By John Lohn
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 30. THE ladies that provided a spectacular show in the championship of the 100 freestyle gathered again this morning for the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle, the free-for-all to the wall. But, it was a woman not part of the 100 free who led the way into the semifinals. The United States' Kara Lynn Joyce, the four-time NCAA champion from the University of Georgia, popped a time of 25.23.
Joyce went the slightest bit quicker than Aussie Libby Lenton, who captured gold in the 100 free the previous night. Lenton, the top seed and favorite for gold, produced a time of 25.24 and was followed by Sweden's Therese Alshammar (25.34). Alshammar obviously has her sprinting together, as she set a championship record in the semifinals of the 50 butterfly.
Germany's Britta Steffen, the bronze medalist in the 100 free, was fourth in 25.40 and China's Xu Yanwei checked in fifth at 25.41. With times of 25.42 and 25.43, Australia's Jodie Henry and Great Britain's Francesca Halsall were sixth and seventh and the Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis, the silver medalist in the 100 free, was eighth in 25.45. The United States' Natalie Coughlin shared 10th in 25.54 with Canadian Eric Morningstar. They were just behind Belarus' Aliaksandra Herasimenia (25.51).
Click Here to view event results PDF file.
