By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, Australia, March 24. AMERICAN Peter Vanderkaay clocked a personal-best time of 3:45.82 to move to 10th all-time as the top qualifier in the men's 400 freestyle at the FINA World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n
But, the news was not all good for the United States as American-record holder Klete Keller was 10th in the prelim session and failed to advance to the championship final. Keller appeared to pick the pace up toward the end of his morning swim, but it was not nearly enough. Keller touched in 3:49.03.<\/p>\n
The other surprise from the race was Australian Grant Hackett barely slipping into the championship final of an event in which he is the defending champ. Swimming in the same heat as Keller, Hackett was timed in 3:48.72 for the final berth to the title race.<\/p>\n
Korea's Tae Hwan Park posted the second-fastest time of the morning with a 3:46.24, while Russia's Yury Prilukov finished third in 3:46.57. Other championship finalists include Tunisia's Ous Mellouli (3:46.82), Australia's Craig Stevens (3:46.96), Italy's Federico Colbertaldo (3:48.13), Ukraine's Sergiy Fesenko (3:48.50) and Australia's Grant Hackett (3:48.72).<\/p>\n
Vanderkaay turned in a commanding performance, as his splits were ahead of the field from the start. Training at Club Wolverine under U.S. head coach Bob Bowman, Vanderkaay looked sharp throughout and could challenge the American standard this evening. That mark stands at 3:44.11.<\/p>\n
Mellouli, a former star at USC, continues to raise his international profile. The bronze medalist in the event at the 2005 World Champs, Mellouli had a tremendous tuneup season. Later this week, he's expected to challenge for a medal in the 400 I.M.<\/p>\n