World University Games: Kennedy Noble Tops Leah Shackley in 100 Back
Sunday at the World University Games shaped up as a big day for Leah Shackley. It started well for her NC State teammate her expense.
Kennedy Noble set the meet record in the final of the women’s 100 backstroke, going 58.78 to edge her American and college teammate in Rhine-Ruhr. Shackley, who won the 200 back with Noble getting silver, was second in 59.13. Shackley also has the 100 butterfly semifinals later in the session.
All the action:
Men’s 100 freestyle semifinals
Only one American will go through to the final, and he’ll be chasing Pieter Coetze. Coetze led the way in prelims with a time of 48.30 seconds, .04 ahead of Matt King. King won the first semifinal, with Coetze winning the second.
Five of the eight swimmers in the first semifinal made it through, including Neutral Athletes Dmitrii Zhavoronkov and Aleksandr Shchegolvev. The second heat was top heavy, with Patrick-Sebastian Dinu going 48.47 for the third-fastest time overall.
The second American, Camden Taylor, finished eighth in the second semifinal in 49.37.
Women’s 100 backstroke
Leah Shackley was quickest to the 50-meter mark, but Kennedy Noble beat hear coming home. Noble’s final 50 meters were covered in 30.28 to Shackley’s 30.81. Noble’s time of 58.78 downs the meet record set a day earlier by Shackley in 58.97. Entering the meet, it had belonged to Katharine Berkoff at 59.29 from the 2019 edition of the meet.
The Americans were the only two under a minute. The bronze medal went to Eunji Lee of South Korea in 1:00.23. She was second at the wall and held off the charge by Camila Rodriguez Rebelo of Portugal, whose 30.76 on the final 50 got her within a tenth of the podium. Ashley McMillan finished fifth.
Men’s 1,500 freestyle
Aleksandr Stepanov of the Individual Neutral Athletes rallied in the last 100 to surge past Italy’s Ivan Giovannoni by 12 hundredths of a second in a thrilling race.
Giovannoni was first at every wall from 100 meters to 1,400 meters. But Stepanov came home in 29.62 and 28.65 over the last two 50s to Giovannoni’s 29.99 and 30.42. That got him to the wall first in 14:55.98 to Giovannoni’s 14:56.10.
Italy secured bronze via Davide Marchello, who went 15:06.95. Joao Pierre de Gruttola Campos of Brazil was fourth. The lone American in the final, Carson Hick, finished sixth.
Men’s 200 breaststroke
It’s been a breakout 2024-25 season for Ben Delmar, and that now includes a second World University Games medal.
The University of North Carolina swimmer went 2:09.50 to blow away the field and take gold to go with his bronze in the 100 breast. He was more than a second ahead of Hong Kong’s Adam Mak, who went 2:10.53 to hold off the charge by Dawid Wiekiera by .01 seconds.
Delmar was home and hosed as the battle for silver played out. Wiekiera of Poland was eighth at the midway point and sixth when the field turned for home. The silver medalist in the 100 breast uncorked a 33.14 coming home that was the fastest in the field, quicker by a second than Delmar. He leapt onto the podium at the expense of Italian Alessandro Fusco, who slid from second to fourth in 2:10.92.
The other American in the final, Josh Bey, was disqualified after qualifying as the sixth seed.
Women’s 100 butterfly semifinals
Leah Shackley successfully navigated the back half of her double, going 58.72 to ease into the final in second in her semifinal heat and fourth overall.
The pace was set by Australia’s Josephine Crimmins in 58.42, but with eight finalists within 0.88 seconds, it promises to be wide open. Beatrix Tanko of Hungary was second to Crimmins in the faster opening heat with a time of 58.54. Shackley was second in the second heat, .05 behind Great Britain’s Ciara Schlosshan. The other American, Ella Welch, also was safely into the final in fifth in 58.97, while Julia Ullmann of Switzerland was sixth in 59.04.
Men’s 50 backstroke semifinals
Pieter Coetze took care of business in his second swim of the day, going 24.50 to earn the top seed in the final. The South African will be eyeing a pair of dusty records by countrymen, with the meet mark belonging since 2009 to Zane Waddell at 24.46 and the South African/continental of 24.34 held since that super-suited year by Gerhard Zandberg. Coetze has been 24.36.
Coetze won the second of two semifinals. Following him to the wall was American Will Modglin, who finished second overall in 24.80. South Korea’s Jihwan Yoon and Daniel Diehl of the U.S. tied for the win in the first semifinal in 24.94.
A swimoff is required, with Spain’s Pablo Ortega Navarro and Italy’s Simone Stefani tying for eighth in 25.36.
Men’s 200 butterfly
Jack Dahlgren secured the 11th gold medal of the meet for the Americans, his time of 1:55.59 bringing the outside smoke from Lane 1 to stun the final.
Chinese Taipei’s Kuan-hung Wang got that nation on the board in silver in 1:55.85, while Mason Laur grabbed another American medal in third in 1:56.50.
Dahlgren had been quickest in prelims at 1:56.82 but had a bad semifinal swim, scraping into the final in a tie for seventh with Canada’s Patrick Hussey, just .35 seconds inside of the eighth-best time in 1:57.54. But in the final, Dahlgren went out fast, and no one caught him. Wang surged in the final 50 to get past Laur, but he was .26 seconds behind Dahlgren. Canada’s Benjamin Loewen was fourth.
Women’s 200 breaststroke semifinals
Japan’s Yumeno Kusuda led the way in the semifinals with a time of 2:27.35. Three swimmers broke 2:28, with Aliz Kalmar of Hungary and Aina Fernandez Gonzalez joining.
Only one American is in the final, and barely, with Katie Christopherson scratching in in eighth in 2:29.05. Abby Herscu finished 11th.
Women’s 800 freestyle relay
Team USA finished off Sunday’s session with a gold medal and a meet record, the quartet of Leah Hayes, Cavan Gormsen, Lindsay Looney and Isabel Ivey dominating the 800 free relay. The team went 7:52.56 to clip more than a second off the meet record that the Americans had set in 2015.
The splits:
- Leah Hayes 1:57.87
- Cavan Gormsen 1:58.05
- Lindsay Looney 1:59.41
- Isabel Ivey 1:57.23
The Americans accounted for four of 12 sub-2-minute legs in the entire final. Ivey, Hayes and Gormsen were the three fastest legs of the race, though Julie Brousseau’s 1:58.18 for Canada was a flat start.
China was second in 7:57.81, surging from fifth to second on Shiuhan Liu’s third leg. Japan got third in 7:59.99, anchor Kanon Nagao rallying them past Italy.
