By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 11. SWIMMING in the first semifinal of the men's 200 freestyle was not a good place to be. Seven of the qualifiers for tomorrow's championship final came from the second semifinal, featuring a much more stacked field than the preceding heat. Not surprisingly, Michael Phelps was in the second heat.
Clearly saving energy for his leadoff leg on the 400 freestyle relay later in the night, Phelps coasted through his semifinal swim, clocking a time of 1:46.28, good for the fourth seed in the championship heat. Phelps strolled through the opening 100 meters and put only a little more effort into his second lap, wisely conserving strength for what will be a grinding week.
Phelps' teammate, Peter Vanderkaay, nailed down the top seed. The fourth-place finisher in the 400 freestyle, Vanderkaay is in position to claim the first individual medal of his Olympic career. Vanderkaay won the second semifinal in 1:45.76, not far off his personal best of 1:45.45, produced at last year's National Championships in Indianapolis.
Korea's Tae Hwan Park, the gold medalist in the 400 free, navigated himself into Lane 5 for the championship final, thanks to a time of 1:45.99. Vanderkaay and Park both have the ability to go under 1:45, though it's highly unlikely that either man will be able to challenge Phelps, who owns the world record at 1:43.86.
Grabbing the third position for the final was South African Jean Basson, the only man to advance out of the first semifinal. Basson clocked in at 1:46.13. Fifth went to Germany's Paul Biedermann (1:46.41) and sixth was occupied by Japan's Yoshihiro Okumura (1:46.44). The field is rounded out by Switzerland's Dominik Meichtry (1:46.54) and Great Britain's Robbie Renwick (1:47.07).
