NC State
FINA World Championships
Wolfpack Swimmers Conclude World Championships Action in Abu Dhabi
12/21/2021 11:07:00 AM | Swimming
Abu Dhabi, UAE – NC State's current swimmers and alumni wrapped up action at the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships on Tuesday after an incredibly successful six days of action at the international meet.
NC State's current swimmers and alumni collected a total of 14 podium finishes. The meet was highlighted by gold medal performances from Katharine Berkoff (4x100 freestyle relay, 4x50 freestyle relay), Sophie Hansson (4x50 medley relay, 4x100 medley relay) and Ryan Held (4x200 freestyle relay, 4x50 medley relay).
In total, the members of the Wolfpack earned 11 individual finals appearances, with Hansson, Kacper Stokowski and alumnus Held finishing in the top eight of multiple solo races competed in at the World Championships.
Berkoff claimed her second relay gold of the meet on Tuesday as part of the United States' 4x50-meter freestyle relay team. After leading off the squad's effort with a 24.43 split in the prelims, Berkoff swam the third leg (23.81) in the final to put the Americans in great position to surge to first in the last leg with a time of 1:34.22.
Hansson (200-meter breaststroke) and Held (100-meter freestyle) both secured individual finals appearances on the final day of action at the World Championships. Hansson wrapped up her individual slate with another Swedish record, clocking in at 2:18.13 for fourth and her third top-eight breaststroke finish of the meet. Held took home another individual silver medal, with his 45.63 mark ranking second by just .06 seconds in a tight race.
Hunter Tapp competed in the 200-meter backstroke prelims on Tuesday morning. The Wolfpack junior barely missed qualifying for the final, with his 1:52.48 time ranking 10th in his first-ever World Championships individual race.
The final races of the meet were the men's and women's 4x100-meter medley relays, and NC State picked up two medals in those events.
On the men's side, Tapp swam for Team USA in the prelims to help the squad earn a spot in Tuesday's final. Held's 45.43 anchor split in the final helped the United States to a second-place finish in the relay with a time of 3:20.50.
For the women, Hansson and Team Sweden set another national record and secured a European record in 3:46.20. Hansson went 1:03.70 on her breaststroke split to pick up her second relay gold of the World Championships. For Team USA, Berkoff was the only swimmer to compete in both the prelims and the finals. She clocked a 56.02 leadoff split in the final as the United States took fourth place in 3:47.68.
Nyls Korstanje was also part of a Dutch record (3:27.26) in the prelims, and his 50.48 butterfly split in the final was part of Netherlands' 3:26.59 sixth-place result. Wolfpack alumnus Simonas Bilis swam in both the prelims and the finals for Lithuania, with his team placing seventh in the final (3:28.95) after his 47.84 anchor.
The Wolfpack is set to take a break for the holidays before returning to collegiate competition in the New Year. NC State's divers will be back in action at the Tennessee Diving Invitational from Jan. 3-6, and the entire team will visit UNC (Jan. 14) and host Duke (Jan. 15) for dual meets the following weekend.
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