American Olympic superstars Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff won 400-yard individual medleys on Sunday night at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Phelps finished in three minutes 38.42 seconds, about a second behind his preliminary time but well ahead of second-place finisher Hidemasa Sano, who touched in 3:39.63. Todd Patrick was third in 3:45.54 at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.

Phelps won the 500-yard freestyle on Saturday as he continues getting back in competition shape. The 14-time Olympic gold medallist is entered in two more events at the short-course meet, which he hopes will help prepare him for the U.S. nationals in August.

Hoff, who has a silver and bronze from the Olympics, won the 400 IM in 4:04.39 to break Kaitlin Sandeno’s meet record of 4:05.86 set in 2008. Ariana Kukors was second in 4:06.05, and Felicia Lee was third in 4:12.53.

Hoff could have made it a double had she been able to run down Dana Vollmer in the 200-yard freestyle earlier in the night. The American record-holder finished in 1:43.29, while Hoff finished in 1:44.48. Elizabeth Pelton touched in third.

Matt Grevers won the first of his two races Sunday when he finished the 200-yard freestyle in 1:34.98, with Todd Patrick second and Dominik Meichtry third. Grevers, part of two Olympic champion relay teams, then held off Masayu Kishida and to win the 50 free.

Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Soni captured the women’s 400-yard breaststroke in 2:05.90, shattering the meet record of 2:07.94 set by Tara Kirk in 2008. Kukors was second, nearly four seconds off the pace, with Andrea Kropp in third.

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Kosuke Kitajima won the men’s 200-yard breaststroke in a meet-record 1:53.03, well ahead of Mike Alexandrov and Paul Kornfield.

Madison Kennedy held off Volmer and Kara Joyce to win the women’s 50-yard freestyle.
Sourced via mjtimes.sk.ca

Popularity: 1% [?]