The feats of the Americans (4 titles) mustn't overshadow Japan's splendid performance
Four records new records were set in swimming:
-100 metre women's backstroke by Norico Inada (Japan), in 1min01sec06 over the previous 1min01sec60,
-200 metre women's backstroke by Miki Nakao (Japan) in 2min10sec32 over the previous 2min11sec31
-4x100 metres women's medley by Japan in 4min09sec90 over the previous 4min10sec49
-800 metres men's: Mark Warkentin (USA) in 8min00sec81 over the previous 8min04sec80.
The figures announce the colours of this event: Warkentin was – with four gold medals – the star of this Universiade, which was also highlighted by the magnificent performances of Japan's women's team.
The competition unfolded once again in the new Son Hugo complex specially built for the Universiade, which is probably the finest facility in the world, with its two ten-lane Olympic pools (one outdoors and one indoors), plus a 25 metre diving pool. The outdoors facility seats 5,000 and the indoors pool 2,000.
But the pools weren't the only stars of Universiade swimming, even though the summer season is packed with other major international swimming events, such as the European championships, the Pan American games and the Pan Pacific games.
Among the nine countries taking golds, the US dominated, with 17 titles and a total of 32 medals, ahead of Japan (6 and 16) and Russia (3 and 7).
Mark Warkentin missed the chance to achieve his ultimate goal by placing fourth in the 1,500 metre freestyle. The American had already taken the 200, 400 and 800 metres, together with the 4x200 metres, and dreamed of equalling the five-title record, previously attained by Hungary's Martha Egervari in 63, America's Jill Sterkel in 1981 and Romania's Noemi Lung in 1987.
But the programme's longest event proved too arduous for Warkentin, and was taken by Italy's Andrea Righi, who had taken the silver in the 400.
"Everyone was sort of expecting that I make it," said Warkentin, "but I knew it was going to be rough to finish with the 1,500 metres, especially since the 400 metres was already difficult, and I knew that Righi would be even better in the 1,500 m."
Warkentin, a student at the University of Southern California, only signed up for the Universiade at the very last minute: "What happened to me here is fantastic. I am very moved every time the American flag is raised. I had only ever seen that on television, and it really affects me."
The fellow literally exploded this year at Palma. He had given us a glimpse of his enormous talent last year at the Goodwill Games in the 400 freestyle. This is a swimmer from a sports family, with a father who was the US champion in the decathlon in 1970 and his brother and sister promising great things in tennis. "It's true that I touched people's imagination at the Universiade," he said. "But there were many other very strong competitors here. And it's always the same thing: when you perform well, you always want to do even better. And I did better than ever, obviously."
