Streamlined News: Recapping Day One Olympic Prelims


PHOENIX, Arizona, July 28. WE didn't have to wait long for major drama to unfold at the London Aquatics Centre, the site of the swimming competition at the Olympic Games. Michael Phelps barely made it into the final of the men's 400 IM, qualifying eighth with a time of 4:13.33. Phelps is the defending gold medalist and world record holder, and is looking to become the first man to win the same individual event three times at the Olympics. The defending Olympic silver medalist, Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, was ninth overall. He was in the same prelim heat as Phelps and missed out on the final by seven hundredths of a second.

Ryan Lochte, the defending bronze medalist, is seeded third with an easy-looking 4:12.35. Kosuke Hagino of Japan and Chad Le Clos of South Africa improved on their seed times to get themselves first and second, respectively, into the final.

And Tae-Hwan Park was disqualified in the prelims of the men's 400 freestyle, with reports starting to surface that he false started. NBCOlympics.com is reporting that the starter or referee might have called the wrong lane for the false start, claiming it was David McKeon in the lane next to Park that might have flinched. This means the 2008 Olympic champion will not get to defend his title tonight. Sun Yang was the top qualifier in the heats, with both Americans, Peter Vanderkaay and Conor Dwyer, into the final as the second and third seeds. Paul Biedermann, the world record holder, finished in 12th place.

Dana Vollmer laid down the hammer this morning in the 100 fly prelims with a 56.25, breaking Inge de Bruijn's 12-year-old Olympic record and the American record she set earlier this month at the Olympic Trials. She was the only swimmer under 57, with world record holder Sarah Sjostrom and Great Britain's Ellen Gandy among those under 58 seconds. Claire Donahue of the United States is also into the semifinals, placing seventh.

Ye Shiwen and Elizabeth Beisel made huge statements in the women's 400 IM prelims, both posting 4:31s. The final tonight will be stacked with top names, including defending Olympic champion and current world record holder Stephanie Rice, British star Hannah Miley and recent NCAA rivals Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and American Caitlin Leverenz.

Tonight's semifinal of the men's 100 breast will be a good one, with 12 swimmers under the 1:00 mark after prelims, many of them for the first time. Christian Sprenger of Australia leads the way with a 59.62, and defending Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima just behind with a 59.63. Americans Brendan Hansen and Eric Shanteau were under 1:00 in the heats, marking Shanteau's first sub-1:00 swim in a textile suit. Brenton Rickard, the world record holder in 58.61, did not break a minute but will swim semifinals after his 1:00.07 this morning.

The United States team of Lia Neal, Amanda Weir, Coughlin, Schmitt did what they needed to do and got the USA into the final, second behind a great swim by the Australians. The Netherlands, who won this event in 2008, are seeded third in the final. The Netherlands left off Ranomi Kromowidjojo, the top 100 freestyler in the world, so look for them to be stronger in the final.

That's going to do it for the Streamlined News wrap-up of the first prelims session of the London Olympics. Be sure to come back to swimmingworld.com for complete finals race recaps, as well as our Race Day show featuring Swimming World's John Lohn and Tiffany Elias live from London.

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