KAZAN, Russia — Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy won the 1,500-meter freestyle at the world swimming championships Sunday night in a race that surprisingly went off without two-time defending champion Sun Yang of China.
Sun didn’t appear during introductions and Lane 3 remained empty instead of being filled by reserve Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands.
FINA spokesman Pedro Adrega said Chinese team officials told him Sun felt a “chest sensation” during warmups.
“As there was not enough time to evaluate the situation or to check his medical condition, they decided to withdraw,” he said.
The Chinese were scheduled to have a news conference later Sunday.
Brazilian Coach Alberto Silva told the Associated Press there was an incident in the warmup pool Sunday morning when one of his female swimmers was in the same lane as Sun, though Silva did not think this was the reason why Sun failed to race at night.
“There was a discussion,” said Silva, adding that no one was injured. “It’s a short girl and a big guy. He went across [her].”
Silva said he complained to officials of world governing body FINA, and they spoke to a Chinese team official.
“[The Chinese] came to the Brazilians and said sorry. That’s it,” said Silva, who declined to identify the Brazilian swimmer.
Sun was back at the biggest meet before next year’s Olympics after serving a doping suspension last year.
He won the 400 and 800 freestyles in Kazan and was a strong favorite in the 1,500, which he won at the London Olympics. Sun finished second in the 200 free.
Paltrinieri took the lead from Ryan Cochrane of Canada at 500 meters and controlled the pace the rest of the way, touching in 14 minutes 39.67 seconds. He finished second to Sun in the 800 and their rematch had been highly anticipated.
“I didn’t know what to do or think,” the Italian said. “It was really terrible without him.”
The other seven finalists were in the call room wondering where Sun was.
“I started saying, ‘He’s afraid of us and he’s not coming,’ ” Paltrinieri said. “Then he really didn’t show up.”
Sun’s absence threw off the Italian’s race strategy.
“I’ve been training for two years on how to beat him, right down to the smallest details,” Paltrinieri said. “I had to change everything.”
Connor Jaeger of the United States finished second in 14:41.20. Cochrane, who was under world-record pace through 400 meters, was third in 14:51.08.
Cochrane said he saw Sun in the warmup pool before the race.
“We all thought he would just show up late, so when he didn’t it was surprising,” he said. “We would have liked the best field possible but it was still a pretty hard race.”
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary made a run at the world record in the women’s 400 individual medley before falling short on the last freestyle lap. She won in 4:30.39, after being 3.81 under world-record pace after five laps.
Hosszu, nicknamed “Iron Lady” for her relentless event schedule, also won the 200 IM in world-record time.
Maya DiRado of the United States finished second. Emily Overholt of Canada was third.
The United States won the men’s 4×100 medley relay two years after touching first and then being disqualified when Kevin Cordes dived in too soon on the breaststroke leg.
Ryan Murphy, Cordes, Tom Shields and Nathan Adrian won in 3:29.93.
Australia was second and France third.
The women’s 4×100 medley relay was the last event, with China’s team of Fu Yuanhui, Shi Jinglin, Lu Ying and Shen Duo winning in 3:54.41. Sweden was second and Australia finished third. The U.S. was fourth.
Japan’s Daiya Seto cruised to a 1.40-second victory for his second consecutive title in the 400 individual medley on the final night of swimming.
Seto led all the way and touched in 4:08.50 — 0.19 faster than he swam two years ago in Barcelona. Olympic champion Ryan Lochte didn’t qualify in the event at the worlds, although he won the 200 IM earlier in Kazan.
David Verraszto of Hungary finished second in 4:09.90. American Chase Kalisz, second in Barcelona, was third in 4:10.05.
American Tyler Clary was fourth, just like in Barcelona.
Bronte Campbell of Australia won the 50 freestyle to go with her title in the 100 free. She touched in 24.12.
Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands was 0.10 behind in giving up the title she won in Barcelona. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden took third in 24.31.
Campbell’s older sister, Cate, was fourth. Simone Manuel of the U.S. finished last.
The Australians swept the women’s sprint titles, along with the men’s and women’s 100-200 backstrokes.
Jennie Johansson earned a surprising win against a talented field in the 50 breaststroke, a non-Olympic event. The Swede won in 30.05.
Alia Atkinson of Jamaica took silver for her country’s second-ever medal at the worlds. Yuliya Efimova of Russia finished third, drawing the loudest cheers at Kazan Arena, where Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was in attendance.
World record holder Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania was fourth. American Jessica Hardy was fifth.
Camille Lacourt of France won the 50 backstroke, another event not part of the Olympic program. He finished in 24.23. American Matt Grevers was second and Ben Treffers of Australia third.
— Associated Press
