (prelims and finals).”
Men’s 400m IM
The 400m IM was a typical race for Kalisz. He was sixth after his weakest leg, the backstroke, and then moved up on the field in the breaststroke. He was second at the 350-meter mark, but couldn’t hold on to the silver in the last 50 meters.
Seta Daiya of Japan took gold in 4:08.50. Hungary’s David Verraszto was second in 4:09.90, and Kalisz was third in 4:10.05. American Tyler Clary was fourth in 4:11.71.
Two years ago at the World Championships in Barcelona, Kalisz was second in this event. It was his first and only swim all week.
“It’s definitely hard to wait around,” Kalisz said. “I think two years ago, when I was 19, I was just kind of in awe of being there, and that kind of worked out for me. Here I had a little more expectation and put a little more pressure on myself. I don’t think that necessarily helped waiting over seven days, and being in the stand every finals session just waiting for your turn to go.
“The other two guys swam a great race. My race plan obviously didn’t work out for me today, but I’ve got a year from now to figure it out and prepare for U.S. (Olympic) Trials.”
Other Finals
Other Americans swimming in finals Sunday included Jessica Hardy in the women’s 50m breaststroke, Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas) in the women’s 50m freestyle, and Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.), Hardy, Kendyl Stewart (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Manuel in the women’s 400m medley relay.
The top six swimmers in the women’s 50m breaststroke were separated by less than seven-tenths of a second. Jennie Johansson of Sweden won gold in 30.05, with Alia Atkinson of Jamaica (30.11) and Yuliya Efimova of Russia (30.13) rounding out the top three. Hardy was fifth in 30.20.
The women’s 50m free was also a close race, with only 45-hundredths of a second difference between first and eighth place. The gold went to Bronte Campbell of Australia in 24.12, followed by Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands in 24.22 and Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden in 24.31. Manuel was eighth in 24.57.
Franklin, Hardy, Stewart and Manuel finished fourth in the women’s 400m medley relay, turning in a time of 3:56.76. The top three teams were China in 3:54.41, Sweden in 3:55.24 and Australia in 3:55.56.
U.S. Medalists
The following swimmers medaled for the United States at the XVI FINA World Championships.
The American medal count, including open water, stands at 26 – 10 gold, 11 silver, 5 bronze.
Katie Ledecky – 5 gold (400m free, 1500m free, 200m free, 800m free relay, 800m free)
Ryan Lochte – 3 gold (200m IM, mixed 400m free relay, 400m medley relay - prelims); 1 silver (800m free relay)
Katie McLaughlin – 1 gold (800m free relay); 1 silver (mixed 400m medley relay)
Missy Franklin – 2 gold (800m free relay, mixed 400m free relay); 1 silver (200m back) 2 bronze (200m free, 400m free relay)
Jordan Wilimovsky -- 1 gold (open water 10K)
Haley Anderson -- 1 gold (open water 5K)
Ryan Murphy – 1 gold (men's 400m medley relay); 1 silver (mixed 400m medley relay)
Simone Manuel – 1 gold (mixed 400m free relay); 1 bronze (400m free relay)
Shannon Vreeland – 1 gold (800m free relay – prelims); 1 bronze (400m free relay – prelims)
Margo Geer – 1 gold (mixed 400m free relay - prelims); 1 silver (mixed 400m medley relay); 1 bronze (400m free relay)
Leah Smith – 1 gold (800m free relay)
Nathan Adrian -- 2 gold (mixed 400m free relay; men's 400m medley relay)
Cierra Runge – 1 gold (800m free relay – prelims)
Chelsea Chenault – 1 gold (800m free relay – prelims)
Kevin Cordes – 1 gold (men's 400m medley relay); 2 silver (200m breast, mixed 400m medley relay); 1 bronze (50m breast)
Tom Shields -- 1 gold (men's 400m medley relay)
Alex Meyer -- 1 silver (open water 25K)
Cammile Adams -- 1 silver (200m fly)
Micah Lawrence – 1 silver (200m breast)
Lia Neal – 1 silver (mixed 400m medley relay – prelims); 1 bronze (400m free relay)
Conor Dwyer – 1 gold (mixed 400m free relay - prelims); 1 silver (800m free relay)
Connor Jaeger -- 1 silver (1500m free)
Reed Malone – 1 silver (800m free relay)
Michael Weiss – 1 silver (800m free relay)
Maya DiRado -- 1 silver (400m IM)
Kendyl Stewart – 1 silver (mixed 400m medley relay – prelims)
Michael Klueh – 1 silver (800m free relay – prelims)
Matt Grevers – 1 gold (400m medley relay - prelims); 1 silver (50m back);1 bronze (100m back)
Abbey Weitzeil – 1 gold (mixed 400m free relay - prelims); 1 bronze (400m free relay – prelims)
Chase Kalisz -- 1 bronze (men's 400m IM)
Cody Miller -- 1 gold (men's 400m medley relay - prelims)
Tim Phillips -- 1 gold (men's 400m medley relay - prelims)
