Komisarz to bring back three medals

Louisville resident Rachel Komisarz earned her first individual medal tonight in her last event on the final day of the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.

Komisarz was the seventh seed in the women’s 100-meter butterfly final and had to swim in the first lane. But she surged into second place with a time of 57.43 seconds, a full second faster than her semifinal time, to secure her second silver medal and her third medal overall. Australia’s Lisbeth Lenton won the race in 56.61.

“I knew I had to be out and aggressive on the first 50,” Komisarz said in an interview with Team USA, “but I tried to stay relaxed and then just hammered it home. I knew I could bring it back faster than anybody, so I had to be confident and know I could do it. It was all about swimming my race and not worrying about what everyone else was doing.”

Komisarz, a 2004 Olympian who trains with the Lakeside Seahawks in Louisville, already had earned a silver medal in the 400-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 800-meter freestyle relay.

Team USA won the most medals overall - 21, including six gold, seven silver and eight bronze - during the five-day event. The women, with Lakeside’s Mike DeBoor as their coach, won 11 of those medals.

Lexington, Ky., resident Elaine Breeden, a Trinity Christian Academy senior who trains with Wildcat Aquatics, placed fifth in the women’s 200-meter butterfly in her best finish earlier in the competition.