SINGAPORE, November 4. IAN Thorpe could not make it past the heats of his only event in today's prelim session of short course meters swimming in the FINA World Cup.
Women's 100 freestyle
Australia's strong female freestyle corps will occupy five of the eight spots in the final tonight, with Emma McKeon posting the fastest overall time of 53.57. Merinda Dingjan (third place, 54.35), Cate Campbell (fourth, 54.45), Libby Trickett (fifth, 55.00) and Kylie Palmer (seventh, 55.57) will also represent Australia in the final.
Therese Alshammar of Sweden qualified second with a 54.25, Chui Bin Ong of Singapore was sixth with a 55.43 and Mariya Baklakova was eighth with a 56.10.
Men's 200 freestyle
Japan's Kosuke Hagino will swim in lane four in tonight's final, swimming a 1:46.33. South Africa's Chad Le Clos qualified second with a 1:46.57 and Hu Yue was third with a 1:46.62. Also competing in the final will be a trio of Australians: David McKeon (1:46.88), Cameron McEvoy (1:47.03) and Kyle Richardson (1:47.28). France's Benjamin Stasiulis (1:47.46) and Jeremy Stravius (1:48.16) rounded out the championship final field.
Women's 50 breaststroke
Australia's Leiston Pickett (30.51) and Olivia Halicek (30.84) took the top two qualifying spots. Also earning a spot in the final were Hye Jin Kim of Korea (31.06), Joline Hoestman of Sweden (31.87), Fanny Babou of France (31.99), Japan's Kanako Watanabe (32.06), Laura Simon of Germany (32.12) and Daree Jeong of Korea (32.15).
Men's 100 breaststroke
Brenton Rickard dipped under the one-minute mark with a top qualifying time of 59.87. Marco Koch of Germany was second in 1:00.54, with Australia's Christian Sprenger third in 1:01.18. Also swimming in the final will be China's Huang Yunkun (1:01.35), Japan's Naoya Tomita (1:01.55), Korea's Kyuwoong Chung (1:01.84), Egan Gans of the United States (1:02.12) and Chien Yin Khoo of Singapore (1:02.27).
Women's 400 individual medley
Four swimmers competed in the early heats of this timed final event, with Julia Larina of Russia posting the fastest time of 4:52.46. Yu-Wen Teng was second in 4:56.58 and the United States' Marissa Brown (5:08.61) and Kindle Van Linge (5:15.53) rounded out the heat.
Men's 100 butterfly
Jason Dunford of Kenya qualified first for the final with a 51.50. Christopher Wright of Australia qualified second with a 52.09 and his countryman Sam Ashby was third with a 52.66. Also making the final was Chad Le Clos of South Africa (52.96), Omar Pinzon of Colombia (53.12), Andrew Lauterstein of Australia (53.15), Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea (53.21) and Chen Yin of China (53.67).
Notably, Ian Thorpe of Australia placed 11th in prelims with a time of 54.09.
Women's 100 backstroke
Rachel Goh of Australia took the top qualifying spot for the final with a time of 58.57. Shiho Sakai of Japan took second with a 59.48 and third went to Melissa Ingram of New Zealand with a 59.80. Taking spots in the final were Bai Anqi (1:00.13), Alexianne Castel of France (1:00.27), Australia's Grace Loh (1:00.94) and Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan (1:02.10) and Ally Howe of the USA (1:02.17).
Men's 50 backstroke
France's Jeremy Stravius (24.45) and Benjamin Stasiulis (24.57) will look to repeat their 1-2 finish from yesterday's 100 back final with the top two qualifying times in this event. Germany's Jan-Philip Glania took third with a 24.89 and Cameron McEvoy was fourth in 24.92. Rounding out the championship final will be Masafumi Yamaguchi of Japan (25.00), Ryan Pini of Papua New Guinea (25.16), Nelson Silva of Brazil (25.24) and Kazuki Watanabe of Japan (25.45).
