Tonight’s finals session includes three individual events. Starting the night will be the much-anticipated men’s 100m breaststroke featuring world record-holder Brendan Hansen (Havertown, Pa.) and Olympic champion Kosume Kitajima.
The women’s 100m fly will also go off tonight with Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, Calif.) and Rachael Komisarz (Louisville, Ky.) representing the USA. Ian Crocker (Portland, Maine) will race the 50m fly and in the 200m IM, top seed Katie Hoff (Towson, Md.) and Whitney Myers (Oxford, Ohio) will go for medals.
Prelim action opened this morning with the women’s 100m backstroke. World record-holder Coughlin claimed the top seed, touching in 1:00.38, more than a second ahead of the second-place finisher in her heat. Also advancing for Team USA, Leila Vaziri’s (Coral Springs, Fla.) time of 1:01.36 earned her the sixth spot in tonight’s semi-final. The second seed went to Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry (1:00.57), while Japan’s Reiko Nakamura was third in 1:00.80.
The highly-anticipated men’s 200m freestyle prelims came next, with Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) taking the second seed in 1:47.52. Phelps, who swam his heat against Dominik Meichtry (Switzerland) and Massimilliano Rosolino (Italy), had a slight lead at the first turn and led by more than a second at the 100-meter mark. Phelps won his heat by 1.13 seconds. Teammate Klete Keller (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished out of the semi-finals in 18th with a time of 1:49.58.
The top seed in tonight’s 200m semi-final is Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands (1:47.36), while Korean youngster Tae Hwan Park is the third seed.
Both American women advanced easily in the prelims of the 100m breaststroke as Tara Kirk (Bremerton, Wash.) led the entire race and pulled away from the pack by the last 25-meters to finish in 1:07.23, almost a second in front of the rest of her heat. Kirk’s qualifying time was three-tenths faster than that of world-record-holder Leisel Jones of Australia, who took the second seed in 1:07.53. One heat later, Jessica Hardy (Irvine, Calif.) swam to a number-five seed, posting a time of 1:08.68.
In the men’s 100m backstroke, all eyes were on world record-holder Aaron Peirsol (Irvine, Calif.). Peirsol cruised to a fourth-place finish with a time of 54.88 going into tonight’s semis. Swimming in the next lane, American teammate Ryan Lochte (Daytona Beach, Fla.) finished in 55.08, good for a ninth seed heading into tonight. Ownership of the top seed went to Markus Rogan of Austria (54.34), while Great Britain’s Liam Tancock was third in 54.54.
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.
