Budapest 2024, Day 3 Semifinals: Sara Curtis Lowers Her WJR In 50 Back, Noè Ponti Sets 100IM CR
Sara Curtis lowered her 50 back WJR to 26.03 as she progressed fifth into Friday’s final at the World Short-Course Championships in Budapest.
The Italian split 12.78/13.25 to dip 0.05 inside her own record of 26.08 set in Riccione in April this year.
United States duo Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith booked the centre lanes in 25.51 and 25.66 respectively with Canadian pair Ingrid Wilm (25.81) and Kylie Masse (25.98) following behind.
Iona Anderson of Australia booked the final place in 26.25, 0.01 ahead of Mizuki Hirai who clocked 26.26 as first reserve.
Men’s 50m Backstroke
Miron Lifintsev headed the qualifiers in 22.70 with the top eight into the final separated by just 0.19.
The 18-year-old will be looking to do the 50/100 double after winning the longer race in a WJR on Wednesday.
Pavel Samusenko, like Lifintsev a neutral athlete, booked lane five in 22.72 with Shane Ryan of Ireland booking the last spot in 22.89.
Men’s 100m Individual Medley
Noè Ponti has been breaking world and European records throughout the past few weeks. The Swiss athlete lowered the 50 fly mark to 21.32 en-route to gold on Wednesday evening.
The record breaking didn’t end there with Ponti setting a championship record of 50.43 in the 100IM semis on Thursday. That saw him go 0.20 inside the previous standard of 50.63 set by Kliment Kolesnikov at the 2018 short-course worlds in Hangzhou, China, in 2018.
