Kukors falls barely shy of bid for Beijing Olympics

July 3, 2008 3:45 pm

So close. But eight-hundredths of a second wasn’t close enough for Ariana Kukors.

In an electrifying three-way race for two spots in the Beijing Olympics, the 19-year-old product of Auburn Mountainview High School fell that minute margin short on Wednesday night in the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. trials in Omaha, Neb.

Kukors, who came into the finals at the Qwest Center as the second seed – and went into the closing 50-meter freestyle leg with the lead – was touched out by Olympic veteran Natalie Coughlin for the second spot behind winner Katie Hoff. While Hoff was coming from behind to win the event in an American record time of 2:09.71, Coughlin touched out Kukors for the No. 2 position, 2:10.32-2:10.40.

For Kukors, who will be a sophomore at the University of Washington, it was a personal-best time. She came into the trials seeded fourth at 2:11.68. In preliminary heats on Tuesday, she posted a 2:12.38, the fifth-fastest time, then dropped all the way to a PR mark of 2:10.85 in semifinals later that day.

That made Kukors second-seeded alongside Hoff for the finals, Hoff having earned the fast lane with 2:09.94.

But it was Coughlin – winner of a whopping 12 NCAA championships while at Cal Berkeley and five Olympic medals at Athens in 2004 – who stormed to the front, and was 76 hundredths of a second ahead of world-record pace at the midpoint of the race. But the breaststroke is a strong suit of Kukors, and she used that 50-meter leg to pull ahead and pull in front, touching the wall at 150 meters in 1:39.21, with Hoff at 1:39.23 and Coughlin at 1:39.71.

Hoff, who already had won three events in Omaha, surged ahead with about 15 meters left, leaving it to Kukors and Coughlin to battle for second.

Earlier this week, Kukors placed sixth in the 400 IM and was 12th in the 200 free.

Older sister Emily Kukors, a graduate of Auburn High and Alabama’s Auburn University, was 19th in the both the 200 IM and 200 free, and 14th in the 200 butterfly, having made the semifinals in the latter.

The youngest Kukors, Mattie, another Auburn Mountainview product, placed 41st in the 200 IM and 62nd in the 400 IM.

Emily and Ariana Kukors were scheduled to swim the 100 free on Thursday. Ariana also was i the 200 breaststroke on Thursday, and in the 200 back on Friday. All results were unavailable at press time.