Day One of World Championships Highlighted by Berkoff's Relay Gold
12/16/2021 12:17:00 PM | Swimming
ABU DHABI, UAE – NC State's swimmers kicked off competition at the 15th FINA World Championships, highlighted by Katharine Berkoff earning a World Championship title for her contribution to the United States' 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
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Individual Highlights
Representing Sweden, Sophie Hansson put things into gear for the Pack by earning a new personal best time and setting a new Swedish National Record in the 50-meter breaststroke during the first prelims session of the meet, heading into semifinals with a time of 29.57 seconds. During semifinals later in the day, Hansson grabbed the fourth spot for tomorrow's final, finishing just off of her prelims time (29.76).
Slovakia's Andrea Podmanikova earned a new best time in the 50-meter breaststroke during both prelims (30.17) and semifinals (30.08). She moved up one spot from her semifinals seed, finishing the event in 10th place.
Kacper Stokowski of Poland earned the top spot for semifinals in the 100-meter backstroke with his prelims time of 50.38 seconds, also marking a new personal best time. In the semifinals, Stokowski bettered his prelims time by throwing down a 49.94, qualifying for tomorrow's final as the fourth seed.
United States native Katharine Berkoff secured a spot in tomorrow's final of the 100-meter backstroke by finishing fifth in the semifinal (56.10). Her prelims time of 55.92 marks a tie for fourth all-time in American history in the event.
Alumni Highlights
NC State alumni Andreas Vazaios (Greece) and Ryan Held (United States) represented their native countries during the day one competition. Vazaios finished fourth in the 200-meter IM with a time of 1:51.94, while Held contributed a 45.75 split to leadoff the 4x100-meter freestyle relay for Team USA.
Relay Highlights
Berkoff and Hansson returned to the pool for the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, where both Wolfpack women brought home a World Championship medal for their respective country. Berkoff contributed a 52.38 split on the third leg of Team USA's first place finish (3:28.52), also marking NC State's first medal of the meet. Hansson, also swimming the third leg for her team, put up a 53.41 split, leading to Sweden's third place finishing time of 3:28.80.
Hunter Tapp and Nyls Korstanje represented the United States (Tapp) and the Netherlands (Korstanje) in the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Tapp followed Held, swimming the second leg of the relay with a time of 46.78 seconds, leading to a third place finish (3:05.42) for the United States. The Netherlands finished fourth (3:06.10) with Korstanje's 46.82 split on the third leg.
Open Water Highlights
Kenna Smallegange (Canada) and Brooke Travis (United States) competed in the Women's 10km Open Water race, held in Abu Dhabi's Yas Bay. Smallegange finished 32nd with a time of 2:03:37.00 and Travis finished in 36th with a time of 2:04:41.90.
The next session of preliminary heats is set for a 12:30 a.m. ET start on Friday. The Pack will see Korstanje compete in the 100-meter butterfly, set to begin at 1:23 a.m. EST.
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