World Cup, Durban: Second Day Prelims

Universal Sports Webcast Coverage of World Cup

DURBAN, South Africa, October 18. THE final day of the two-day FINA World Cup stop in Durban, South Africa began with a second preliminary session of action.

Women's 100 freestyle
Sweden's Josefin Lillhage led the way with a 56.79, while Australia's Marieke Guehrer finished second in 57.09. South Africa's Liezl Burger qualified third in 57.76, while Germany's Lena Celina Hiller took fourth in 58.11.

South Africans made up the rest of the top eight with Tannith Prout (58.47), Jessica Ashley-Cooper (58.75), Tamlin Crafford (59.22) and Janke Engelbrecht (59.23) also qualifying.

Men's 200 freestyle
South Africa's Darian Townsend touched out Tunisia's Ous Mellouli, 1:48.66 to 1:48.69, for the top seed. Australia's Kyle Richardson placed third in 1:49.04, while Sebastien Rousseau touched fourth in 1:49.10.

South Africa's Wesley Gilchrist finished fifth in 1:49.20, while Germany's Felix Wolf (1:50.04) and Yannick Lebherz (1:50.05) placed sixth and seventh. South Africa's Leith Shankland qualified eighth in 1:50.19.

Women's 50 breaststroke
The sprint breast event will look almost like a South African Short Course finale with Zimbabwe's Maxine Heard providing the only international swimmer to make the top eight with an eighth-place 34.98.

Otherwise, Suzaan van Biljon (32.46), Keri Plumstead (33.32), Jeanie Du Toit (33.37), Tasmynne Roe (33.43), Courtney Mower (33.78), Taryn Mackenzie (33.83) and Leandri Roode (34.85) all qualified for South Africa.

Men's 100 breaststroke
African-record holder Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa (59.48) and Australia's Christian Sprenger (59.98) both qualified with sub-minute performances.

Brazil's Felipe Lima placed third in 1:00.04, while South Africa's Thabang Moeketsane took fourth in 1:00.79.

Ukraine's Igor Borysik (1:01.04), South Africa's William Diering (1:01.20), Russia's Sergey Geybel (1:01.80) and Germany's Marco Koch (1:02.06) rounded out the top eight.

Men's 100 butterfly
South Africa qualified 1-2 with Neil Watson (53.61) and George Du Rand (54.01) leading the way. Russia's Maxim Ganikhin (54.03) touched third, while South Africa's Garth Tune (55.01) and Werner Bosman (55.37) took fourth and fifth.

Sweden's Simon Sjodin qualified sixth in 55.65, while South Africa's Marius Hattingh (56.07) and Rohan Jacobs (56.16) collected the final transfer spots.

Women's 100 backstroke
New Zealand's Melissa Ingram paced the pack with a 1:01.47, while South Africa's Yolana Du Plessis (1:01.51) and Australia's Sophie Edington (1:01.53) weren't far behind in second and third.

South Africa's Tannith Prout (1:01.86) and Melissa Corfe (1:02.35) as well as Brazil's Fabiola Molina (1:02.87) took fourth through sixth. Meanwhile, South Africa's Jessica Ashley-Cooper (1:02.97) and Chanelle Van Wyk (1:03.54) finished seventh and eighth.

Men's 50 backstroke
The U.S. topped qualifying in the sprint back as 2007 World Cup Champion Randall Bal qualified first in 24.81, while compatriot Peter Marshall touched second in 24.99.

Brazil's Daniel Orzechowski (25.00) and Russia's Evgeny Aleshin (25.12) placed third and fourth, while South Africa's Garth Tune (25.20) and Russia's Artem Dubrovsky (25.52) finished fifth and sixth. South Africa's Ricky Ellis (25.71) and Rohan Jacobs (26.15) made up the rest of the top eight.

Men's 200 IM
South Africa's Riaan Schoeman dominated the morning session with a 2:00.49, while Germany's Marco Koch (2:03.43) and South Africa's Jay-Cee Thompson (2:03.83) were his closest competitors.

Tunisia's Ous Mellouli (2:05.11), South Africa's Darian Townsend (2:06.90), Bernhard Lotriet (2:06.90), Kyle Mac Millan (2:07.44) and Sebastien Rousseau (2:07.45) accounted for the rest of the championship finale.

Women's 400 freestyle
In another strong showing, New Zealand's Melissa Ingram qualified going away in 4:20.75. South Africa's Rene Warnes (4:24.30) and Alison-Jayne Logan (4:24.60) were the nearest finishers.

South Africa also took the rest of the transfer spots with Melissa Corfe (4:26.76), Zoe Venter (4:27.56), Rochelle Ras (4:28.20), Bianca Hauzer (4:28.30) and Roxanne Tammadge (4:30.81) all making finals.

Men's 50 freestyle
Another event somewhat hurt by the fact that Roland Schoeman of South Africa suffered a back injury and had to pull out of the meet just prior was the men's splash-and-dash. World Cup-record holder Stefan Nystrand of Sweden touched a second off his standard in 21.90, while South Africa's Darian Townsend finished second in 22.12.

Australia's Kyle Richardson (22.33) and South Africa's Wesley Gilchrist (22.47) placed third and fourth, while Brazil's Daniel Orzechowski (22.72) and South Africa's Greg Kieck (22.73) took fifth and sixth. Switzerland's Gregor Widmer (22.75) and Kicker Vencill of the U.S. (22.78) also qualified.

Women's 200 breaststroke
The women's 200 breast will truly be a South African intra-squad match-up in the finale as the host country captured every final spot. Suzaan van Biljon earned the top seed in 2:30.44, while Jessica Pengelly (2:33.85), Kathryn Meaklim (2:36.74) and Courtnay Mower (2:37.22) collected second through fourth.

Jeanie Du Toit (2:37.75), Samantha Dry (2:38.63), Taryn Mackenzie (2:39.64) and Yolandi van der Merwe (2:40.18) comprised the other top eight spots.

Women's 100 IM
Sweden's Josefin Lillhage (1:03.50) and South Africa's Mandy Loots (1:03.53) topped qualifying in the sprint medley, while Australia's Sophie Edington (1:03.83) and South Africa's Bianca Cant (1:05.25) touched third and fourth.

Brazil's Fabiola Molina (1:05.46) and South Africa's Jean-Marie Neethling (1:05.93), Tasmynne Roe (1:06.33) and Amy Lombard (1:06.34) also qualified.

Men's 200 backstroke
Surprisingly, Randall Bal of the U.S. elected not to swim the 200 back, opening the door for several other swimmers. Germany's Yannick Lebherz took the top seed in 2:00.30, while Russia's Artem Dubrovsky (2:00.56) and South Africa's George Du Rand (2:00.66) will be in the mix.

Russia's Evgeny Aleshin (2:01.26), South Africa's Leith Shankland (2:01.33), Germany's Felix Wolf (2:01.95), South Africa's Ricky Ellis (2:02.59) and Sweden's Simon Sjodin (2:03.04) helped make up one of the most international finale fields of the meet.

Women's 50 butterfly
Sweden's Therese Alshammar, the 2007 World Cup overall points winner, led the way with a 26.59 in the sprint fly. Australia's Marieke Guehrer finished second in 27.18, while South Africa's Mandy Loots took third in 27.73.

South Africa's Chanelle Van Wyk (28.05) and Bianca Cant (28.62) as well as Germany's Lena Celina Hiller (29.21) placed fourth through sixth, while South Africa's Amy Lombard (29.25) and Chiquita Labuschagne (29.35) rounded out the top eight.

Full Results

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