Sun voted top male swimmer in Barcelona
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China’s Sun Yang won the official title as the meet’s top male swimmer. When asked if this meant he was the “King of Freestyle,” Sun said he isn’t keen to take on that moniker.
“This night is an amazing night for me in my swimming life,” Sun said. “During the competition tonight I felt very tired. It’s very hard to get these performances. (But) I have never had the feeling of being the King of Freestyle.
“My training has not been so systematic, so it was a pretty tough race,” Sun said.
“I really appreciated my opponent pushed me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it. After all my races, I felt a bit fatigued. But I just tried to convince myself to stay with him because I knew that in the last 100 I had the advantage.”
It was the fourth time Canada’s Ryan Cochrane had to settle for silver in the 800 and 1,500 at the worlds and Olympics.
The 21-year-old Sun won the 800 and 1,500 at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai, while claiming silver in the 400. He took gold in the 400 and 1,500 at the 2012 London Olympics, which doesn’t include the 800 as an event.
American pair Connor Jaeger described Sun as a “super friendly guy” and applauded his ability to save that extra energy for the end of the most grueling pool race.
“That’s what he’s great at,” Jaeger said. “He can go hard and he can still sprint at the end, and that’s what you need in long races like this. It has paid off for him, and that’s what Katie (Ledecky) does. So maybe it’s something we need to learn.”
Michael McBroom, who captured silver behind Sun in the 800 on Wednesday, also applauded the Chinese’s character.
“He doesn’t speak a lot of English but he’s real friendly, real nice, and always wishes us good luck and says, ‘Good job.’ He’s a great guy, a great racer and a great competitor,” he said.
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu won the women’s 400m individual medley gold as Olympic champion and world-record holder Ye Shiwen of China finished a disappointing seventh.
Having finishing fourth in the 200m IM last Monday, the 17-year-old Ye was at a loss to explain why she had produced another disappointing swim.
“Before the race I was so nervous I almost didn’t want to race at all,” admitted the Chinese teenager.
“After the 200 individual medley and the 4x200m freestyle relay (China finished fourth), I didn’t have a good feeling and I couldn’t work out why.
“My coach told me just to stay with the competition for the first 300m and then go for it in the last 100m, but I wasn’t able to do it today and win the gold medal.”
The final day belonged to Missy Franklin as the American teenager became the first woman to win six golds at a single edition thanks to the US triumph in the medley relay.
Their success followed the 18-year-old Franklin’s titles in 100 and 200 backstroke, 200 freestyle and the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays. Franklin’s sixth gold in Barcelona is one more than the previous record of five she jointly held with compatriot Tracy Caulkins and Australia’s Libby Trickett.
There was high drama when the US men were disqualified from their medley relay after finishing well ahead of France.
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