By Phillip Whitten
ATHENS, August 19. UKRAINE'S Andriy Serdinov must feel as though it's Groundhog Day. Every day. Or, at lesat, every day he competes on a worldwide stage.
At the World Championships just over a year ago, he broke the world record in the first of two semifinal heats of the 100m fly in 51.7, only to see that mark fall one heat later.
Now, swimming in the first of two semifinal heats at the Olympic Games, the Ukrainian superstar took his race by a full second, breaking the Olympic record with a time of 51.7 — 51.74, to be exact.
One heat later, Andriy was "the former Olympic record-holder," as Michael Phelps stopped the clock in 51.61 seconds. Ian Crocker was right behind him in 51.83. Once again, it will be the same three dudes vying for the medals.
These three swimmers swam the only sub-52s thus far, but 14 of the 16 semifinalists went under 53 seconds.
Interestingly, six of the eight finalists came out of heat 2.
The prelims and semis of the 100 fly today have got to be encouraging for WR-holder Ian Crocker, who has been ill and, until today, has been suffering through a les than stellar set of swims: turning in the slowest of the 32 splits in the finals of the men's 4x100m free relay and then failing to qualify for the semifinals of the 100 free.
Before the meet, Crocker was a narrow favorite to win the 100 fly. After his first two swims here, he saw that mantle revert to Michael Phelps. If the final were today, Phelps would still be the favorite for gold medal #5.
But give Crocker one more day, through in some of that down home Maine stubbourness, and he just might be fit enough to reclaim his title as the world's fastest flyer.
Phelps said of the race, "Ian is a top competitor and will be out fast tomorrow, it will be a good race, he's been turning up the speed over the past year."
Men 100m Butterfly Semifinals
Record Split Name NOC Location Date
WR 50.76 23.62
CROCKER Ian USA Long Beach (USA) 13 JUL 2004
OR 51.96 24.12
HUEGILL Geoffrey AUS Sydney (AUS) 21 SEP 2000
Event No: 27
Rank Heat Lane Name NOC R.T. 50m Time Time
Behind
1 2 5 PHELPS Michael USA 0.75 24.66 51.61
26.95 OR
2 1 4 SERDINOV Andriy UKR 0.84 24.50 51.74
27.24 0.13
3 2 4 CROCKER Ian USA 0.77 24.36 51.83
27.47 0.22
4 2 2 MARCHENKO Igor RUS 0.82 24.61 52.32
27.71 0.71
5 2 7 MANGABEIRA Gabriel BRA 0.65 24.76 52.33
27.57 0.72
6 2 3 HUEGILL Geoffrey AUS 0.70 24.36 52.64
28.28 1.03
7 2 6 RUPPRATH Thomas GER 0.75 24.82 52.71
27.89 1.10
8 1 3 DRAGANJA Duje CRO 0.76 24.39 52.74
28.35 1.13
9 1 2 YAMAMOTO Takashi JPN 0.74 24.81 52.81
28.00 1.20
10 2 1 KOROTYSHKIN Evgeny RUS 0.79 24.76 52.85
28.09 1.24
11 1 6 ESPOSITO Franck FRA 0.68 24.71 52.88
28.17 1.27
12 1 1 MINTENKO Michael CAN 0.69 24.33 52.89
28.56 1.28
13 1 8 MEEUW Helge Folkert GER 0.82 24.87 52.99
28.12 1.38
13 2 8 SWANEPOEL Corney NZL 0.75 24.57 52.99
28.42 1.38
15 1 7 HICKMAN James GBR 0.80 24.97 53.10
28.13 1.49
16 1 5 CAVIC Milorad SCG 0.76 24.34 53.12
28.78 1.51