Four-time Olympic finalist Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C. settles for fourth place
Olympian Keith Beavers of Orangeville, Ont., gave Canada its second medal of the World University Games on Tuesday, claiming silver in the men’s 200-metre individual medley.
Beavers swam in one minute 59.83 seconds to finish between gold-medal winner Alex Vanderkaay of the United States (1:57.58) and Yuma Kosaya of Japan (2:00.77).
Beavers set the Canadian record of one minute 59.19 seconds at last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, where he placed seventh in the final.
Four-time Olympic finalist Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C., had to settle for fourth place with a time of 2:01.50 after being second at the midway point of the race. Johns was the defending Universiade champion, setting a University Games mark of 1:59.97 at Bangkok in 2007.
“I felt really good,” Beavers said. “My backstroke was nice and strong, it tends to be best leg of my race.
“I’ve raced against him (Vanderkaay) before, but I’ve never seen him race like this. He had an outstanding swim and there wasn’t much I could do to catch him.”
Katy Murdoch and Hanna Kubas, both from Calgary, qualified for the women’s 100 back final where they will be seeded second and sixth, respectively.
Murdoch broke the Universiade record twice, first in the morning preliminaries with a time of 1:00.87 and then in the semis with a 1:00.67, only to see Shiho Sakai of Japan take it away from her minutes later on both occasions.
Sakai swam a 1:00.74 in the prelims and 1:00.23 in the evening to earn the top seed going into Wednesday.
Matt Rose of Lindsay, Ont., qualified for Wednesday’s men’s 50-metre backstroke final in eighth place. The 2004 Olympian’s time of 25.61 seconds eclipsed the previous Canadian record of 25.72 set by Universiade teammate Callum Ng at the Bangkok Games.
Hanna Pierse of Edmonton will be seeded seventh going into the women’s 200 IM final after touching the wall in 2:16.97.
In the only track final of the day, Alex Becker of Guelph, Ont., finished fifth in the women’s 10,000 metres in 34 minutes 31.69 seconds, just over 75 seconds behind gold medallist Kasumi Nishihara of Japan.
In the women’s 400 metres, Edmonton’s Carline Muir qualified first in 53.35 seconds. Esther Akinsulie of Ottawa qualified eighth overall with a time of 54.77 seconds.
Muir is the top seed in the event heading into Wednesday’s semifinal round, with the final set for Thursday evening.
In the women’s 800 metres, Rebecca Johnstone of Bowen Island, B.C., won the third heat with a time of 2:05.85. The top four qualifiers overall came from Johnstone’s heat, and they will race again in semifinals Wednesday and the final on Thursday.
Ruky Abdulai of Coquitlam, B.C., led the field in qualifying in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.51 metres.
Lethbridge, Alta., hammer thrower Jim Steacy, who was Canada’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremonies on July 1, threw for 73.52 metres on his first attempt and waived his next two, finishing second in the qualifier. The hammer throw final is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Two other field events also saw Canada send athletes into the next stage, with Vancouver’s Elizabeth Gleadle moving on in the women’s javelin after a toss of 53.38 metres, while Nanoose Bay, B.C., native Michael Mason will compete in the men’s high jump final after a leap of 2.15 metres.
Ottawa’s Oluseyi Smith qualified for the men’s 100 metres semi-finals in a time of 10.62, while Nathan Vadeboncoeur of Vancouver and Daniel Harper of Brampton, Ont., moved forward in the men’s 400 metres with times of 47.20 and 47.32, respectively.
In the men’s 1,500 metres, Kyle Boorsma of Guelph made the cut for Thursday’s final with a time of 3:45.00. However, Timothy Konoval of Parry Sound, Ont., did not advance despite a better time of 3:44.52 when he failed to finish in the top three in his heat.
In men’s basketball, Ross Bekkering of Calgary scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds but Canada dropped out of medal contention after losing to Israel 89-81. Canada (2-2) needed a win to advance to the quarter-finals.
At Novi Sad, Serbia, Stephen Gotch of Okotoks, Alta., had 15 kills, including every set winning point, and four aces as Canada advanced to the men’s volleyball quarter-finals with a four-set victory (34-36, 25-20, 25-20, 25-15) over Ukraine.
Calgary’s Joel Schmuland added 15 kills, while Gander, N.L., native Max Burt was a perfect 10-for-10 in kills at the middle position.
In diving action, Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg placed 15th in the preliminaries of the men’s one-metre springboard competition with a score of 277.30 and did not advance to the semi-finals.
In table tennis, Marie-Andree Levesque of Ste-Felicitee, Que., fell to Shanshan Cai of China by scores of 11-3, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3 in women’s singles competition. In men’s singles, Vancouver’s Alvin Ng was defeated by Nico Christ of Germany 11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9.
– The Canadian Press