By John Lohn
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. IN her last two World Championships, in Barcelona and Montreal, Margaret Hoelzer has walked away with silver medals in the 200 backstroke. This year, she might get the gold. Producing an American record and the sixth-fastest time in history, Hoelzer, on her birthday, topped the semifinals of her prime event with a time of 2:07.70.
Hoelzer will need a similar performance tomorrow, as she was followed closely by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, the defending champion. Coventry checked in with a time of 2:07.78, the second time in the day in which she dipped under 2:08. The third position for the championship final was picked up by Japan's Reiko Nakamura (2:08.82).
"I tend to swim my own race but I am aware of how the other girls swim," Hoelzer said. "I'm not trying to swim their race, but to have a feel for what they're doing."
France's Esther Baron and Japan's Hanae Ito were fourth and fifth, with respective clockings of 2:10.55 and 2:10.69. The other places in the championship heat went to Italy's Alessia Filippi and Hungary's Nikolett Szepesi in identical marks of 2:11.16 and Great Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds with a showing of 2:11.20.
Click Here to view event results PDF file.
