UniversalSports.com Daily Coverage, including webcasts
ROME, Italy, July 27. GERMANY's Paul Biedermann, who shot down the revered world record of Ian Thorpe in the men's 400 free on the first night, will look to be a giant killer in the men's 200 free finals tomorrow at the FINA World Championships.
Biedermann clocked a meet-record time of 1:43.65, to clear Michael Phelps' standard of 1:43.86 set in 2007. Biedermann's time stands as the third-fastest of all time behind only the 1:42.96 world record of Phelps and a 1:43.31 from Phelps also at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Russia's Danila Izotov qualified second in 1:45.09, while Phelps eased through to finals from the first semifinal with a 1:45.23.
"I felt a lot better. This morning's swim was pretty controlled. I didn't get to use my legs, and that's something I'm looking forward to using tomorrow. Last night, I honestly thought [Thorpe's] record would never get touched. It's one of the best records in the books. I've never raced [Biedermann] before, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Russia's Nikita Lobintsev (1:45.31), Japan's Sho Uchida (1:45.45), The Netherlands' Sebastiaan Verschuren (1:45.69), Australia's Kenrick Monk (1:45.77) and South Africa's Jean Basson (1:45.82) took the other finals spots.