Two World Records Offer Backdrop to Hansen’s Win

Brendan Hansen pounded the water with a defiant swing of his right arm, then paddled slowly toward the lane rope, exchanging a handshake and hug with the man he had just beaten.

After their brief embrace, Hansen swam off in one direction, Kosuke Kitajima the other.

Until next time.

On a night when Roland Schoeman and Jessica Hardy set world records -- one expected, the other a shocker -- Hansen regained the upper hand Monday in one of swimming’s fierce rivalries.

Hansen holds world records in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke, but Kitajima beat him in those events at the Athens Olympics last summer.

Eager for redemption, Hansen jumped in the pool at the World Swimming Championships -- with Kitajima in the very next lane for the 100 final.

“Not many people get a second chance,” Hansen said, “so I didn’t want to screw it up twice.”

He didn’t. The American took control in the first 50 and touched first in 59.37 seconds, just off the world mark of 59.30 he set at last year’s U.S. Olympic trials but a meet record. Kitajima was second in 59.53. France’s Hugues Duboscq won the bronze.

“Everyone keeps asking me, ‘What was that extra thing I had tonight?’ ” Hansen said. “It was definitely emotion.”

Michael Phelps seemed to be back on form, posting the best time in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle. But his first individual medal of the worlds will have to wait until at least today, when he races against Australia’s Grant Hackett.

Schoeman took the 50 butterfly and broke the world record he set a day earlier in the semifinals. He held off Ian Crocker of the U.S. in a dash, touching in 22.96.

“Not bad for an African,” quipped Schoeman, a three-time medalist in Athens whose 1-day-old record was 23.01. “I’d like to dominate the sprints in the future.”

Hardy, an 18-year-old from Long Beach in her first international event, was stunning in the semifinals of the 100 breaststroke. She got off the block quicker than anyone and never faltered, posting a time of 1 minute 6.20 seconds. That broke the record of 1:06.37 set two years ago by Australia’s Leisel Jones at the world championships in Barcelona, Spain.

“It’s one of the great things about our team,” said U.S. captain Natalie Coughlin. “We are so young, and we have swimmers like Jessica Hardy who can drop two seconds and seemingly come out of nowhere.”

When Hardy saw her time, she mouthed, “Oh my God.”

Later, she responded: “It was definitely a shock, an awesome shock.”

The U.S. won its second gold of the night when 16-year-old Katie Hoff, who was overcome by nerves at Athens, won the 200 individual medley in 2:10.41.