By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MONTREAL, Canada, July 26. THERE were four preliminaries held on the third morning of the World Championships. Here\u2019s a recap of the action in the men\u2019s 50 breaststroke, men\u2019s 200 butterfly, the women\u2019s 200 freestyle and the men\u2019s 800 freestyle.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50 Breaststroke<\/b><\/p>\n
Missing the final of the 100 breast, American Mark Gangloff dropped the hammer in the prelims of the one-lap breast, as he registered the fastest qualifying mark with a splendid swim of 27.49. Gangloff was easily the swiftest man in the morning and was followed by Great Britain\u2019s James Gibson (27.73) and France\u2019s Hugues Duboscq (27.79). Gibson is the defending champ and Duboscq won bronze in the 100 distance on Monday night.<\/p>\n
The biggest surprise from the event was the failure of the Ukraine\u2019s Oleg Lisogor to qualify for the semifinals. The world-record holder (27.18), Lisogor looked sluggish and only managed a time of 28.18, good for 18th place. The result was startling, particularly considering that Lisogor was fourth in the 100 breast and had gone 1:00.06 in the semifinals of that event.<\/p>\n
Mark Warnecke, the 35-year-old veteran from Germany, had the fourth-fastest swim of the morning (27.80) and was followed by the Slovenian duo of Emil Tahirovic (27.81) and Matjaz Markic (27.93). The top eight was rounded out by Switzerland\u2019s Remo Luetolf (27.95) and Sweden\u2019s Martin Gustavsson (28.00). Japan\u2019s Kosuke Kitajima was ninth in 28.03.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Butterfly<\/b><\/p>\n
This event might be the most wide open on the men\u2019s docket, thanks to the decision of Michael Phelps to bypass the race. In altering his schedule, Phelps decided to forego the distance fly, where he is the two-time defending champ and Olympic titlist. With Phelps out of the picture, six or seven swimmers have a chance to win gold.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Ryuichi Shibata qualified first with a time of 1:56.60 and was one of three swimmers to go under 1:57 for the morning. Australia\u2019s Travis Nederpelt (1:56.91) and Poland\u2019s Pawel Korzeniowski (1:56.93) also accomplished the feat. They were followed in the fourth slot by the United States\u2019 Davis Tarwater, who touched the wall in 1:57.17.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Wu Peng (1:57.44) was fifth after the prelims and the Russian pair of Nikolay Skvortsov (1:57.47) and Anatoly Polyakov (1:57.57) checked in at sixth and seventh. The eighth position was occupied by Greece\u2019s Ioannis Drymonakos (1:57.82). American Michael Raab recorded a time of 1:59.38, but finished 17th and did not advance to the semifinals.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
Fresh off an American record and gold-medal performance in the 200 individual medley, Katie Hoff proved she is rapidly rising in the 200 freestyle. The 16-year-old from the North Baltimore Aquatic Club had the second-fastest qualifying time, a comfortable 1:59.28 that trailed only Italy\u2019s Federica Pellegrini (1:59.12). The swim was a personal best for Hoff.<\/p>\n
The overwhelming favorite in the 400 I.M. later this week, Hoff immediately vaulted herself into medal contention with her morning effort and could be in the chase for gold. Simply, Hoff is becoming the female face of American swimming. She was followed in third for the semifinals by Australia\u2019s Linda Mackenzie (1:59.32) and China\u2019s Yu Yang (1:59.72) was fourth.<\/p>\n
Taking the fifth spot for the semifinals was France\u2019s Solenne Figues (1:59.75) and sixth was secured by the United States\u2019 Whitney Myers in 1:59.83. Rounding out the top eight were Sara Isakovic of Slovenia (1:59.88) and Sweden\u2019s Josefin Lillhage (1:59.90). Romania\u2019s Camelia Potec, the Olympic champ, was 10th in 2:00.11.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 800 Freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
When the final of this event is held on Wednesday night, Australia\u2019s Grant Hackett will take dead aim at the world record of 7:39.16, set in 2001 by Ian Thorpe. Hackett had the fastest qualifying time, a 7:47.62 effort that was enough to hold off the United States\u2019 Larsen Jensen (7:48.89). The American wasn\u2019t far off his national record of 7:48.09.<\/p>\n
The silver-medal winner earlier in the week in the 400 free, Yuri Prilukov posted the third-fastest morning swim as he covered the 16-lap event in 7:51.75, ahead of the 7:51.92 of Great Britain\u2019s David Davies. At last summer\u2019s Olympic Games, Davies was the bronze medalist in the 1,500 free. France\u2019s Sebastien Rouault was fifth in 7:52.04.<\/p>\n
Finishing out the field for the final were Tunisia\u2019s Ous Mellouli (7:52.55) and Poland\u2019s Przemyslaw Stanczyk (7:52.56) and Lukasz Drzewinski (7:53.33). Italy\u2019s Massi Rosolino, a medal contender heading into the week, finished 15th with a time of 7:59.60. The United States\u2019 Chris Thompson was 20th in 8:04.67.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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