By Phillip Whitten<\/p>\n
INDIANAPOLIS, October 8. Last night the host USA had it all its way, winning all five of the finals contested. Tonight, however, promises to be a very different evening of swimming, as Americans qualified first in only two of seven events: Jenny Thompson in the women\u2019s 50-meter\t fly and the U.S. men\u2019s 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. <\/p>\n
Jason Lezak, who qualified second in the 50 free, is hoping to move up a rung in tomorrow\u2019s final as will as this evening\u2019s semifinals.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how it went this morning at the Conseco Field House.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100-meter Freestyle<\/b>
\nHolland\u2019s Marleen Veldhuis qualified first in the prelims of the women\u2019s 100m free in 54.74 this morning, on Day Two of the FINA Short Course World Championships in Indianapolis. But she was hard pressed by the Aussie duo of Lisbeth Lenton (54.75) and Shayne Reese (54.81) in the #2 and 3 spots.<\/p>\n
Only two other women \u2013 Finland\u2019s Hanna-Maria Seppala (54.90) and Sweden\u2019s Josefin Lillhage (54.99) — swam under 55 seconds.<\/p>\n
The US duo of Lindsay Benko and Kara Lynn Joyce made it through to the semifinals, Benko qualifying in a tie for eighth at 55.22, and Joyce in the 11th spot at 55.25.<\/p>\n
It took 55.97 to make the top 16.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 400-meter Individual Medley<\/b>
\nWhen it was announced that Michael Phelps had scratched the 400 IM, where he was aiming to crack the four-minute barrier, a collective sigh of relief was heard from his 26 competitors. Now<\/i> the race was wide-open.<\/p>\n
Australian newcomer Adam Lucas nabbed the top spot and a lane 4 seeding in the final with his 4:11.66, just ahead of China\u2019s Wu Peng, 17, who touched just 8-hundredths behind. Britain\u2019s Robin Francis, riding a sizzling 1:09.09 split in the breaststroke, was third-fastest at 4:12.04.<\/p>\n
It took 4:13.54 to make the final, with Tunisia\u2019s Ous Mellouli (tied for 5th in 4:13.06) and the USA\u2019s Eric Shanteau (7th in 4:13.48) threats to medal and possibly take all the marbles.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 50-meter Butterfly<\/b>
\nIf this is, indeed, Jenny Thompson\u2019s final meet, the 31 year-old superstar has every intention of making the last one a fast one.<\/p>\n
Thompson topped all qualifiers in the 50 fly this morning with a strong 26.40, well ahead of Sweden\u2019s Anna-Karin Kammerling, the WR-holder (26.72) and 34 year-old Austrian Judith Draxler (26.77). The second American, Rachel Komisarz, was 10th in 27.25, as it took 27.56 to move along to the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Several sleepers among the top 16 are genuine medal threats: Slovakia\u2019s Martina Moravcova (6th in 26.92), Australia\u2019s Lisbeth Lenton (9th in 27.24) and Belarus\u2019 Alena Popchanka (in q 3-way tie for 14th in 27.56).<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50-meter Freestyle<\/b>
\nArgentina\u2019s Jose Meolans, the defending champion and championship record-holder in the 50 free with his 21.36 swum in Moscow in 2002, topped all qualifiers this morning in 21.82. The USA\u2019s Jason Lezak was right beind at 21.89, followed by Brazil\u2019s fast-rising Nicholas Santos (21.90) and Croatia\u2019s Olympic silver medallist in this event, Duje Draganja (21.97)..<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Jeff English was fifth in 22.01 followed by the second American, Nick Brunelli (22.03). Britain\u2019s Mark Foster, the former WR-holder was seventh (22.05), while Finland\u2019s Jere Hard and Sweden\u2019s Stefan Nystrand tied for eighth.<\/p>\n
Among the remaining seven qualifiers for tonight\u2019s semifinals, Algeria\u2019s Salim Iles seems the most likely to advance to the final.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100-meter Individual Medley<\/b>
\nAustralian Olympian Brooke Hanson had only the seventh fastest first 50 of the 100-meter IM, but she used her powerful breaststroke leg to take the lead and held on in the freestyle. The 27 year-old Queenslander touched first in 1:01.06, almost half a second ahead of Finalnd\u2019s Hanna-Maria Seppala (1:01.55).<\/p>\n
Slovakia\u2019s Martina Moravcova, who had the fastest first 50 (28.44), qualified third in 1:01.66, just ahead of the American duo of Katie Hoff (1:01.74) and Amanda Beard (1:02.07).<\/p>\n
Thirty-two year-old British sprinter Alison Sheppard held down the sixth spot in 1:02.19, while Australia\u2019s Shayne Reese (1:02.36) and China\u2019s 14 year-old Zhang Tianyi (1:02.73). It took 1:04.18 to make top 16 and move on to the next round.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 4 x 200-meter Freestyle Relay<\/b>
\nNot too long ago, the Aussie men stood astride the 4 x 200-meter free relay like the Colossus of old. But take away a swimmer or three \u2013 oh, say, Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski — and the Aussies just aren\u2019t that tough.<\/p>\n
This morning the US team of Dan Ketchum (1:46.01), Chad Carvin (1:46.15), Justin Mortimer (1:47.39) and Scott Goldblatt (1:47.58) stroked to the top qualifying spot in the 800-meter relay in 7:07.13, just over four seconds ahead of Australia (7:11.15), with Russia edging Brazil for the third spot, 7:14.91 to 7:15.50.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Phillip Whitten INDIANAPOLIS, October 8. Last night the host USA had it all its way, winning all five of the finals contested. Tonight, however, promises to be a very<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n