FINA World Cup, Berlin: Missy Franklin Sets Up to Race Three Times in Finals

BERLIN, Germany, October 23. ALL eyes were on new world record holder Missy Franklin in this second prelim session of short course meters racing in Berlin at the FINA World Cup.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Four swimmers lined up for the first heat in this timed-final event, with Richard Nagy of Slovakia earning the top time with a 15:23.78. Stefan Sorak of Serbia finished second with a 15:30.51, and Anton Dobrzhanskiy was third in 15:36.41. Fourth place went to Aleksi Eskelinen with a time of 15:53.73.

Women's 100 freestyle
Daniela Schreiber of Germany topped the qualifying round with a time of 53.11. In her first of three events today, Missy Franklin qualified second with a 53.22. After yesterday's 200 backstroke world record, could Natalie Coughlin's American record of 51.88 be enjoying its final hours of existence? Libby Trickett's 2009 world record of 51.01 might also be threatened in the final.

Also earning spots in the final were Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark (53.23), Angie Bainbridge of Australia (53.36), Great Britain's Fran Halsall (53.38), Germany's Britta Steffen (53.42), Allison Schmitt of the United States (53.56) and Hanna-Maria Seppala of Finland (53.83).

Men's 200 freestyle
World record holder Paul Biedermann will take lane four in tonight's final with a prelim time of 1:44.85. Filippo Magnini of Italy qualified second in 1:45.14, while Great Britain's Ross Davenport was third in 1:45.92. Chad Le Clos of South Africa will be looking to add to his World Cup winnings with a podium finish tonight, qualifying fourth with a 1:46.04.

Also qualifying for the final were Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski (1:46.42), Italiy's Gianluca Maglia (1:46.49), David Carry of Great Britain (1:46.86) and Pieter Timmers of Belgium (1:46.94).

Women's 50 breaststroke
Valentina Artemyeva of Russia qualified first for the final with a 30.54. Also taking spots in the final will be Jennie Johansson of Sweden (30.70), Germany's Dorothea Brandt (30.82), Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania (30.86), Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark (31.11), Hye Jim Kim of Korea (31.34), Australia's Sally Foster (31.50) and Belgium's Kim Janssens (31.58).

Men's 100 breaststroke
James Goddard, known mostly for his backstroke prowess, earned a surprise top seed in the breaststroke qualifying rounds today with a time of 58.88. Goddard is also one of the top individual medley swimmers in the world, earning a fourth-place finish in the 200 IM at the Shanghai world championships. Li Xiayan of China will line up next to Goddard with a second-place time of 59.11, and Glenn Snyders qualified third in 59.34.

Canada's Paul Kornfeld (59.65), Kazuki Otsuka of Japan (59.74), Marco Koch of Germany (59.91), Mike Brown of Canada (59.91) and Robin van Aggele of the Netherlands (1:00.01) will also compete in the final.

Women's 400 individual medley
Annick van Westendorp of Switzerland posted the fastest time in the slower heats of the timed-final event with a 4:47.92. Breanne Siwicki of Canada was second in 4:49.03 and Alisa Riebensahm finished third with a 4:50.11.

Men's 100 butterfly
Short course world record holder Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia raced in the same heat in prelims today as long course world record holder Michael Phelps of the United States, with Korotyshkin qualifying first for finals in 51.25. Phelps was second with a 51.47. Also racing in that heat was Francois Heersbrandt of Belgium, who finished third overall with a 51.48.

Also taking lanes in the final will be Tyler McGill of the USA (51.53), Geoff Huegill of Australia (51.89), Konrad Czerniak of Poland (51.99), Chad Le Clos of South Africa (52.10) and Steffen Deibler of Germany (52.13).

Women's 100 backstroke
Missy Franklin qualified first in the shorter backstroke event with a 57.54. Notably, Natalie Coughlin holds the American record of 56.08, with the world record belonging to Japan's Shiho Sakai with a 55.23 swum in the same pool in 2009. Sakai was also the world record holder in the 200 back until Franklin's swim yesterday.

Four of the world's most elite backstrokes will also race in the final: Australia's Rachel Goh (57.60), Belinda Hocking of Australia (57.87), Elizabeth Simmonds of Great Britain (57.92) and Anastasia Zueva of Russia (58.86). Also joining them in the final will be Ukraine's Darya Zevina (59.10), Jenny Mensing of Germany (59.50) and Lauren Quigley of Great Britain (59.85).

Men's 50 backstroke
Gerhard Zandberg is looking to join countryman Chad Le Clos as a gold medalist for South Africa on the world cup circuit, qualifying first in 24.06. Aschwin Wildeboer of Spain qualified second in 24.19. And after passing up the 100 back yesterday, Great Britain's Liam Tancock, the reigning long course world champ in this event, raced the short backstroke and qualified third in 24.26.

