South Africans Rik Neethling and Kaitlin Sandino defended their 800-meter freestyle titles in Los Angeles Thursday in the opening races of the Janet Evans Invitational swim meet.
Neethling avenged a loss in the United States 1,500m freestyle collegiate finals by beating American Erik Vendt. Neethling won in 8min 6.46sec with Vendt second in 8:08.09.
Sandino, 17, showed no sign of earlier shoulder tendinitis in capturing the women's 800 in 8:38.66 with Costa Rica's Claudia Poll second in 8:40.70 and American Kalyn Keller third in 8:47.39.
"My stroke was really good," Sandino said. "It feels great to be back in shape."
The meet continues here through Sunday - (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)