World Championships, Day Four Semifinals: Matt Richards Breaks British Record in 100 Freestyle; Kyle Chalmers Lurking

Matt Richards -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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World Championships, Day Four Semifinals: Matt Richards Breaks British Record in 100 Freestyle; Kyle Chalmers Lurking

Can Matt Richards make it a freestyle double at the World Championships? Already the gold medalist in the 200-meter freestyle, the British standout took a major step toward capturing the title in the 100 freestyle when he led the semifinals of the event at the Marine Messe Hall in Fukuoka.

Clocking a national record of 47.47, which lowered his morning standard by .12, Richards looked superb. He was strong on the front half of his race and finished with a flourish to edge Australian Kyle Chalmers (47.52). The week didn’t start off well for Richards, who was part of a British disqualification in the 400 freestyle relay, but the past few days have certainly been memorable. And things just might get better.

He said:

“Coming into this today, it was all about progressing through the rounds, trying to swim smart – that was what got us the win last night, being smart with how we raced it (Richards and Tom Dean got a British 1-2 in the 200).

“So that’s what it’s been about in both of those, getting the job done to get a place for tomorrow. Getting lane four is great, it should be a really good race, it’s another stacked field – I’m just really excited to get going again.

“Something we really prepared for was trying to be as stable emotionally as possible after the win in the 200m freestyle, to allow us to have as much energy as possible to go again in this 100m.

“And likewise, regardless of the outcome tomorrow, good or bad, the same will stand – we’ll try to stay as emotionally stable as we can to get ready for the relays at the back-end of the week.”

Seven athletes cracked the 48-second barrier in the semifinals and just .24 separated the first through sixth qualifiers. Obviously, the final is going to be a sensational battle, and Chalmers is within striking distance of claiming the one title that has eluded him to this point in his career: World championship. The 2016 Olympic champion in the 100 freestyle, Chalmers has spoken on several occasions about securing gold at Worlds. His chance is just a day away.

China’s Pan Zhanle (47.61) and Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth (47.62) finished third and fourth and were followed in the fifth position by reigning world champion and world-record holder David Popovici of Romania. Popovici (47.66) was locked out of the medals in the 200 freestyle earlier in the week and the 18-year-old has work ahead to defend his title.

Rounding out the field were Jordan Crooks (47.71) of the Cayman Islands, France’s Maxime Grousset (47.87) and American Jack Alexy (48.06), who recovered from a poor start to give himself another swim.

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