McIntosh dominates 400m race
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Perth Now
5 hours ago
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Aussies' winning start as Poppy gears for title defence
Adam Walton and James Duckworth have given the Australian men a winning start at the Canadian Open as Alexei Popyrin prepares to defend the Masters 1000 title he famously won last year. Walton rallied to beat Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 4-6 6-0 6-3 in their first-round clash in Toronto on Monday (AEST). His reward is a second-round match up with top seeded Aexander Zverev, who had a first-round bye. Qualifier Duckworth beat China's Shang Juncheng 6-3 7-6 (7-3) and next meets third seed Lorenzo Musetti. Meanwhile, 18th seed Popyrin enjoyed a first-round bye before he faces 638th-ranked Canadian wild card Nicolas Arseneault in his first match. Popyrin is defending the title he won last year in Montreal when he downed Andrey Rublev in the final to become the first Australian winner of a Masters 1000 title since Lleyton Hewitt 21 years earlier. He followed that breakthrough by claiming the scalp of Novak Djokovic in the third round of the US Open before falling to Francis Tiafoe in the round of 16. However, it has not been easy going for Popyrin in recent weeks after he followed a first-round exit at Wimbledon with another first-up defeat in Washington, losing to China's lowly-ranked Wu Yibing in three sets. In the Canadian Open women's draw, Australia's Kimberley Birrell suffered a first-round loss to Canada's Victoria Mboko 7-5 6-3.
7NEWS
7 hours ago
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China's Yu Zidi, 12, taking the swimming world by storm
At just 12 years old, China's Yu Zidi is already one of the fastest swimmers in the world. Her times are so quick, in fact, that she's already in contention to win medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in the coming days. World Aquatics has a minimum age requirement of 14 for the world championships, but Yu's times are so fast that she qualifies regardless. The youngster, not yet a teenager, will race in the 200m and 400m meter individual medleys, as well as the 200m butterfly. The precocious pre-teen may also be selected for China's relay teams. It will mark the first time in her incredibly short career that Yu will come up against the very best in the world — many of whom will have paid attention to the staggering times she has set in her country so far. At the national championships back in May, the Chinese prodigy swam the 200m individual relay in 2:10.63. Not only did it win her a silver medal, but it was also the fastest time ever recorded by a 12-year-old, man or woman, in that discipline. She then swam the 200m butterfly, arguably her best stroke, in 2:06.83. That time would have put her fourth in last year's Olympics, but it was also the fifth-fastest time in the world this year. During the 2024 world championships, the time would have been enough to win her a gold medal. While her personal bests are breathtaking, it's even more impressive when you consider her age. It's an incredible rise for a girl who, according to the Associated Press, only started swimming when she was six. 'The summer was too hot, and my dad took me to the water park,' she told China's official Xinhua News Agency. 'I enjoyed the coolness of the water and spent a lot of time in different small pools for kids. One day, a coach approached me and asked if I wanted to swim faster.' It's true that swimmers, particularly women, can compete on a world level when they are still very young. You only have to look at Canadian star Summer McIntosh as an example. Comparisons with Summer McIntosh At the Tokyo Games in 2021, aged just 14, McIntosh made her Olympic debut, finishing fourth in the 200-meter freestyle. She bagged gold in the 200m butterfly and 400m medley at the world championships in 2022, as well as two golds at the Commonwealth Games in the 200m and 400m medleys. Now 18, the Canadian is one of the greatest swimmers in the world, recently posting the second-fastest 200m butterfly in history. American Katie Ledecky is another swimmer who started early, making her Olympic debut in London when she was just 15. Now, she's the most decorated female US Olympian of all time, with 14 medals to her name, including nine golds. Both will serve as inspiration for Yu, who will look to continue her trajectory over the coming years. The LA Olympics in 2028 are the obvious target. Yu will be 15 by then and would surely be among the medal contenders if things keep progressing as they are. There are risks, naturally, that Yu could burn out as she is introduced to tougher competition and years of training, but for now, the 12-year-old is keeping her feet on the ground. 'Since I am not competitive in the sprint events, I have to choose the 400-meter individual medley and the 200-meter butterfly as my favourites,' she said. 'My age is currently an advantage, and I hope to grow and develop more strength in the future.' Stream free on
7NEWS
11 hours ago
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Grieving Aussie swimmer Sam Short dedicates 400m freestyle silver medal to late auntie
Australian swimmer Sam Short has dedicated his 400m freestyle silver medal to his late auntie after tapping into her fight at the world championships. The 21-year-old, the 2023 world champion who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, couldn't hide his disappointment upon touching the wall. He had lost by just two hundredths of a second. Short overcame an early deficit to hit the lead with less than half the race remaining and still led by a fingernail with 50m to go. Neck-and-neck with Lukas Maertens right until the end, it was the Olympic champion Maertens who came up trumps. Maertens posted 3:42.35 to narrowly beat Short (3:42.37) while South Korea's Kim Woomin (3:42.60) finished third. Afterwards Short revealed the grief he had been carrying in the lead-up to the world championships in Singapore. 'I won two years ago by 0.02 and today I just lost by 0.02,' Short said. 'I'm happy to be back on the podium after a hard last year. So, you know, I can't complain. 'I just want to dedicate that performance there to my auntie who passed away a couple weeks ago. 'As bad I was hurting there, it's nowhere near as bad as her battling cancer for 10 years. So I had to toughen up and get it done.' In the stacked women's 400m freestyle field, Lani Pallister produced a personal-best 3:58.87 to finish fourth. Canadian world record holder Summer McIntosh (3:56.26) blitzed the field to win gold and China's Li Bingjie surged late to finish second, while the legendary Katie Ledecky had to be content with bronze. Australia's 400m Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus didn't feature after extended her post-Paris break from the pool. The relay events proved to be Australia's saviour on the opening night of the championships, propelling the nation to the top of the medal standings. First, Olivia Wunsch pulled off a huge late comeback to fire Australia to an upset victory over the US in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Then Kyle Chalmers achieved the same result for Australia's men, reeling in a sizeable lead from the US to snare gold. The Australian coaching staff celebrated wildly upon each victory. Australia entered Sunday night's 4x100m women's relay with a new-look team featuring Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Milla Jansen and Wunsch. The US were hot favourites to win, but Australia threw a spanner into the works by clawing their way into the lead by the time Wunsch dived into the water for the final leg. American Torri Huske quickly re-took the lead and held a half-length margin with 50m remaining before Woods came storming home to snatch victory. 'I definitely can't believe it,' Jansen told Nine. 'This is something that I wanted growing up. I was feeling very nervous coming into this, but it's just a dream come true.' Australia finished in a time of 3:30.60, with the US (3:31.04) in second. The Australian men followed suit, with the quartet of Chalmers, Flynn Southam, Kai Taylor and Maximillian Giuliani posting a world championship-record time of 3:08.97 to defeat Italy (3:09.58) and the fading US (3:09.64). 'I've kind of lost my voice already from cheering so hard,' Southam said. 'I'm just so happy to be here, and we all swam out of our skin, and we did it for the country, and we're so proud of ourselves.'
