By John Lohn<\/p>\n
MONTREAL, Canada, July 27. Day Four of the World Championships kicked off with four preliminary races. Starting with the women\u2019s 50 backstroke, the morning also included heats of the men\u2019s 100 freestyle, women\u2019s 200 butterfly and the men\u2019s 200 individual medley. American Michael Phelps competed in both male events. Here\u2019s a look at how the session unfolded.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 50 Backstroke<\/b><\/p>\n
The one-lap dorsal featured five swims under the 29-second mark, including a 28.70 effort from Gao Chang of China. That swim was the top performance of the morning by nearly a quarter of a second, as Japan\u2019s Mai Nakamura turned in the second-fastest time, a 28.92. World-record holder Janine Pietsch of Germany was third in 28.95.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Giann Rooney and Germany\u2019s Antje Buschschulte shared the fourth-fastest qualifying mark, as each was caught by the timers in 28.99. Buschschulte is coming off a silver-medal showing in the 100 backstroke, where she finished behind Zimbabwe\u2019s Kirsty Coventry. The New Zealand duo of Elizabeth Coster and Hannah McLean qualified in sixth and seventh with respective times of 29.05 and 29.06.<\/p>\n
Austria\u2019s Fabienne Nadarajah produced the eighth-quickest qualifying performance, going 29.14, and Australia\u2019s Sophie Edington was ninth in 29.22. The United States\u2019 Margaret Hoelzer and Jeri Moss failed to advance to the semifinals. Hoelzer was 23rd in 29.71 and Moss checked in at 30.16 for 28th place.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100 Freestyle<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the glamour races in the sport, perhaps the top dog, the 100 freestyle is shaping up to be sizzling when the final is held Thursday night. That much became evident after the morning preliminaries, where 20 men cracked the 50-second mark. Leading the way into the semifinals was Italy\u2019s Filippo Magnini, ranked first in the world. Magnini moved forward with a swim of 48.97.<\/p>\n
A pair of medalists in the 200 freestyle secured the second and third-fastest times for the semifinals. South Africa\u2019s Ryk Neethling, who won bronze in the 200 distance, registered a mark of 49.04 while Michael Phelps, who won gold in the 200 free, finished just behind in 49.23. South Africa\u2019s Roland Schoeman equaled Phelps\u2019 time.<\/p>\n
Algeria\u2019s Salim Iles was fifth in the morning in 49.28 and Canada\u2019s Brent Hayden (49.29) was sixth. The seventh position was shared by Croatia\u2019s Duje Draganja and Poland\u2019s Lukasz Gasior (49.31). The United States\u2019 Jason Lezak occupied ninth place in 49.34 and France\u2019s Fred Bousquet was 10th with a performance of 49.38.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Butterfly<\/b><\/p>\n
Considering the fact that Natalie Coughlin was upset in the 100 backstroke, it\u2019s difficult to suggest that any swimmer is a lock for an event title. That said, Poland\u2019s Otylia Jedrzejczak is pretty darn close to a guarantee in the distance butterfly. The Olympic champion, Jedrzejczak was the top qualifier, turning in a time of 2:09.21. Earlier this week, she earned bronze in the 100 fly.<\/p>\n
The gold medalist in the 100 fly, Australia\u2019s Jessicah Schipper picked up the second seed for the semifinals, as she won her heat in 2:09.40, just ahead of the United States\u2019 Mary DeScenza (2:10.59). Japan\u2019s Yurie Yano, in finishing behind Jedrzejczak in the last prelim, was a tad quicker than DeScenza behind a time of 2:10.19.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Felicity Galvez (2:10.89) and Italy\u2019s Francesca Segat (2:10.98) were the fifth and sixth qualifiers and Hungary\u2019s Zsuzsanna Jakabos was seventh in an effort of 2:11.14. Italy\u2019s Caterina Giacchetti was eighth (2:11.17) and Germany\u2019s Annika Mehlhorn was ninth (2:11.23). American Emily Mason also advanced to the semifinals, as she took 15th place in 2:12.64.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 200 Individual Medley<\/b><\/p>\n
One athlete dipped under two minutes during the morning prelims, and it wasn\u2019t the man who jumps immediately to mind. Hungary\u2019s Laszlo Cseh led qualifying with a time of 1:59.56 and continued to build on his stellar meet. On Tuesday, Cseh won bronze in the 100 backstroke and later in the week is expected to win gold in the 400 individual medley.<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Alessio Boggiatto picked up the second-fastest qualifying time, going 2:00.24, and Michael Phelps was third with a swim of 2:00.30. Phelps was on cruise control throughout his race, not long after he contested the preliminaries of the 100 freestyle. Phelps owns history\u2019s nine fastest times in the event and should waltz to gold.<\/p>\n
American Ryan Lochte, the Olympic silver medalist in the shorter I.M., was fourth in the morning, as he touched the wall in 2:00.51. He was followed by Japan\u2019s Hidemasa Sano (2:00.61) and Lithuania\u2019s Vytautas Janusaitis (2:00.93). Rounding out the top eight heading to the semifinals were Japan\u2019s Jiro Miki (2:02.04) and Russia\u2019s Igor Berezutsky (2:02.30).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By John Lohn MONTREAL, Canada, July 27. Day Four of the World Championships kicked off with four preliminary races. Starting with the women\u2019s 50 backstroke, the morning also included heats<\/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-9791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n