Coventry sets 36th WR of championships; Cielo completes sweep of freestyle sprints

Coventry gets this meet back on track with WR

ROME — Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe has set the 36th world record of the world swimming championships, beating her own mark in the 200-meter backstroke.

After the first two finals Saturday evening failed to produce records, Coventry got the fastest meet in history back on track with a winning time of 2 minutes, 4.81 seconds.

Russia’s Anastasia Zueva also went under Coventry’s old mark of 2:05.24, but her 2:04.94 was only good enough for the silver, while American Elizabeth Beisel claimed bronze in 2:06.39.

Cesar Cielo of Brazil completed a sweep of the freestyle sprints with the 50-meter title. Cielo added to his title in the 100 with a one-lap time of 21.08 to hold off world-record holder Fred Bousquet (21.21) and fellow Frenchman Amaury Leveaux (21.25).

Marieke Guehrer of Australia won the women’s 50 butterfly.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ROME (AP) — Cesar Cielo of Brazil has completed a sweep of the two fastest freestyle races at the world championships, winning the 50-meter title with one furious dash down the pool.

Cielo added to his title in the 100 free with a one-lap time of 21.08 seconds to hold off world-record holder Fred Bousquet (21.21) and fellow Frenchman Amaury Leveaux (21.25).

Amazingly, neither of the first two races Saturday produced a world record. Marieke Guehrer of Australia took the women’s 50 butterfly in 25.48, short of the mark set the previous day in the semifinals by Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (25.07). Zhou Yafei of China took the silver and Ingvild Snildal of Norway the bronze, edging out Alshammar for a medal by one-hundredth of a second.

Cielo’s time was just off Bousquet’s record of 20.94 set in April.