Does the swimmer, who is barely 20 years old, and measures 1m75, harbour ambitions of becoming the heir to Salnikov, Gross or Biondi? "We'll see. But I first have to prove myself at the Olympic Games. However, I have already done brilliantly at a Universiade, as they did before me."
| MEN'S results | ||||
| Freestyle 50 m | ||||
| 1 | CIARLA Aaron | USA | 22.73 | |
| 2 | HUTCHINSON Dean | USA | 22.91 | |
| 3 | DORNELAS Ricardo | BRA | 22.97 | |
| 4 | FOLKER Nicholas | RSA | 22.98 | |
| 5 | PIMANKOV Denis | RUS | 23.30 | |
| 6 | BUEHKER Christoph | SUI | 23.33 | |
| 6 | BENAVIDES Juan | ESP | 23.33 | |
| 8 | GOUDIE Stephen | AUS | 23.36 | |
| Freestyle 100 m | ||||
| 1 | PIMANKOV Denis | RUS | 50.29 | |
| 2 | GALLO Mauro | ITA | 50.69 | |
| 3 | FOLKER Nicholas | RSA | 50.77 | |
| 4 | PINE Adam | AUS | 50.85 | |
| 5 | BUSSE Gregory | USA | 50.91 | |
| 6 | SVANIDZE Rostyslav | UKR | 51.04 | |
| 7 | TCHERNYCHEV Dmitri | RUS | 51.06 | |
| 8 | BENAVIDES Juan | ESP | 51.29 | |
| Freestyle 200 m | ||||
| 1 | WARKENTIN Mark | USA | 1:51.30 | |
| 2 | POIROT Lionel | FRA | 1:51.38 | |
| 3 | TCHERNYCHEV Dmitri | RUS | 1:51.83 | |
| 4 | KINTZ Nicolas | FRA | 1:52.20 | |
| 5 | GRICHOKINE Serguei | RUS | 1:52.62 | |
| 6 | CECAN Andrei | MDA | 1:52.73 | |
| 7 | GODSMAN Eric | USA | 1:52.93 | |
| 8 | MINTENKO Michael | CAN | 1:53.01 | |
| Freestyle 400 m | ||||
| 1 | WARKENTIN Mark | USA | 3:53.41 | |
| 2 | RIGHI Andrea | ITA | 3:56.12 | |
| 3 | ZAVHORODNIY Denys | UKR | 3:57.27 | |
| 4 | LOHFNIK Thomas | GER | 3:57.39 | |
| 5 | GHIGLIONE Paolo | ITA | 3:57.95 | |
| 6 | HARTZEL David | USA | 3:58.52 | |
| 7 | MCWHA Michael | CAN | 3:59.10 | |
| 8 | BONFIM Bruno | BRA | 4:02.35 | |
| Freestyle 800 m | ||||
| 1 | WARKENTIN Mark | USA | 8:00.81 | |
| 2 | RIGHI Andrea | ITA | 8:01.02 | |
| 3 | ZAVHORODNIY Denys | UKR | 8:04.77 | |
| 4 | LOHFINK Thomas | GER | 8:10.94 | |
| 5 | CLEMENTS K. | USA | 8:18.52 | |
| 6 | BUDGEON Daniel | AUS | 8:19.58 | |
| 7 | PRYSTINSKY, Yuriy | UKR | 8:21.57 | |
| 8 | KOIKE Takanori | JPN | 8:24.36 | |
| Freestyle 1500 m | ||||
| 1 | RIGHI Andrea | ITA | 15:25.83 | |
| 2 | LEONARD Mark | USA | 15:28.06 | |
| 3 | VIDAL Daniel | ESP | 15:28.95 | |
| 4 | WARKENTIN Mark | USA | 15:29.54 | |
| 5 | BUDGEON Daniel | AUS | 15:38.65 | |
| 6 | ANGELOTTI Alexandre | BRA | 15:54.63 | |
| 7 | MCWHA Michael | CAN | 16:04.14 | |
| 8 | PRYSTINSKY Yuriy | 16:11.89 | ||
| Backstroke 100 m | ||||
| 1 | THIRSK Simon | RSA | 55.97 | |
| 2 | KONNAI Keitaro | JPN | 56.04 | |
| 3 | NISHIKORI Atsushi | JPN | 56.29 | |
| 4 | ULRICKSON Matthew | USA | 56.46 | |
| 5 | AMINOV Vladislav | RUS | 56.57 | |
| 6 | GILLIAM Michael | USA | 56.61 | |
| 7 | MACHOVIC Miroslav | SVK | 56.82 | |
| 8 | PICHETTE Alexandre | CAN | 57.06 | |
| Backstroke 200 m | ||||
| 1 | WIEBEL Beau | USA | 2:01.52 | |
| 2 | BLAHNIK Tate | USA | 2:01.70 | |
