BEIJING, China, January 31. THE first day of the test event Good Luck Beijing China Open at the National Aquatics Center (The Water Cube) truly made the Road to Beijing in swimming come to life as world-class swimmers competed in the facility for the first time.<\/p>\n
Following the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games morning finals schedule, the first night of swimming featured preliminary long course competition in the men's 100 fly and 200 free, as well as the women's 100 free and 200 fly.<\/p>\n
Men's 100 fly prelims<\/b>
\nChina claimed the top two spots in finals with a 1-2 from Shi Feng and Wang Dong who went 53.38 and 53.64, respectively. Meanwhile, Portugal's Simao Morgado placed third in 53.99, while Mexico's Pablo Marmolejo Vargas finished fourth in 54.10.<\/p>\n
Germany's Helge Meeuw (54.15), Japan's Shota Takamoto (54.43), Kazakhstan's Rustam Khudiyev (54.84) and Korea's Kim Young Nam (55.22) completed the rest of the championship final.<\/p>\n
Women's 200 fly prelims<\/b>
\nThe 200 fly prelims were run like a semifinal with two heats. Japan's Natsumi Hoshi posted the quickest time with a 2:07.35 that moved her into the top 15 into 13th spot all time behind Susie O'Neill's 2:07.20.<\/p>\n
Korea's You Ri Kown finished second with a time of 2:11.74, while China's Liu Zige (2:12.06) and Germany's Franziska Hentke (2:12.07) picked up third and fourth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak, a former world record holder, finished fifth in 2:12.15, while Korea's Hye Ra Choi (2:12.46), Germany's Annika Mehlhorn (2:12.65) and Taipei's Yang Chin-Kuei (2:16.55) rounded out the rest of the top eight.<\/p>\n
Men's 200 free prelims<\/b>
\nChina's Zhang Lin coasted into the top seed in the men's 200 free with a top time of 1:48.55. Germany's Paul Biedermann recorded the second-fastest time with a 1:50.05, while China's Xin Tong (1:50.37) and Huang Shaohua (1:50.88) touched third and fourth in prelims.<\/p>\n
Romania's Dragos Coman (1:51.06), Sweden's Christoffer Vikstrom (1:51.24), Portugal's Diogo Carvalho (1:51.89) and Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski (1:51.96) grabbed the rest of the championship final spots.<\/p>\n
Women's 100 free prelims<\/b>
\nGermany's Britta Steffen, who holds the world record with a 53.30 from Budapest in Aug. 2006, clocked the third-fastest time in prelims with a 56.00.<\/p>\n
Teammate Daniela Gotz, however, stopped the clock with the quickest time of 55.83, while Slovakia's Martina Moravcova finished second in 55.96. <\/p>\n
China's Zhu Qianwei (56.39) and Zhu Yingwen (56.53) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, while Germany's Daniela Schreiber (56.54), Korea's Keo Ra Lee (56.77) and Brazil's Flavia Delaroli (57.23) comprised the rest of the top eight.<\/p>\n