Pilczuk Beats Popov by Keeping His Cool

All around Alexander Popov, the emotionless king of the pool, others were losing their grip at the world swimming championships on Saturday.

Popov, surprisingly, also lost his cool in the 50-meter event and along with it his hopes of another sprint double. The gold medal was won by American longshot Bill Pilczuk.

“I knew I lost the race from the blocks,” said Popov, aiming for his fourth consecutive 50- and 100-meter double at major meets dating to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

“I was thinking about something else--I can’t remember what.”

Popov, the usually unflappable Russian, wasn’t the only one having trouble thinking straight.

Pilczuk looked at the scoreboard after beating Popov to the wall in 22.29 seconds and wondered what might be wrong with it.

“I looked to see if it was a typo--the one was a seven,” Pilczuk said. “That has happened to me before.”

When he realized the No. 1 was his to keep, “I didn’t know what to think--my reaction was flabbergasted,” he said.

Roxanne Maracineanu, born in Romania but competing for France, gave her adopted country its first gold medal since the championships began in 1973 by winning the 200-meter backstroke in 2:11.26.

Pilczuk and Brooke Bennett, winner of the women’s 800-meter freestyle in 8:28.71, raised the U.S. gold total to 11.

With Olympic champion Amy Van Dyken leading the way today, American swimmers were well placed to add to their gold-medal haul after qualifying fastest in three individual events.

Van Dyken was fastest qualifier for the women’s 50-meter freestyle, Misty Hyman led the 200-meter butterfly entrants and Lenny Krayzelburg, winner of the 100-meter backstroke, will go after his second gold in the 200 meters.

American Jenny Thompson, bidding for a fifth gold medal, qualified fourth behind Van Dyken (25.20) in 25.64.

Australia led all qualifiers in the men’s 400-meter medley relay.