| 3 | HAMM Greg | CAN | 2:01.73 | |
| 4 | GATH Joab | ISR | 2:01.83 | |
| 5 | MACHOVIC Miroslav | SVK | 2:01.86 | |
| 6 | MERISI Emanuele | ITA | 2:02.06 | |
| 7 | AGH Oliver | HUN | 2:03.27 | |
| 8 | KONNAI Keitaro | JPN | 2:03.53 | |
| Breaststroke 100 m | ||||
| 1 | PERMINOV Andrei | RUS | 1:03.16 | |
| 2 | HAYASHI Akira | JPN | 1:03.17 | |
| 3 | MUFF Sebastien | FRA | 1:03.29 | |
| 4 | YU Daqin | CHN | 1:03.71 | |
| 5 | LOPOUKHOV Stanislav | RUS | 1:03.72 | |
| 5 | MC DONELL Jeremy | USA | 1:03.72 | |
| 7 | KOVALEVICH V. | UKR | 1:03.97 | |
| 8 | OKITA Yoshiaki | JPN | 1:04.14 | |
| Breaststroke 200 m | ||||
| 1 | MAKAROV Roman | RUS | 2:16.07 | |
| 2 | OKITA Yoshiaki | JPN | 2:16.12 | |
| 3 | PERMINOV Andrei | RUS | 2:17.15 | |
| 4 | HAYASHI AZkira | JPN | 2:17.21 | |
| 5 | CASTELLANOS Santi | ESP | 2:17.60 | |
| 6 | WRONSKI Filip | POL | 2:18.03 | |
| 7 | LEIGHFIELD Simon | AUS | 2:18.34 | |
| 8 | WYNN Barry | USA | 2:18.38 | |
| Butterfly 100 m | ||||
| 1 | PINE Adam | AUS | 53.81 | |
| 2 | REID Burl | AUS | 54.05 | |
| 3 | PIERCE Matthew | USA | 54.27 | |
| 4 | MINTENKO Michael | CAN | 54.42 | |
| 5 | CAHOY John | USA | 54.61 | |
| 6 | ZHANG Zhi | CHN | 55.08 | |
| 7 | SAVVI Jaak | EST | 55.10 | |
| 8 | KAWAKAMI Junya | JPN | 55.40 | |
| Butterfly 200 m | ||||
| 1 | SOMENSATTO Jeff | USA | 1:58.69 | |
| 2 | GORGOURAKI A. | RUS | 2:00.58 | |
| 3 | WEISS Philip | CAN | 2:00.71 | |
| 4 | RAMSEY Heath | AUS | 2:01.08 | |
| 5 | MARKOVIC Vladam | YUG | 2:01.35 | |
| 6 | FINCH Doak | USA | 2:01.91 | |
| 7 | BENVISTO Alexandro | ITA | 2:02.40 | |
| 8 | ZHANG Zhi | CHN | 2:03.31 | |
| Medley 200 m | ||||
| 1 | HANNAN Thomas | USA | 2:04.42 | |
| 2 | WEISS Philip | CAN | 2:04.67 | |
| 3 | MORI Takahiro | JPN | 2:04.94 | |
| 4 | TABUCHI Susumu | JPN | 2:05.16 | |
| 5 | TOMECEK Pavel | CZE | 2:05.87 | |
| 6 | MANKOI Peter | SLO | 2:05.96 | |
| 7 | LUSK Ryan | USA | 2:07.40 | |
| 8 | MEIRI Yoav | ISR | 2:07.69 | |
| Medley 400 m | ||||
| 1 | WIEBEL Beau | USA | 4:21.58 | |
| 2 | HALIKA Michael | ISR | 4:21.78 | |
| 3 | MORI Takahiro | JPN | 4:22.01 | |
| 4 | TABUCHI Susumu | JPN | 4:22.18 | |
| 5 | KISS Georgo | HUN | 4:24.06 | |
| 6 | HVIID Frederik | ESP | 4:26.12 | |
| 7 | TURNER Adrian | GBR | 4:26.24 | |
| 8 | PEACEY Adam | CAN | 4:30.46 | |
| Free Relay | ||||
| 4 x 100 m | ||||
| 1 | AUS | 3:23.05 | ||
| 2 | ITA | 3:23.60 | ||
| 3 | USA | 3:24.16 | ||
| 4 | UKR | 3:24.27 | ||
| 5 | CAN | 3:24.84 | ||
| 6 | FRA | 3:25.04 | ||
| 7 | ESP | 3:26.57 | ||
| Free Relay | ||||
| 4 x 200 m | ||||
| 1 | USA | 7:27.33 | ||
| 2 | UKR | 7:28.49 | ||
| 3 | ITA | 7:30.35 | ||
| 4 | CAN | 7:31.07 | ||
| 5 | FRA | 7:31.30 | ||
| 6 | RUS | 7:32.36 | ||
| 7 | ESP | 7:36.92 | ||
| 8 | GER | 7:39.11 | ||
| Medley Relay | ||||
| 4 x 100 m | ||||
| 1 | USA | 3:42.75 | ||
| 2 | RUS | 3:42.99 | ||
| 3 | JPN | 3:43.66 | ||
| 4 | AUS | 3:44.51 | ||
| 5 | ITA | 3:46.10 | ||
| 6 | UKR | 3:49.74 | ||
| 7 | FRA | 3:49.96 |