July 23, 2017
It only took one day for the Auburn swimming program to earn a complete set of medals at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest.
Closing out the first day of competition with the 4x100 freestyle relay on Sunday, Zach Apple, Marcelo Chierighini, Cesar Cielo and Peter Holoda all earned a medal for their respective countries.
Representing the United States, Apple swam the third leg of prelims in 48.16 to seed the Americans third going into finals. The quartet of Caeleb Dressel, Townley Haas, Blake Pieroni and Nathan Adrian then raced to a gold medal in 3:10.06 in the finals. It was the United States' first gold in the event at World Championships since 2009.
Chierighini (46.85) and Cielo (48.01) swam the second and third legs, respectively, in both prelims and finals to earn Brazil the top seed out of prelims and take silver in finals in 3:10.34. Chierighini swam a 47.75 in prelims and a 46.85 in finals while Cielo swam a 48.15 and a 48.01 for the Brazilians.
Holoda swam the third leg in both prelims (48.08) and finals (48.48) as Hungary improved from fifth out of prelims to a bronze in finals with a time of 3:11.99.
Zane Grothe of the United States also competed in the 400 free on Sunday, placing eighth in prelims in 3:46.14 and then moving up to seventh in finals with a 3:45.86.
Also swimming on Sunday were Luis Martinez and Santiago Grassi, both in the 50m butterfly. Martinez, from Guatemala, finished 18th in prelims in 23.71, a new Guatemalan record, while Grassi of Argentina was 26th in 23.99, just .09 seconds off of his own national record.
Natasha Lloyd of New Zealand will compete in the 100 breaststroke on Monday. She will swim in lane 5 in heat 3 of 6 after qualifying in 1:09.53.
Also competing will be incoming freshman Hugo Gonzalez de Oliveria of Spain in the 100 back. He will swim in lane 1 of heat 4 (of 5) after qualifying in 54.18.
The swimming competition is being be held at the Danube Arena.
Live results can be found online at www.omegatiming.com.