After seeing the Russian 4 x 100 freestyle win in dominating fashion, it was predictable that the 100 freestyle would be owned by Russian swimmers, which was exactly what happened with Vlad Morozov and Nikita Lobintsev going one, two in the individual event. Morozov who has a breakout year, first at the World Short Course Championships where he won the both the 50 and 100 freestyle, than at the NCAA Championships where he won the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events, setting a NCAA record of 40.76 in the 100 and now at the World University Games where he took the 100 freestyle in a time of 47.62, the second fastest time in the world this year.

Morozov took the first 50 meters out in a blazing 22.66 finishing with a second 50 split of 24.96, breaking the games record of 47.98 set by his Russian teammate Andrey Grechin who lead off the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.

Lobintsev finished second posting a time of 48.54. For the second time in the competition Lobintsev finishes as the runner up to a fellow countryman. Earlier in the competition he earned a silver in the 200 freestyle behind Danila Izotov.

Italian Michel Santucci finished third in a time of 49.30, collecting Italy’s ninth bronze of the competition.

Australian Andrew Abood was fourth in a time of 49.36, Italian Lorenzo Benatti was fifth in a time of 49.78, Katsumi Nakamura was sixth in a time of 49.81, American Michael Wynalda was seventh in a time of 49.93 and Pjotr Degtjarjov of Estonian was eighth in a time of 50.19.

Men’s 800 freestyle

In the men’s 1500 freestyle Kohei Yamamoto of Japan lead for the majority of the first 750 meters, but eventually got run down and overtaken by American Sean Ryan, who won the event in a time of 14:57.33. In the 800 freestyle Yamamoto made sure that we didn’t see that happen again. At the 400 meter mark the Japanese swimmer turned first in a time of 3:54.82, half a second ahead of Ukrainian Sergii Frolov, who finished third in the 1500 freestyle and almost two seconds ahead of Ryan.

Yamamoto swam an extremely strong second 400 meters splitting 3:55.14 to win the event in a new season’s best time of 7:49.96, which is currently the seventh fastest time in the world this year.

Frolov finished second in a time of 7:51.02, which is a lifetime best. After finishing outside of the medals with a disappointing 1500 freestyle Canadian Eric Hedlin collected his country’s first medal in a men’s event at the games, finishing third in a time of 7:53.78.

Ryan finished fourth in a time of 7:55.67.

Russian Evgeny Kulikov was fifth in a time of 7:56.78, Fumiya Hidaka of Japan was sixth in a time of 7:59.31, American Ryan Feeley was seventh in a time of 8:04.04 just ahead of Russian Evgeny Eliseev who finished eighth in a time of 8:04.05.

Women’s 200 breaststroke

Russian Yulia Efimova took the women’s 200 breaststroke in a season’s best time of 2:24.10, which is currently the fifth ranked time in the world this year. Efimova, who won the 100 breaststroke earlier in the meet in a time of 1:05.48, which ranks second in the world, had a great second half where she was up to the task of catching and passing American Laura Sogar who led at the 100 mark of the race going out in a time of 1:09.09.

Efimova whose split a 1:10.41 at the 100 finished finished the second half of the race in a time of 1:13.69, having more then enough speed to overtake the American who finished second in a time of 2:25.33. Mio Motegi of Japan finished third in a time of 2:25.73.

Italian Giulia de Ascentis was fourth in a time of 2:27.10, Korean Suyeon Back was fifth in a time of 2:27.25, Canadian Tera Van Beilen was sixth in a time of 2:27.64, Satori Hosokoshi was seventh in a time of 2:28.64 and American Andrea Kropp finished eighth in a time of 2:29.29.

Women’s 100 butterfly

Canadian Katerine Savard, who earlier in the competition finished second in the 50 butterfly, setting a new Canadian record of 26.05, won the 100 butterfly in a time of 57.63. Savard has had a great season setting both the 50 (26.05) and 100 butterfly (57.40) Canadian records and is currently ranked second in the world with a season’s best time of 57.40.

With the win she collected Canada’s first gold of the competition and broke the WUG record of 57.86 set by Lu Ying of China.

The race for second was exciting with Fan Guo of China out touching Nao Kobayashi of Japan by one one-hundredth of a second. Guo touched in a time of 58.98 while Kobayashi posted a time of 58.99.

Russian Darya Tsvetkova finished fourth in a time of 59.10, Italian Elena di Liddo finished fifth in a time of 59.38, Katarina Listopadova of Slovakia finished sixth in a time of 59.57, Austrian Birgit Koschischek finished seventh in a time of 59.96 and American Kelsey Floyd finished eighth in a time of 1:00.43.

Semi-Finals

Women’s 200 freestyle

Russia’s Veronika Popova took the top seed in the women’s 200 free in 1:58.72, though she still sits shy of the time with which her young countrymate Maria Baklakova won the European Junior Championship in Poznan a day prior. Sitting behind her is a very strong field of swimmers, including 2012 Olympic finalist Caitlin McClatchey (1:58.99), American Chelsea Chentault (1:59.46), Canadian Brittany MacLean (1:59.68), and the 2nd British swimmer Rebecca Turner (1:59.86).

Also sneaking into the A-Final is American Megan Romano with a 2:00.45, and if there’s one thing we know about Romano, it’s that if she has a lane, she has a chance at a medal.

Men’s 100 butterfly

Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin took the top seed in the men’s 100 fly in 51.75, which cuts three-tenths of a second off of his National Record. That swim ranks him 7th in the world this year. Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski, recovering from some poor swims earlier in the meet, was a 52.20 for the 2nd seed, and American Jack Conger swam a personal best of 52.51 for 3rd headed toward finals.

American-trained Swiss butterflier Nico van Duijn (52.69) also made the finals, though Australia’s Daniel Lester from Wisconsin (52.81) and American Kyler Van Swol from Minnesota (52.80) did not.

Women’s 50 backstroke

Shortly thereafter, Tsurkin’s countrymate Aliaksandra Herasimenia took the top seed in the women’s 50 back in 28.35 ahead of Russia’s Anastasia Zueva and Australia’s Madison Wilson.

American Cindy Tran took 4th in 28.72

Men’s 200 backstroke

Japan’s Yuki Shirai took the top seed in the men’s 200 backstroke, but 2nd behind him (as the two separated from most of the field) was American Jack Conger in 1:57.82. Swimming about half-an-hour apart, Conger handled the double very well, but in Monday’s finals session, his races could be bunched even more closely together with only the women’s 50 backstroke and a single medal ceremony separating the two finals.

Two other Americans, Jacob Pebley (1:58.71) and Eric Ress (1:58.77 – a dual citizen representing France) are 3rd and 4th.

Men’s 50 breaststroke

Russia’s Vlad Morozov took the top seed in the men’s 50 breaststroke, showing off his versatility (and perhaps a bit of endurance on a second swim of the session) in 27.34.That’s a best time for him, and ranks him 6th in the world this year.

South Africa’s Giulio Zorzi, training partner of Cameron van der Burgh, took the 2nd seed in 27.67, and Italian Andrea Toniato was 3rd in 27.80.

Mike Alexandrov, the only American swimmer to get out of prelims, took 6th and moved on to the finals in 27.94.

Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total Russia 10 5 0 15 Australia 4 2 2 8 United States 3 7 4 14 Japan 3 5 5 13 Belarus 3 0 0 3 Ukraine 1 2 1 4 Canada 1 1 3 5 Hungary 1 0 0 1 Ireland 0 1 0 1 China 0 1 0 1 Italy 0 0 9 9 Poland 0 0 1 1 Greece 0 0 1 1

Complete results can be found here