By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MONTREAL, Canada, July 25. HERE is a recap of the preliminary session from the second day of swimming at the 11th edition of the FINA World Championships, held at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Prelim heats were held in the men\u2019s and women\u2019s 100 backstrokes, the men\u2019s 200 freestyle, the women\u2019s 100 breaststroke and the women\u2019s 1,500 freestyle. <\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100 Backstroke<\/b><\/p>\n
Exerting little energy, the United States\u2019 Natalie Coughlin led all qualifiers into the semifinals, as she negotiated the two-lap distance in 1:01.25. Coughlin was well ahead of her competition as the swimmers surfaced \u2013 hardly a surprise \u2013 and shut it down heading into the wall. Barring disaster, the Olympic champ will run away with the gold medal.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Reiko Nakamura secured the second seed for the semifinals, as she won her heat in 1:01.40, finishing ahead of Zimbabwe\u2019s Kirsty Coventry, the Olympic silver medalist who produced a time of 1:01.51. Sitting between Nakamura and Coventry is German Antje Buschschulte, who topped her heat with a swim of 1:01.41, and New Zealand\u2019s Hannah McLean (1:01.46).<\/p>\n
The rest of the top eight includes Japan\u2019s Hanae Ito (1:01.95), Denmark\u2019s Louise Ornstedt (1:02.07) and Australia\u2019s Giann Rooney (1:02.25). American Jeri Moss also advanced to the semifinals, as she touched the wall in 1:02.50.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
Michael Phelps\u2019 second individual foray went considerably better than his first. A day after failing to advance to the final of the 400 freestyle, Phelps cruised through the preliminary round of the 200 free with the second-fastest qualifying time heading into the semifinals. The eight-time Olympic medalist covered the four-lap distance in 1:48.17.<\/p>\n
Fresh off a world title in the 400 free, Australia\u2019s Grant Hackett posted the fastest time of the morning, as he touched the pads in 1:47.88, just ahead of the 1:48.37 of South Africa\u2019s Ryk Neethling. Hackett is handling a grueling schedule this week, swimming the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles. He is searching for a fourth straight world crown in the metric mile.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 Peter Vanderkaay, a legitimate contender for the bronze medal, collected the fourth-fastest qualifying swim, behind a time of 1:48.53. He was followed in fifth by Canada\u2019s Brent Hayden (1:48.59) and in sixth by France\u2019s Amaury Leveaux (1:48.69). The seventh and eighth spots were taken by Italy\u2019s Emiliano Brembilla (1:48.70) and Filippo Magnini (1:48.78).<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 100 Breaststroke<\/b><\/p>\n
Taking her first step toward a world championship, Australia\u2019s Leisel Jones led the way into the semifinals of the 100 breast with a time of 1:07.26. Trailing the United States\u2019 Jessica Hardy at the turn, Jones closed the gap down the stretch and narrowly edged the American. Hardy clocked in at 1:07.34, the second-fastest swim of the morning and proof that she may challenge Megan Jendrick\u2019s American record of 1:07.05.<\/p>\n
The only other swimmer to dip under 1:08 was the United States\u2019 Tara Kirk, who won her heat in a time of 1:07.80. Although they qualified for the semifinals, two notable athletes didn\u2019t have solid morning performances. Australia\u2019s Brooke Hanson managed just a 1:09.34, but may have been holding back energy for tonight\u2019s final of the 200 individual medley. Meanwhile, two-time defending world champ, China\u2019s Luo Xuejuan, was timed in 1:09.83, likely due to the ankle injury she recently suffered.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s Sarah Poewe was the fourth-fastest qualifier, going 1:08.64 and was followed in fifth by Poland\u2019s Beata Kaminska (1:08.69). South Africa\u2019s Suzaan Van Biljon (1:08.70) was sixth in the prelim session and Great Britain\u2019s Kate Haywood and Italy\u2019s Chiara Boggiatto shared seventh in 1:08.76. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100 Backstroke<\/b><\/p>\n
Floating along world-record holder Aaron Peirsol strolled through the morning prelims, posting the top time of 54.41. The reigning Olympic and world champion, Peirsol could threaten the 53-second barrier Tuesday night, when the final is held. As for the semifinals, Peirsol will likely cruise again. His global standard sits at 53.17.<\/p>\n
Greece\u2019s Aristeidis Grigoriadis was second-fastest in the prelims while the United States\u2019 Randall Bal and Australia\u2019s Andrew Lauterstein were tied for third in 54.88, barely ahead of the 54.89 of Hungary\u2019s Laszlo Cseh, who will also contest the 200 and individual medley events later this week. Austria\u2019s Markus Rogan was the other man under the 55-second mark, clocking 54.97.<\/p>\n
Holding down the seventh and eighth places were Slovenia\u2019s Blaz Medvesek (55.03) and Japan\u2019s Junichi Miyashita (55.05). Australia\u2019s Matt Welsh also advanced to the semifinals, but managed only a time of 55.40.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 1,500 Freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
The metric mile finished with Great Britain\u2019s Rebecca Cooke nailing down the top seed for Tuesday\u2019s final with a swim of 16:15.69. Cooke touched the wall a little more than two seconds ahead of the United States\u2019 Laura Conway, who put in a performance of 16:17.97. The third slot for the final went to Switzerland\u2019s Flavia Rigamonti, who went 16:18.14.<\/p>\n
Coming off a fourth-place showing in the 400 free, Canada\u2019s Brittany Reimer had the fourth-fastest qualifying time (16:21.55) and was succeeded by Germany\u2019s Jana Henke in 16:22.57. The final field was rounded out by Japan\u2019s Yumi Kida (16:23.05), the United States\u2019 Kate Ziegler (16:26.75) and Spain\u2019s Erika Villaecija (16:29.54).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By John Lohn MONTREAL, Canada, July 25. HERE is a recap of the preliminary session from the second day of swimming at the 11th edition of the FINA World Championships,<\/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":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n