FINA World Cup, Beijing: Therese Alshammar and Chad Le Clos Set to Earn More Cash; Ian Thorpe Misses Another Final

BEIJING, China, November 8. WITH their status as the overall winners of the FINA World Cup circuit cemented, Therese Alshammar took on a lighter workload and Chad Le Clos prepped for a possible trifecta in the second day of short course prelim competition in the Chinese capital.

Men's 1500 freestyle
Four swimmers from China competed in the early heat of the timed final event. Liu Di posted the fastest time with a 15:46.69. His countryman Yang Kunpeng was second with a 15:47.22, and Wei Kun finished third with a 15:50.27. Fourth place went to Yao Zhihao with a 16:39.24.

Women's 100 freestyle
Swimmers from Australia and China will compete in tonight's final, with Aussie Cate Campbell leading the way with a 53.87. China's Tang Yi was second in 54.03 and Australia picked up slots three through five with Emma McKeon (54.07), Merindah Dingjan (54.36) and Libby Trickett (54.50). China's Wang Ruiqi was sixth with a 55.13, Australia's Kylie Palmer was seventh with a 55.21 and Qiu Yuhan of China placed eighth with a 55.28.

Men's 200 freestyle
Chad Le Clos, who has clinched his victory in the overall points race on the World Cup circuit, will be the top seed in the 200 free tonight with a prelim time of 1:46.16. He'll be the only swimmer not from China or Australia in the final. China's Jiang Haiqi qualified second with a 1:46.34, while Jiang YuHui was third in 1:46.50. Rounding out the championship final field will be Australia's Kyle Richardson (1:46.69), China's Zhang Zhongchao (1:46.77), Dai Jun (1:46.93) and Zhong Qiushi (1:47.26), and Australia's Robert Hurley (1:47.28).

Women's 50 breaststroke
Leiston Pickett (30.81) and Olivia Halicek (31.29) of Australia will take the top two lanes in the final, with Korea's Hye Jin Kim qualifying third in 31.36. Also qualifying for the final were China's Ji Liping (31.43) and He Yun (31.88), Joline Hoestman of Sweden (31.92) and China's Shi Jinglin (31.96).Korea's Su Yeon Back and Darae Jeong tied for eighth place with matching times of 32.19, forcing a swim-off that was won by Jeong in 31.46 over Back's 31.81.

Men's 100 breaststroke
Chen Cheng (59.43) and Li Xiayan (59.68) of China will take the top two qualifying spots, ahead of Australia's Brenton Rickard (59.70) and Christian Sprenger (1:00.77). Also competing in the final will be Xie Zhi of China (1:00.82), Chinese Taipei's Hsin-Hung Chiang (1:00.97), Korea's Kyuwoong Choi (1:01.37) and Japan's Naoya Tomita (1:02.27).

Men's 100 butterfly
Kosuke Hagino of Japan will lead the field in the final with a top prelim time of 52.13. Australia's Christopher Wright was second with a 52.20, and China earned spots three and four with swims from Shi Feng (52.48) and Chen Weiwu (52.55). Australia's Sam Ashby (52.57) and South Africa's Chad Le Clos (52.69) qualified fifth and sixth. Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini, who made the 2008 Olympic final in this event in this pool, qualified seventh with a 52.77, and 100 fly Olympic bronze medalist Andrew Lauterstein of Australia qualified eighth with a 52.84.

Notably, Ian Thorpe placed 13th in prelims with a 54.35.

Women's 100 backstroke
Australia's Rachel Goh (58.41) and Grace Loh (58.57) posted the two fastest times in the preliminaries. Japan's Shiho Sakai, the world record holder, qualified third with a 59.25. China's Gao Chang (59.51) and Zhou Yanxin (59.66), New Zealand's Melissa Ingram (59.76), and China's Rao Shengxue (1:00.02) and Yao Yige (1:00.07) rounded out the final field.

Men's 50 backstroke
Sun Xiaolei posted the fastest qualifying time of 23.67 in prelims, with his countryman Cheng Feiyi qualifying second with a 24.33. Omar Pinzon of Colombia was third in 24.54. Australia's Robert Hurley (24.84), Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini (24.85), China's Shi Feng (24.88), Brazil's Nelson Silva (24.99) and Germany's Jan-Philip Glania (25.01) also qualified for the final.

