World Championships: Schipper, Lenton Give Crowd a Show in 100 Fly Semifinals

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 24. THE Australian crowd went wild at the announcement of their names prior to the race and Jessicah Schipper and Libby Lenton responded with an appropriate response: They qualified first and second in the women's 100 butterfly. That they occupied the top-two slots shouldn't come as a surprise, considering they're the reigning gold and silver medalists from the World Champs in Montreal in 2005.

Shaking off a slow start and riding a strong back half, Schipper qualified first for tomorrow's final in 57.57, ahead of the 57.78 registered by Lenton. Better known for her exploits in the 200 fly, where she's the world-record holder, Schipper roared down the last lap and comfortably hit the wall ahead of the field in the second semifinal. Lenton was a touch behind.

Qualifying third for the final was Inge Dekker of the Netherlands, who took top honors in the first semifinal with a time of 57.82. Dekker led wire-to-wire and held off the United States' Natalie Coughlin. Coughlin turned in a time of 58.11 and figures to be in the mix for a medal during the final. The other American in the field, Rachel Komisarz, couldn't match her morning swim. Komisarz went 58.39, as compared to the 57.98 from the morning.

Also advancing to the final were China's Zhou Yafei (58.20), France's Alena Popchanka (58.49) and China's Xu Yanwei (58.82). That China managed to qualify a pair of swimmers for the final suggests the nation could have a strong meet. During the past few years, very little has been known about the strength of the Chinese arsenal. But, with Beijing around the corner, it seems the door might be opening for a bit of a look.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

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