Aug. 12, 2016
Swimming in the Olympics for the final time in her career, Auburn's most decorated Olympian Kirsty Coventry captured sixth in the finals of the women's 200m backstroke.
Swimming in lane 7, Coventry, from Zimbabwe, swam a 1:03.25 first 100 and finished in 2:08.80. A veteran of five Olympics, it marked the fourth time she competed in the finals of the 200m backstroke, winning the gold medal in 2004 (Athens, Greece) and 2008 (Beijing, China) and placing sixth in 2012 (London, England). Her 2016 time bested her 2004 gold medal-winning time of 2:09.19.
Madeline Dirado of the United States took gold in 2:05.99, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu won silver in 2:06.05 and Hilary Caldwell of Canada won bronze in 2"07.54.
Coventry, who swam at Auburn from 2002-05 and will retire following these games, is the most decorated Olympian from the African continent. A seven-time medalist, she won a complete set of medals in the 2004 games (Gold ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 200m backstroke, Silver ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 100m backstroke, Bronze ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 200m IM) and then captured four in 2008 (Gold ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 200m backstroke, Silver ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 100m backstroke and 200m IM, Bronze ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" 400m IM).
Also swimming on Friday night was three-time Olympian Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas. Swimming in heat one of the 50m free, she finished fourth in 24.60 which placed her ninth overall, .07 seconds out of the top 8.
Vanderpool-Wallace finished in a three-way tie for 13th in prelims of the 50m free, clocking a 24.77. The Bahamian record holder (24.31), she swam at Auburn from 2009-12.
Julie Meynen, who will be a freshman at Auburn this season, established a new Luxembourg 50m free record, touching in 25.12 to break her own record of 25.55 set at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Her time was 26th-fastest out of 88 competitors, missing the top 16 by just .30 seconds.
Marcelo Chierighini had the fastest anchor split of anyone in the men's 4x100 medley relay, clocking a 47.72 to send Brazil to a fourth-place finish in its heat and the seventh seed in Saturday night's finale. Regardless if he swims on Saturday's relay or not, should Brazil capture a relay medal Chierighini will be awarded a medal.
Brazilian Bruno Fratus, who trains at Auburn under head coach Brett Hawke, tied for sixth in the finals of the men's 50m freestyle, touching in 21.79. Anthony Ervin (United States) won in 21.40, Florent Manaudou (France) took silver in 21.41 and Nathan Adrian (United States) won bronze (21.49).