Women's 200 butterfly
Anna Granstroem led all swimmers in the prelims with a top time of 2:08.39. Japan's Miyu Otsuka (2:08.98), Korea's Hye Ra Choi (2:08.99) rounded out the top three qualifiers. Australia's Jessicah Schipper (2:09.04), the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in this pool, qualified fourth. The reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, China's Liu Zige, qualified fifth with a 2:09.41. China rounded out the top eight with swims by Zhou Yilin (2:09.60), Ha Sinan (2:09.72) and Liu Lan (2:11.64).

Men's 200 individual medley
Liu Wejia of China will take lane four in the final with a top time of 1:57.79. Markus Rogan of Austria qualified second with a 1:59.45, and Travis Nederpelt of Australia placed third with a 1:59.57. Also making the championship final field were Yuma Kosaka of Japan (2:00.12), South Africa's Chad Le Clos (2:00.74), and three swimmers from China: Chen Cheng (2:01.59), Sun Yunchao (2:01.74) and Sun Jiahao (2:02.64).

Women's 400 freestyle
Blair Evans (4:04.39) and Kylie Palmer (4:06.30) of Australia will lead the field in the final, with China taking spots three through six: Ha Sinan (4:07.20), Chen Shiyun (4:07.31), Wang Fei (4:08.02) and Zhou Lili (4:08.08). Melissa Ingram of New Zealand qualified seventh with a 4:08.56, and China's Shi Yuwen was eighth with a 4:09.33.

Men's 50 freestyle
Kyle Richardson is angling for a freestyle triple win after taking the 100 free in yesterday's finals. He qualified first for the splash-and-dash with a time of 22.03. New Zealand's Cameron Simpson was second with a 22.30. China grabbed slots three through six: Shi Yang (22.35), Hu Chao (22.55), Shi Tengfei (22.63), Liu Junwu (22.88). Papua New Guinea's Ryan Pini was seventh in 22.90, and China's Jiang Haiqi was eighth with a 22.92.

Women's 200 breaststroke
Darae Jeong of Korea was the top qualifier with a 2:23.70. She will be joined in the final by Japan's Keiko Fukudome (2:24.04), Maria Temnikova of Russia (2:24.25), Kanako Watanabe of Japan (2:24.43), Hye Jin Kim of Korea (2:24.46), Carina Hoestman of Sweden (2:24.56), Ji Liping of China (2:24.86) and Su Yeon Back of Korea (2:25.37).

Women's 100 individual medley
China took the top three qualifying spots in the sprint medley: Zhao Jing (1:01.61), Liu Jing (1:01.87) and Jiao Liuyang (1:01.87). Japan's Tomoyo Fukuda (1:02.23), Australia's Olivia Halicek (1:02.90) and Ellen Fullerton (1:03.19), China's Pang Jiaying (1:03.47) and Korea's Hye Ra Choi (1:03.49) also will swim in the final.

Men's 200 backstroke
Sun Xiaolei of China posted the fastest swim of the morning prelims with a 1:54.08. Japan's Kosuke Hagino was second with a 1:54.30, and China's Lin Yongqing was third with a 1:55.67. Rounding out the top eight were China's Diao Jigong (1:55.91), Germany's Jan-Philip Glania (1:55.94), Japan's Kazuki Watanabe (1:56.43), Colombia's Omar Pinzon (1:56.67) and Austria's Markus Rogan (1:56.09), who is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in this event.

Women's 50 butterfly
Therese Alshammar will only swim in one final tonight, posting the top time in the sprint butterfly with a 25.95. China's Jiao Liuyang, the reigning world champion in the 200 butterfly, qualified second with a 26.42. Lu Ying of China was third in 26.61. Australia's Emma McKeon (27.00) and Jessicah Schipper (27.13) qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. China's Zhu Wenrui was sixth with a 27.30, Australia's Olivia Halicek was seventh with a 27.31, and Zou Zinyi of China was eighth in 27.40.

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