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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Paltrinieri wins 1,500; Yang misses race

China’s Sun Yang, left, and Katie Ledecky of U.S. were named best athletes af World Championships. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

SWIMMING: Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy won the 1,500 freestyle at the world swimming championships Sunday in Kazan, Russia, in a race that surprisingly went off without two-time defending champion Sun Yang of China.

Sun didn’t appear during introductions and Lane 3 remained empty instead of being filled by reserve Pal Joensen of the Faroe Islands.

FINA spokesman Pedro Adrega said Chinese team officials told him Sun felt a “chest sensation” during warmups.

“As there was not enough time to evaluate the situation or to check his medical condition, they decided to withdraw,” he said.

Sun later returned to the venue and received his male athlete of the meet award. Katie Ledecky of the United States was the women’s winner.

Sun was back at the biggest meet before next year’s Olympics after serving a doping suspension last year.

He won the 400 and 800 freestyles in Kazan and was a strong favorite in the 1,500, which he won at the London Olympics. Sun finished second in the 200 free.

Paltrinieri took the lead from Ryan Cochrane of Canada at 500 meters and controlled the pace the rest of the way, touching in 14 minutes, 39.67 seconds. He finished second to Sun in the 800 and their rematch had been highly anticipated.

Connor Jaeger of the United States finished second in 14:41.20. Cochrane, who was under world-record pace through 400 meters, was third in 14:51.08.

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary made a run at the world record in the women’s 400 individual medley before falling short on the last freestyle lap. She won in 4:30.39, after being 3.81 under world-record pace after five laps.

Hosszu, nicknamed “Iron Lady” for her relentless event schedule, also won the 200 IM in world-record time.

The United States won the men’s 4x100 medley relay two years after touching first and then being disqualified when Kevin Cordes dived in too soon on the breaststroke leg.

Ryan Murphy, Cordes, Tom Shields and Nathan Adrian won in 3:29.93.

The women’s 4x100 medley relay was the last event, with China’s team of Fu Yuanhui, Shi Jinglin, Lu Ying and Shen Duo winning in 3:54.41. Sweden was second and Australia finished third. The U.S. was fourth.

Japan’s Daiya Seto cruised to a 1.40-second victory for his second consecutive title in the 400 individual medley on the final night of swimming.

Bronte Campbell of Australia won the 50 freestyle to go with her title in the 100 free. She touched in 24.12.

The Australians swept the women’s sprint titles, along with the men’s and women’s 100-200 backstrokes.

Jennie Johansson earned a surprising win against a talented field in the 50 breaststroke, a non-Olympic event. The Swede won in 30.05.

Camille Lacourt of France won the 50 backstroke, another event not part of the Olympic program. He finished in 24.23. American Matt Grevers was second and Ben Treffers of Australia third.

Nishikori beats Isner for first Citi Open title

Tennis: Kei Nishikori came back to beat big-serving John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for his first Citi Open hardcourt title in Washington.

The second-seeded Nishikori, the runner-up at the U.S. Open last year, weathered 18 aces from the eighth-seeded Isner, a 6-foot-10 American who fell to 0-3 in finals in Washington.

It is Nishikori’s 10th career title and third of 2015, when he is 43-9. Only No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Roger Federer have won more tournaments this season, and only Djokovic and No. 3 Andy Murray have won more matches.

• Stephens notches first WTA title: Sloane Stephens won the first WTA title of her career, overwhelming Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 6-2 at the Citi Open.

The 22-year-old Stephens, who is based in Florida, has had plenty of success making it into the second week at Grand Slam tournaments, but she never had made it as far as a final anywhere until Washington’s hardcourt tuneup for the U.S. Open.

Neither of Sunday’s finalists was seeded; Stephens is ranked 35th, and Pavlyuchenkova is 40th.

• Germany’s Kerber outlasts hard-hitting Pliskova: Angelique Kerber bent her knees nearly to the ground all afternoon to dig out an onslaught of powerful ground strokes by Karolina Pliskova, beating the hard-hitting Czech 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 for the Bank of the West championship in Stanford, California.

The gritty, left-handed Kerber extended points with her baseline gets on the way to a title in the event she lost at Stanford a year ago against Serena Williams. The fifth-seeded Kerber, from Germany, improved to 4-0 in finals this year.

Miscellany: Lachlan Norris outsprinted Brent Bookwalter to win the final stage of cycling’s Tour of Utah in Park City, Utah, and Joe Dombrowski finished in the next group on the road to secure the overall title.

Norris and Bookwalter broke away from a selection that made it over the final climb, speeding away on the long downhill into Park City.

Dombrowski stayed out of trouble all day to secure the victory.

• Marquez wins third straight Indianapolis GP: Marc Marquez overcame a morning fall and a strong challenge from Jorge Lorenzo, making the decisive pass with less than three laps to go for his third straight Indianapolis Grand Prix win.

The 22-year-old Spaniard beat Lorenzo by 0.688 seconds in Indy’s closest MotoGP race ever.

Marquez has won five straight at the Brickyard and seven straight on American soil.

• Charlotte line coach Ratliff dies after cardiac event: UNC Charlotte offensive line coach Phil Ratliff died Sunday in Charlotte, North Carolina, six days after suffering a cardiac event. He was 44.

Ratliff became the 49ers’ offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator in 2012.

A native of Louisa, Kentucky, Ratliff played at Marshall from 1989-92 and later coached there. He also coached at James Madison, helping the school win the 2004 NCAA I-AA national championship.