World Championships: Reigning Champ Kirsty Coventry Leads 200 Backstroke Qualifying

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 29. SWIMMING in Lane One of the final heat, Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry threw down the hammer in the preliminaries of the 200 backstroke. Posting a time of 2:07.99, Coventry went faster than the effort that won her the gold medal in the event two years ago in Montreal. Then, Coventry covered the distance in 2:08.52.

The prelim time was the sixth-fastest in history and made Coventry the third-quickest performer all-time in the event. The only women to go faster are world-record holder Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary (2:06.62) and China's HeCihong (2:07.40). Earlier this week, Coventry won the silver medal in the 200 individual medley, finishing behind American Katie Hoff.

France's Esther Baron was the second-fastest qualifier for the semifinals and the only other woman to break 2:10. She was followed in third by American Margaret Hoelzer, the two-time defending silver medalist. Hoelzer touched the wall with a mark of 2:10.85, ahead of the 2:11.12 of Japan's Reiko Nakamura and the 2:11.50 of Aussie Jo Fargus. Australia's Frances Adcock was seventh in 2:11.60 and the USA's Elizabeth Beisel, a 14-year-old, was eighth in 2:11.91.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

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