Roma 09: Israel's hopes sinking fast as Barnea, Shapira Bar-Or falter

Barnea finished the 100 meters backstroke in 22nd position with a time of 54.51 seconds, 29 hundredths of a second slower than the personal best he set last week.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
swimming 224 88 (photo credit: AP)
swimming 224 88
(photo credit: AP)
Israel is still searching for its first semifinalist of the swimming World Championships in Rome after Guy Barnea and Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or both fell short of their national records on Monday and failed to rank among the top 16 in their respected swims. Barnea finished the 100 meters backstroke in 22nd position with a time of 54.51 seconds, 29 hundredths of a second slower than the personal best he set last week and 47 hundredths from a place in the top 16. Itai Chammah set a personal best of 56.15s to finish the 100m backstroke in 41st place and showed he is in good form ahead of his main event of the championships, the 200m backstroke. Shapira Bar-Or was well short of his record in the 200m freestyle, finishing in 31st position overall, touching the wall after 1:48.63 minutes, 85 hundredths slower than his personal best and more than a second from a semifinal berth. Gal Nevo warmed up for his main events of the week, the 200m and 400m Individual Medley, by recording a personal best of 1:50.52m in the 200m free to finish in 51st position. Also Monday, Yuliya Banach (1:09.18m) and Anastasia Korotkov (1:10.46m) finished the 100m breaststroke in 31st and 39th place, respectively.