World Championships: Crocker, Schoeman Heading for Showdown in 50 Butterfly

By John Lohn

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 24. TWO years ago, when the World Champs were held in Montreal, American Ian Crocker found himself upended in the 50 butterfly by South African Roland Schoeman. Well, it looks like that duo will once again battle for the gold medal, and likely produce a world-record time in Melbourne.

Crocker, swimming in the 18th of 20 heats, delivered the fastest preliminary time of the morning, thanks to a swim of 23.30. Crocker's swim looked easy and it's highly possible that Schoeman's world record of 22.96 will go down either in the semifinals or final. Schoeman, obviously with no intention of yielding his world title, was second in 23.49.

Due to a strong preparation stretch leading into the World Champs, Crocker will be one of the most-watched athletes at this competition. By the time the 100 butterfly is contested later in the week, plenty of discussion will be waged over whether he has the ability to crack the 50-second mark. He is the world-record holder at 50.40. As for Schoeman, he'll be chasing Alexander Popov's world record in the 50 free later in the week. Schoeman is the second-fastest performer in history.

The third slot in qualifying went to the Ukraine's Sergiy Breus in 23.61, and he was followed by Sweden'sLars Frolander (23.66) and Serbia's Michael Cavic (23.71). Albert Subirats, coming off a sterling showing at the NCAA Championships while competing for the University of Arizona, was sixth in 23.73.

Click Here to view event results PDF file.

Check back for an updated story on this event as our team of Senior Writer John Lohn and CEO Brent Rutemiller, on the scene at Rod Laver Arena, provide in-depth coverage, along with radio and TV segments.

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