RYANS EXPRESS TOO QUICK FOR ROOMIE MCKENDRY
GUAM, January 11, 2009: Emerging freestyler Ryan Napoleon took his gold medal tally to four on the final night of pool competition at the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships at the Leo Palace Resort here tonight, with an all-the-way win in the 800 metres freestyle. IAN HANSON wraps up from Guam.....
And in team spirit typical of the Telstra Dolphins Australian Swim Team, the 18-year-old former Gold Coaster had younger St Peters Western training partner and room mate Ned McKendry cheering him on to the gold.
What's so unusual about that?
McKendry, just 16, had earlier posted the fastest time of 8:07.90 in one of the two unseeded morning heats in the "timed finals" format - leaving the top eight seeded swimmers to chase down his time as night fell on the tropical, outdoor venue, surrounded by palm trees and the makeshift grandstands filled with future Olympians.
Napoleon served notice there was no way he was going to hand the gold medal to his "roomie" - setting a "catch me of you can" pace for the rest of the field, splitting 55.96 for the first 100m; 1:56.16 at the 200m mark and 3:56.27 after 400 metres.
With McKendry and other members of the Telstra Dolphins team waving frantically for Napoleon and Australia's second top eight competitor Declan Potts, it was the cheerer who would also later become the cheered.
Napoleon, swimming in his first ever 800 metres freestyle event, stopped the clock in a new Junior Pan Pacific record time of 7:58.66, with the fast finishing Japanese swimmer Jumpei Higashi claiming silver in 8:06.04, just ahead of McKendry's morning time of 8:07.90, which won him the bronze medal.
The winning time was 3.31 seconds faster than the 2001 meet record set by Australian World Championship representative from 2003, Stephen Penfold.
Australia's best over the non-Olympic but World Championship distance contains some of Australian men's swimming's biggest names of the modern era.
The top two, Grant Hackett (2003 and 2005) and Ian Thorpe (2001) both won world championships over 800 metres and Hackett still holds the world record.
Napoleon, who has emerged as one of the stars of the men's team here this week, joins this elite group of Australians in the All-Time list - sitting in eighth place, a list that also includes the likes Kieren Perkins, Daniel Kowalski and Glen Housman.
Napoleon's time sees the great Steve Holland's name drop out of the top 10 after 32 years - three extraordinary decades since the original "Superfish" ruled the pools.
THE TOP ELEVEN AUSTRALIAN TIMES IN HISTORY ARE:
World record - Grant Hackett (AUS): 7:38.65 (0:54.38, 1:51.89, 2:49.49, 3:47.17, 4:45.03, 5:43.55 6:42.11)
7:38.65 Grant Hackett OAM (Montreal, 2005)
7:39.16 Ian Thorpe OAM (Fukuoka 2001)
7:46.00 Kieren Perkins OAM (Victoria 1994)
7:48.67 Craig Stevens (Melbourne 2007)
7:50.28 Daniel Kowalski Atlanta (1995)
7:54.66 Glen Housman Atlanta (1995)
7:58.27 Stephen Penfold Sydney (2003)
7:58.66 Ryan Napoleon (Guam, 2009)
7:58.97 Kurtis MacGillivary (2005)
7:58.99 Michael McKenzie (Tokyo 1989)
8:02.91 Stephen Holland OAM (Sydney 1976)
The 18-year-old Napoleon has thrived under the disciplined approach of Australia's Coach of the Year Michael Bohl over the past two years.
"That's the first time Ned and I have ever swum that event but I'm certainly glad I entered that's for sure," said Napoleon.
"It was great to win a second individual gold medal for Australia and join the boys in the relay successes."
HOT DOG TOMMASO'S SILVER LINING
The night before Napoleon and McKendry went 1-2 in the 400 metres after combining with Tommaso D'Orsogna and Daniel Smith to win gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
All that after setting a new meet record of 1:48.89 on the first morning of the meet, only to see Hassaan Abdel-Khalik of Canada and D'Orsogna win gold and silver in slower times, with Napoleon a close up third.
D'Orsogna later finished with two close-up silvers in the 50 metres freestyle, clocking 22.96 to Japan's Kentra Ito's 22.90 and anchoring the Australian men to silver behind a fired-up New Zealand team in the 4x100m medley relay.
As hard as he tried D'Orsogna could not quite catch Kiwi Cameron Burrows despite his split of 48.65 - the New Zealanders hanging on to win the gold by 0.09secs.
BUBBLING BRITTANY SPEARS GOLD AND SILVER
It was a different story in the women's 50 metres freestyle with 14-year-old Sunshine Coast flyer Brittany Elmslie snatching a blanket finish in personal best of 25.80, 0.02 ahead of the USA's Lia Neal (25.82) and the second American Casey Carlson in 25.91.
Elmslie found herself chasing home the field in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, with just 0.27 separating the podium finishers - the Dolphins finishing with the bronze and the ever-smiling Noosa teen splitting a slick 55.51.
Gold went to the USA in 4:06.04, silver to Canada in 4:06.25 and bronze to the Aussies in 4:06.31.
TESSA AND SAM ABREAST OF THE TIMES
Three of Australia's bright new breaststrokers chimed in with an individual silver and two bronze medals in the 200 metre events with tiny Tessa Wallace, also from the Sunshine Coast, clocking a personal best of 2:27.69 to finish second and 100m winner Samantha Marshall stopping the clock at 2:27.99 to take bronze.
Both girls also climbed their way into the Australian All-Time Top Ten list, Wallace lifting herself to eighth and Marshall to ninth.
Marshall later helped the Aussie girls to bronze in the medley relay, giving her a perfect set of gold, silver and bronze medals.
Victoria's Jeremy Meyer wasn't going to die wondering whether or not he would join the girls on the podium, going out hard in the men's final and hanging on to claim the bronze medal in a personal best of 2:17.42.
The fastest top ten Australian women in the 200m breaststroke:
World Record - Rebecca Soni (USA): 2:20.22 (0:32.17, 1:07.46, 1:43.70)
2:20.54 Leisel Jones (Melbourne 2006)
2:24.76 Rebecca Brown (Brisbane 1994)
2:24.81 Samantha Riley OAM (Atlanta 1995)
2:24.81 Sally Foster (Monaco 2008)
2:25.95 Brooke Hanson (Sydney 2004)
2:26.72 Sarah Katsoulis (Sydney 2008)
2:27.60 Caroline Hildreth (Sydney 2000)
2:27.69 Tessa Wallace (Guam, 2009)
2:27.99 Samantha Marshall (Guam, 2009)
2:28.34 Nadine Neumann (Atlanta 1996)
2:28.35 Kelli Waite (Sydney 2001)
2:28.44 Kristy Ellem (Los Angeles 1997)
The final pointscore at the end of four days of pool competition:
USA 388
Aus 372
Japan 304
Canada 202
New Zealand 125
Guam 34
FINAL MEDAL TALLY
USA 13 (Gold) 8 (Silver) 12 (Bronze) 33 (Total)
AUS 8 14 8 30
JPN 8 8 3 19
NZL 3 - 2 5
CAN 1 3 8 12