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ROME, Italy, July 28. THE United States put together a pair of strong swims with the top two seeds in the women's 200 free at the FINA World Championships.
Dana Vollmer continued her strong summer with a swift 1:55.98 for the top seed, while teammate Allison Schmitt qualified second in 1:56.75. One of the two is likely to track down the American record of 1:55.78 set by Katie Hoff at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Great Britain's Joanne Jackson touched third in 1:56.81, while Hungary's Agnes Mutina finished fourth in 1:56.84. Mutina lowered her national standard of 1:57.25 set in Beijing. Slovenia's Sara Isakovic (1:56.99) and world record holder Federica Pellegrini of Italy (1:57.22) qualified fifth and sixth.
France's Coralie Balmy (1:57.30) and The Netherlands' Inge Dekker (1:57.32) placed seventh and eighth.
Great Britain's Caitlin McClatchey (1:57.44), Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto (1:57.63), China's Yang Yu (1:57.83), China's Pang Jiaying (1:57.91), Australia's Stephanie Rice (1:58.06), Australia's Ellen Fullerton (1:58.10) and Russia's Elena Sokolova (1:58.14) also made the semifinal round. Sokolova downed her national mark of 1:58.63 set in April.