Park Tae-hwan* Makes It A Double, The Trouble With His Success A FINA Blindspot

World S/C Championships

Windsor, Day 2

Men’s 200m freestyle

So often the man with the Midas Touch, Chad Le Clos has good reason to think himself cursed over 200m freestyle this year. First it was Olympic silver a slither behind Sun Yang* at Rio 2016, now silver behind Park Tae-hwan* in the little pool.

The Korean, who tested positive for testosterone in 2014 and served an 18-month ban, claimed 400m gold yesterday on the opneing day of action. Today he added the 200m crown in 1:41.03 – a championship record 0.05sec inside the 2010 standard set boy American Ryan Lochte – to 1:41.65 for Le Clos, the bronze to Russian Alexander Krasnykh in 1:41.95. Just locked out was Trinidad’s Dylan Carter, who lowered his national record for the second time on the day, to 1:42.48.

It was the fastest podium ever over 200m at the little pool event, the first sub 1:42 top 3 and a pace slither ahead of the 2010 top three of Lochte’s 1:41.08 and efforts of  1:41.70 and 1:42.02.

Park set the pace in 23.56 and then turned in 49.26 at half-way, Le Clos last through in 50.29 and still seventh with two laps to go, the gap to the Korean leader 1:15,50 to 1:16.72.

In Rio, Le Clos led from the start and got pipped by a man towing a doping record; in Windsor as defending champion, he held back and fired back, his closing two laps a 24.93, but got pipped by another man towing a doping record.

The 2016 pace compared with 2014 and 2012

2014: 1:41.45; 1:41.67; 1:42.09 2012: 1:41.92; 1:42.07; 1:43.78

The world rankings 2016-17:

Men 200M Freestyle 1 01:41.03 Tae Hwan Park* KOR , 27 World Championships CAN, Windsor 2 01:41.65 Chad Le Clos RSA , 24 World Championships CAN, Windsor 3 01:41.69 Alexander Krasnykh RUS , 21 World Championships CAN, Windsor 4 01:42.22 …

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