Hansen catches Kitajima

MONTREAL -- He chased his Japanese spectre for three summers, from Barcelona to Athens to an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Finally, before the sun went down here yesterday, Brendan Hansen caught and passed the man who'd taken away his gold medal at Olympus and haunted his dreams since.

''When you get beat like I did in front of that crowd last summer and come out here in the same situation, it was like giving me a second chance," said Hansen, after he'd led Kosuke Kitajima wire-to-wire to capture the 100-meter breaststroke at the World Swimming Championships. ''And I didn't want to screw it up twice."

Hansen's victory, in a meet-record 59.37 seconds that was just seven-100ths of a second off the global mark he set last year, was the first by an American in the event since Steve Lundquist won in 1982. And it was the highlight of a day when the Americans, who've ruled this meet since 1991, cranked into high gear.

There was a startling world record (1:06.20) in the 100 breaststroke semis by 18-year-old Jessica Hardy, who was only fifth in last year's Olympic Trials.

''I definitely think I can go faster than this," said Hardy, whose best previous time was 1:07.83.

There was a meet and US record in the 200 individual medley by 16-year-old Katie Hoff (2:10:41), the rising star of the women's squad. There was a strong silver medal by Ian Crocker in the 50 butterfly, where South Africa's Roland Schoeman set his second world mark (22.96) in as many days. ''I did want to try and get the record back," said Crocker, whose effort (23.12) was nearly two-10ths faster than his old global mark. ''But I was happy with my performance."

And there was a solid swim by Michael Phelps, who qualified first for tonight's 200 freestyle finals, where he'll get another shot at Australian captain Grant Hackett.

''I wanted to go out and make a statement," said Phelps, whose 1:46.33 in the semis was the year's second fastest time. ''I wanted to show that my first race [18th in the 400 free prelims] wasn't how I planned to swim the whole week."

Hoff, Phelps's old North Baltimore clubmate, wanted to show that she was a different woman from the nervous kid who threw up after her first Olympic race last summer. ''It was a monkey-off-the-back kind of deal," said US women's coach Jack Bauerle.

Coming in to this meet, Hoff had the fastest clocking of the year by more than two seconds and calmly backed it up, cruising past Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe by more than seven-10ths of a second.

''It was a huge wave of relief for me," said Hoff, who has another two excellent gold-medal shots in the 400 IM and the 4x200 freestyle relay. ''There was such a huge buildup all year, but I did it. I can't believe the national anthem was playing for me."

Hansen had heard the anthem before -- he'd won the 200 breast at the 2001 championships and swam on the medley relay in Athens. But the one he wanted was the one that got away from him at the 2003 meet and again at Olympus -- the 100 breast.

The Olympic loss, which came after Hansen had shattered Kitajima's world mark at the team trials, was scalding. ''I swam his race instead of mine," he said. It didn't matter that some of Hansen's teammates thought that Kitajima should have been disqualified for using an illegal dolphin kick.

''I told people then that if I had gone 59.3, we wouldn't be talking about it," said Hansen, who swam 1:00.25 that day and lost by seventeen-100ths. ''So I'm not talking about it now."

This summer, Hansen again came in with the year's best time and an iron determination to focus on the only race he could control: his own. ''Tonight, I put the blinkers on like a horse in the Kentucky Derby and swam my race," he said.

By the time they got to the turn, Hansen had a lead of more than three-10ths of a second. At Olympus, Kitajima ran him down in the final 50. Yesterday, he didn't have the gas to catch the American, who won by sixteen-100ths.

''I knew to win the race, it had to be a world-record level," said Kitajima, who'll sit out the 200 breast, where Hansen also is favored. ''In the last 50, I just kind of got stiff and that was the result."

The difference this time, Hansen said, was emotion, a year's worth of searing disappointment that he channeled into training. ''I treated this meet like it was the Olympics," he said. The Olympics he thought he'd have, that is. In the chlorinated world, victory deferred is not always victory denied.