World record-holder Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.), who has a gold and silver medal in the meet so far, was held out of his signature event today due to illness. He is expected to return for Sunday’s 400m medley relay.
In the first race of the morning, Team USA advanced two swimmers. Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.), who has a medal of every color and has set a world and an American record in the meet, claimed the top seed in the 100m freestyle with a time of 54.04. She advances to tonight’s semi-final along with teammate and American record-holder in the event, Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.). Weir posted a time of 55.03 to advance as the ninth seed. Canada’s Erica Morningstar (54.30) and Australia’s Libby Lenton (54.32) round out the top three finishers this morning.
Team USA continued its dominance in the next race as world record-holder Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.) and Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) took the top two seeds heading into the semifinal. Peirsol’s time of 1:57.79 earned him the top seed while Lochte was second in 1:57.95. James Goddard of Great Britain was third in 1:58.36.
In the women’s 200m breaststroke, Olympians Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) and Megan Jendrick (Puyallup, Wash.) easily moved on to tonight’s semifinal. Kirk, who was in third place after the turn, overtook Kirsty Balfour of Great Britain and Asami Kitajawa of Japan to win her heat and earn a sixth seed in the semis (2:28.50). Jendrick swam a fast heat against Russian top-seed Suzaan Van Biljon (2:27.03) and world record-holder Leisel Jones (2:27.10) of Australia and earned the eighth seed with a time of 2:28.71.
Eric Shanteau (Atlanta, Ga.) was the lone U.S. representative in the men’s 200m breaststroke, due to Hansen’s illness. Shanteau finished third in his heat with a time of 2:13.00 and will enter tonight’s semifinal as the number seven seed. The top seed went to Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima (2:11.07) of Japan while Italy’s Loris Facci (2:12.07) and Paolo Bossini (2:12.20) rounded out the top three.
In the last event of the morning, the U.S. women’s 800m freestyle relay advanced after posting a time of 8:02.87. The team of Weir, Margaret Hoelzer (Huntsville, Ala.), Kara Lynn Joyce (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and Lacey Nymeyer (Tucson, Ariz.) finished second in their heat and eighth overall to advance to tonight’s final.
Finals begin at 7 p.m. local time tonight (5 a.m. EDT). Highlighting the field, Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) will compete in the 200m IM, an event in which he holds the world record, and new world record-holder Leila Vaziri (Coral Springs, Fla.) will swim the 50m back. Vaziri set the mark in yesterday’s semi-final. Also on the schedule are finals in the men’s 100m freestyle, women’s 200m butterfly and women’s 800m freestyle relay. WCSN will webcast all swimming finals live and on demand on its website at wcsn.com.
About USA Swimming: As the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements policies and procedures, conducts national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. USA Swimming has more than 300,000 members nationwide and sanctions more than 7,000 events each year. For more information, visit USA Swimming on-line.
