Missy Franklin ties record with fifth swim gold at worlds

Missy Franklin won her fifth gold medal of swimming’s world championships at Barcelona, Spain, to tie the record for most titles by a woman in the biennial meet.

Franklin clocked 2 minutes 4.76 seconds in the 200-meter backstroke Saturday to match the gold-medal totals of Tracy Caulkins (1978 in Berlin) and Libby Trickett of Australia (2007 in Melbourne). If the 18-year-old Franklin wins her final event, the 400 medley relay Sunday, she’ll join Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristin Otto as the only swimmers to win at least six golds in one year at the worlds or the Olympics.

Katie Ledecky, 16, took her fourth gold medal and set her second world record, this time in the 800 freestyle. She finished in 8:13.86 to break the 8:14.10 set by Britain’s Rebecca Adlington at the 2008 Olympics. Ryan Lochte finished sixth in the 100 butterfly after recording the top time going into the final. Chad le Clos of South Africa won the gold.

In men’s water polo, Hungary beat Montenegro, 8-7, for its third world title.

ETC.

Sears sweeps races

For the second time in five years, Brian Sears swept the two biggest races for 3-year-old trotters, taking the $1.2-million Hambletonian with Royalty For Life and the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks with Bee A Magician in East Rutherford, N.J. It marked the final time the old Meadowlands Racetrack played host to trotting’s elite. A new building will open in November.

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Cross Traffic repelled favored Fort Larned, then held off Successful Dan to win the $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap by three-quarters of a length at Saratoga Race Course in New York.

With Corey Nakatani atop, Lady of Fifty rallied to win the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for older fillies and mares by 11/2 lengths at Del Mar.

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Buffalo Bills quarterback Kevin Kolb avoided serious injury to his left knee despite slipping and stumbling awkwardly while switching fields between practice drills Saturday. He is listed as day to day.

In the rain-delayed Citi Open semifinals at Washington, eighth-seeded John Isner and top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro advanced. Isner, who had 29 aces, rallied to beat unseeded Dmitry Tursunov, 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4. Del Potro defeated third-seeded Tommy Haas, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in a match that ended past midnight. In the first of two women’s matches, seventh-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova swept into the final. She will play the winner of Alize Cornet and Andrea Petkovic.

Eighth-seeded Marcel Granollers beat second-seeded Juan Monaco, 0-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in the tournament final at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

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Ryan Hunter-Reay took the pole for Sunday’s Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, turning the second-fastest lap in track history to edge Will Power for the top spot at Lexington, Ohio. IndyCar Series leader Helio Castroneves will start 15th.

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Brad Keselowski, the only Sprint Cup Series regular in the field, took control with 35 laps left to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at Newton, Iowa.

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Top-fuel points leader Shawn Langdon broke the Pacific Raceways record with a run of 3.765 seconds at 320.58 mph to top qualifying in the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Kent, Wash. David Grubnic matched the 3.765 but his speed of 317.57 mph left him in second. Among the other top qualifiers were Jack Beckman (funny car) and Mike Edwards (pro stock).

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A report by German researchers claims West Germany’s athletes were systematically doped with government backing from the 1970s, and possibly earlier. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper publicized details from the unpublished 800-page report titled “Doping in Germany from 1950 to today” on Saturday. The report was put together by researchers at Berlin’s Humboldt University on behalf of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, with Giselher Spitzer as the project leader. It was completed in April, but has yet to be published because of privacy concerns and legal issues over naming athletes, doctors and politicians.