By John Lohn
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 26. ALREADY the champion in the 400 freestyle and qualified for Day Three finals in the 100 backstroke and 1,500 freestyles, France's Laure Manaudou uncorked the top qualifying performance in the 200 freestyle, surging to the wall for a time of 1:57.66 and a berth to the semifinals. That was the only morning time under 1:58 and would have easily won gold two years ago in Montreal.
Whether Manaudou actually tackles all three races at night, an almost unfathomable task, remains to be seen. It would be a highly difficult challenge, even for an athlete of her ability. Manaudou was followed in the No. 2 position by the USA's Katie Hoff. A night after defending her title in the 200 individual medley, Hoff turned in a swim of 1:58.17, slightly quicker than the 1:58.24 of Sweden's Josefin Lillhage.
The other American in the event, Dana Vollmer followed her strong prelim swim in the 400 free relay by qualifying fourth in 1:58.26. Vollmer was a 2004 Olympian in the event and had a superb collegiate season at California. The fifth slot was taken by Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak. The silver medalist in the 400 free, Jedrzejczak was timed in 1:58.57.
Rounding out the top eight were Aussie Linda Mackenzie (1:58.80), Italy's Federica Pellegrini (1:58.83) and Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey (1:59.14). The top seed heading into the meet, Germany's Annika Lurz also advanced to the semifinals, taking 11th in 1:59.42. Lurz is the second-fastest performer in history.
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