Mireia Belmonte Garcia Leads 200 Fly Prelims; Adams, Flickinger Just Behind

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Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher- USA TODAY Sports

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Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia edged her way into the top spot for tonight’s semifinals, stopping the clock in 2:06.64.

Cammile Adams of the United States led her heat at the 100 meter mark and did not look back, finishing in 2:06.67. Her teammate Hali Flickinger had a huge swim of her own in the following heat to tie for the second seed, also swimming a 2:06.67.

Adams, the silver medalist in the event at last summer’s World Championships behind Natsumi Hoshi, was only three tenths of a second off her lifetime best. When she touched the wall and looked at the scoreboard, her jaw dropped.

“That was the best prelims swim I’ve ever had,” Adams said. “I was just so excited to get the ball rolling this morning. After so many great races the past three days but especially Katie [Meili’s] and [Kathleen] Baker’s races last night just motivated me to go out and have some fun.

“I knew they were going to win medals, but just to finally get it done was extra inspiring and motivating me for this morning.”

Flickinger, meanwhile, dropped almost a full second from her lifetime best in her Olympic Games debut..

“I’ve gotten to train with the best in our country, and it’s been an honor and truly an inspiration,” she said. “I’ve been expecting [the time drop] for awhile. To finally be able to do it is just a relief.”

Hungary’s Liliana Szilagyi will be fourth with a 2:06.99. Australia’s Madeline Groves had a disappointing 100 butterfly earlier in the week, but puts herself in contention again with a 2:07.02 for the fifth spot.

Japan’s Suzuka Hasegawa led three heat three swimmers under 2:08. The Japanese swimmer touched in 2:07.35. Her teammate and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Hoshi was .02 behind in 2:07.27.

China’s Yufei Zhang posted a 2:07.55.Germany’s Franziska Hentke swam a 2:07.59 this morning. Brianna Throssell of Australia will be the tenth seed in semifinals with a 2:07.76.

Martina Van Berkel (2:08.00) of Switzerland and Yilin Zhou (2:08.21) of China take the 11th and 12th spots. Sehyeon An of Korea will be 13th tonight after swimming a 2:08.42.

Slovenia’s Anja Klinar (2:08.43), Italy’s Alessia Polieri (2:08.95), and Canada’s Audrey Lacroix (2:09.21) complete tonight’s semifinals.

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu elected to skip this morning’s 200 butterfly. The Iron Lady will swim the 200 IM final tonight in her quest for her third gold medal of the Games.

FULL MORNING RESULTS HERE

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