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Tom Shields didn’t like having to wait three days to start racing at the FINA world championships, but he put together a 200 butterfly prelim swim that earned him a spot in the semifinals. He didn’t like the way he swam it, but knew he had the opportunity to fix the mistakes in tonight’s race.
“The swim was all over the place,” he said. “That’s my second-fastest time ever. I’m not worried right now.”
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Shields posted a 1:56.12 to qualify ninth overall in prelims. He’ll need to move up one spot among the 16 in the semifinalists in order to make his way into his first world championship final. One of the chief rivals will be Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, who posted a very fast 1:53.71 in Shields’ heat.
“I could tell at the 100 wall he was going to be pretty good,” he said. “
