FINA World Championships, Swimming: Paul Biedermann Leads 200 Free Semis With Meet Record

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ROME, Italy, July 27. GERMANY's Paul Biedermann, who shot down the revered world record of Ian Thorpe in the men's 400 free on the first night, will look to be a giant killer in the men's 200 free finals tomorrow at the FINA World Championships.

Biedermann clocked a meet-record time of 1:43.65, to clear Michael Phelps' standard of 1:43.86 set in 2007. Biedermann's time stands as the third-fastest of all time behind only the 1:42.96 world record of Phelps and a 1:43.31 from Phelps also at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Russia's Danila Izotov qualified second in 1:45.09, while Phelps eased through to finals from the first semifinal with a 1:45.23.

"I felt a lot better. This morning's swim was pretty controlled. I didn't get to use my legs, and that's something I'm looking forward to using tomorrow. Last night, I honestly thought [Thorpe's] record would never get touched. It's one of the best records in the books. I've never raced [Biedermann] before, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Russia's Nikita Lobintsev (1:45.31), Japan's Sho Uchida (1:45.45), The Netherlands' Sebastiaan Verschuren (1:45.69), Australia's Kenrick Monk (1:45.77) and South Africa's Jean Basson (1:45.82) took the other finals spots.

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