Women's 200 butterfly
Former world champion Jessicah Schipper of Australia took the top qualifying spot with a 2:08.16, just ahead of Martina Granstroem of Sweden, who posted a 2:08.92. Rounding out the final field will be Lara Grangeon of France (2:09.04), reigning world champion Jiao Liuyang of China (2:09.77), Hye Ra Choi of Korea (2:09.79), Ha Sinan of China (2:10.32), Lea Giraudon of France (2:11.24) and Jasmine Tosky of the United States (2:11.44).
Men's 200 individual medley
Kosuke Hagino of Japan posted his second top prelim time of the day with a 1:58.35, the only swim under two minutes in prelims. Markus Rogan of Austria qualified second with a 2:00.77, with Chad le Clos of South Africa third in 2:01.14. Japan's Yuma Kosaka (2:01.25), Travis Nederpelt of Australia (2:02.05), Phillip Morrison of Brazil (2:02.30), Kai Wai Wong of Singapore (2:03.85) and Duan Le Lim of Singapore (2:05.09) also earned spots in the final.
Women's 400 freestyle
Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne of France posted the top qualifying time of 4:05.09. Also making it into the final include Australia's Blair Evans (4:05.59), South Africa's Jessica Pengelly (4:07.65), Kylie Palmer of Australia (4:09.42), Mikkayla Maselli-Sheridan of Australia (4:13.42), New Zealand's Melissa Ingram (4:17.06) and Jessica Marston (4:18.34), as well as Allison Brown of the United States (4:20.24).
Men's 50 freestyle
Matt Abood and Kyle Richardson posted the top two qualifying times with 21.88 and 22.00, respectively. Also making the final were Kenya's Jason Dunford (22.04), Australia's Eamon Sullivan (22.06), Lu Zhiwu of China (22.12), Cameron McEvoy of Australia (22.48), Hu Yue (22.62) and Chen Zuo of China (22.85).
Women's 200 breaststroke
Maria Temnikova of Russia led all qualifiers with a top time of 2:23.35. Daree Jeong of Korea (2:23.79), Kanako Watanabe of Japan (2:25.01), Joline Hoestman of Sweden (2:25.10), Su Yeon Back of Korea (2:26.37), Hye Jim Kim of Korea (2:26.46), Keiko Fukudome of Japan (2:26.47) and Fanny Babou of France (2:27.72) also will swim in the final.
Women's 100 individual medley
China's Jiao Liuyang posted the fastest qualifying time of 1:01.98, with Ellen Fullerton of Australia (1:02.31), Tomoyo Fukuda of Japan (1:02.46), Olivia Halicek of Australia (1:03.82), Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne of France (1:04.23), Hye Ra Choi of Korea (1:04.57), Lea Giraudon of France (1:07.51) and Xin Jing Lim of Singapore (1:09.67) also qualifying for the final.
Men's 200 backstroke
Benjamin Stasiulis will be looking for a backstroke double win today, qualifying first in the longer backstroke with a 1:57.87. Olympic silver medalist Markus Rogan of Austria qualified second with a 1:58.57 and Germany's Jan-Philip Glania was third in 1:58.77. Also earning spots in the final were Kazuki Watanabe of Japan (1:59.04), Nelson Silva of Brazil (2:00.42), Omar Pinzon of Colombia (2:01.84), Jeremy Stravius of France (2:02.39) and Kai Wee Ng of Singapore (2:02.86).
Women's 50 butterfly
Li Tao of Singapore wrapped up the prelim session with a top time of 25.83. World record holder Therese Alshammar of Sweden qualified second with a 25.88. The rest of the final will consist of Melanie Henique of France (26.61), Emma McKeon of Australia (26.62), Libby Trickett of Australia (27.26), Jessicah Schipper of Australia (27.39), Chui Bin Ong of Singapore (27.68) and Valeria Kolotushkina of Russia (28.27).