Also earning spots in the final were Christian Diener of Germany (24.29), Mirco di Tora of Italy (24.38), Cheng Feiyi of China (24.45), Flori Lang of Switzerland (24.62) and Stefan Herbst of Germany (24.68).

Women's 200 butterfly
Hali Flickinger, representing the United States as part of the national youth team competing here, qualified first in 2:08.15. Alessia Polieri of Italy was second in 2:08.42 and Martina van Berkel of Switzerland was third in 2:08.62.

Rounding out the championship final field will be Hye Ra Choi of Korea (2:09.30), Otylia Jedrzejczak of Poland (2:09.94), Allison Schmitt of the United States (2:10.01), Franziska Hentke of Germany (2:10.34) and Veronika Popova of Russia (2:10.43).

Men's 200 individual medley
James Goddard posted the quickest time in prelims with a 1:55.81. Michael Phelps was second in 1:56.04 and Japan's Hidemasa Sano was third with a 1:56.29.

Rounding out the top eight finishers were Australia's Kenneth To (1:56.73), Yuma Kosaka of Japan (1:57.11), Chad Le Clos of South Africa (1:57.16), Daiya Seto of Japan (1:57.38) and Diogo Carvalho of Portugal (1:57.61).

Women's 400 freestyle
Lotte Friis of Denmark will be looking for the distance freestyle sweep with a top qualifying time of 4:05.23. Allison Schmitt of the USA, who will have little recovery time after swimming in the 200 butterfly final, will race in lane five in this event after qualifying with a 4:06.41. Chelsea Chenault of the USA qualified third in 4:06.85.

Angie Bainbridge of Australia (4:07.65), Elena Sokolova of Russia (4:09.02), Cecile Johannessen of Norway (4:09.37), Jessica Thielmann of Great Britain (4:09.47) and Mie Osteragaard Nielsen of Denmark (4:10.18) will also race in the final.

Men's 50 freestyle
Ari-Pekka Liukkonen of Finland posted the top qualifying time in the sprint freestyle with a 21.46. Marco Orsi of Italy was second in 21.69, while Matthew Abood of Austrlia qualified third with a 21.73. Also lining up for the final will be Sergei Fesikov of Russia (21.75), Stefan Nystrand of Sweden (21.90), Andrii Govorov of Ukraine (22.06), USA's Tyler McGill (22.10) and Germany's Steffen Deibler (22.10).

Women's 200 breaststroke
Andrea Kropp, a sophomore at Princeton University, qualified first in 2:21.31, well ahead of second-place finisher Sally Foster of Australia (2:23.82).

Also qualifying for the final were Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark (2:23.88), Hye Jim Kim of Korea (2:24.11), Lisa Fissneider of Italy (2:24.14), Anastasia Chaun of Russia (2:24.58), Su Yeon Back of Korea (2:25.08) and Kanako Watanabe of Japan (2:25.34).

Women's 100 individual medley
Sophie Allen of Great Britain took the top spot in prelims with a time of 59.70. Theresa Michalak of Germany placed second in 59.95 and Missy Franklin of the USA was third in 1:00.10. To note, Ariana Kukors holds the American record of 58.65.

Rounding out the championship final field will be Canada's Erica Morningstar (1:00.40), Hanna-Maria Seppala (1:00.47), Great Britain's Fran Halsall (1:00.64) and Sophie Smith (1:01.62), and Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte (1:02.19).

Men's 200 backstroke
Germany's Yannick Lebherz led qualifying with a 1:54.29. In second was Radoslaw Kawecki of Poland with a 1:54.72 and third went to Christian Diener with a 1:55.57. Rounding out the championship final field will be Michael Phelps of the USA (1:55.62), Aschwin Wildeboer of Spain (1:55.74), Jan-Philip Galnia of Germany (1:55.75) and Jacob Pebley of the USA (1:55.78). Felix Wolf of Germany and China's Cheng Feiyi tied in prelims with a 1:56.78, forcing a swim-off about 30 minutes later that was won by Cheng in 1:57.93. Wolf swam a 1:58.05 in the swim-off.

Women's 50 butterfly
Therese Alshammar of Sweden will take lane four in the final, posting a time of 25.84 in prelims. Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark (26.24) and Dorothea Brandt (26.58) took the second and third positions, respectively. Kimberly Buys of Belgium (26.64), Amy Smith of Great Britain (26.82), Katarina Listopadova of Slovakia (26.88), Maria Ugolkova of Russia (26.89) and Sina Sutter of Germany (26.95) also earned spots in the final.

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