FINA World Championships editorial coverage is proudly sponsored by SpeedoUSA. For all the latest coverage, check out our event coverage page.<\/p>\n
BARCELONA, Spain, July 31. SHE’s certainly been one of the crowd favorites this week, and tonight was no different as Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia turned in the top time of the women’s 200-meter fly semis at the FINA World Championships.<\/p>\n
Belmonte Garcia clocked in at 2:06.53 to lead the way out of semis, much to the pleasure of the Spanish crowd. She has the chance to make some history in finals as no one from Spain has ever medaled in this particular event at Worlds. But, she’s going to need a time like her Spanish record of 2:05.25 from the 2012 London Games to pull off the feat.<\/p>\n
USA’s Cammile Adams captured the first semifinal with a 2:06.75 to take second overall, while Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu is vying for yet another medal after qualifying third in 2:06.85 to round out the sub-2:07 performances tonight. <\/p>\n
Hosszu is looking to return to the podium after taking bronze in 2009, while Adams could be the first American to make the top three since Kim Vandenberg took second in 2007.<\/p>\n
The top three swimmers will need to bring their A games to finals however as the Chinese duo of Liu Zige (2:07.18) and Jiao Liuyang (2:07.70) managed to make their way to finals in fourth and seventh. Those two put on a show in 2011 as Jiao won the title and Liu took bronze. Liu also earned silver in 2009 and the two have the pedigree to put up another amazing performance tomorrow night.<\/p>\n
Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi (2:07.18), Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:07.31) and Spain’s Judit Ignacio Sorribes (2:07.86) also earned their way into the championship finale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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