Missy Franklin of the USA won the women’s 200m freestyle final at swimming’s world championships on Wednesday with Italy’s Federica Pellegrini second and France’s Camille Muffat in third.
Franklin, 18, claimed her third gold medal when she touched the wall at 1min 54.81secs with Pellegrini taking silver at 0.33 back and Muffat taking bronze at 0.91.
Meanwhile, Olympic champion Chad le Clos of South Africa took the men’s 200m butterfly gold with Poland’s Pawel
Korzeniowski second and China’s Wu Peng third. The 21-year-old Le Clos clocked 1min 54.32secs with 2005 world champion Korzeniowski 0.29 behind and Wu 0.37 back.
Earlier, Franklin pulled out of Wednesday’s 50m backstroke semi-finals to focus on the evening’s 200m freestyle final.
The 18-year-old had been due to race in the evening’s 50m backstroke semis, then the 200m freestyle final, but decided to prioritise the longer event.
“I’m a little sore this morning, I’m not going to lie. The 50m backstroke is just a fun event for me,” she had told reporters. Franklin is still due to race in four more events: the medley and 4x200m relays, plus the 200m backstroke and 100m freestyle.
Magnussen storms into semis
Earlier, Australia’s James Magnussen stormed into the evening’s 100m freestyle semi-finals.
Magnussen, the defending world 100m freestyle champion, was the fastest qualifier from Wednesday morning’s heats in Barcelona, clocking 47.71secs.
“I’m just keeping my emotions out of it this year,” said Magnussen, who was left tearful after losing the 2012 Olympic final on the wall.
“It felt good, it felt relaxed and my stroke was good technically, but it’s just the heat, so I’ve got to keep it up for two more swims. “I feel like I’ve experienced a lot over the past year and I’m a bit wiser for it.”
Olympic champion Nathan Adrian of the USA went through to the evening’s semi-finals as 12th fastest of the 16 qualifiers.