Tara Kirk places fifth in World Championships

BARCELONA — Bremerton’s own Tara Kirk finished up the 10th FINA World Championships with a fifth-place finish in the 50-meter breast when she clocked in at 31.87 seconds.

It was her slowest time in the event after finishing fifth in the semis in 31.40 and a 31.81 in the heats (again in fifth.) China’s Xuejuan Luo took the top spot on the finals podium in 30.67.

Kirk also helped out the U.S. team by swimming the breast leg (1:08.11) of the 4x100 medley relay to help record an overall time of 4:04.06. That seeded the U.S. first in the finals, but without Kirk in the lineup the Chinese took the win in 3:59.89 to the U.S. team’s 4:00.83.

Kirk also finished in fifth in the World Championships in the 100-meter breast. She’s going to the U.S. Summer Nationals in Maryland which begin Tuesday before starting her senior year at Stanford.

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