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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, December 18. THE fourth day of preliminary action came to a close at the FINA World Short Course Championships.
Women's 50 back
Australia's Rachel Goh snatched the top seed out of prelims with a time of 26.73, while China's Zhao Jing and Spain's Mercedes Peris Minguet tied for second with matching times of 26.99.
Belarus' Aleksandra Gerasimenya (27.02), Russia's Anastasia Zueva (27.12), China's Gao Chang (27.26), Poland's Aleksandra Urbanczyk (27.27), Italy's Elena Gemo (27.39) and South Africa's Chanelle Van Wyk (27.39) made up the top nine.
Australia's Marieke Guehrer (27.45), Japan's Miyuki Takemura (27.45), USA's Missy Franklin (27.48), Czech's Simona Baumrtova (27.50), Italy's Laura Letrari (27.55), Brazil's Fabiola Molina (27.62) and Austria's Fabienne Nadarajah (27.73) also made the semifinal round.
Men's 100 free
France's Fabien Gilot paced prelims with a time of 46.62, coming up short of his second-ranked season best of 46.48. Gilot downed Nathan Adrian's meet record of 46.67 set back in 2008. Adrian snared the second seed into semis with a 46.66, while Brazil's Cesar Cielo qualified third in 46.83, well short of his top-ranked 45.87 from September.
Russia's Nikita Lobintsev (46.83), USA's Garrett Weber-Gale (46.94), Russia's Danila Izotov (47.00), Australia's Matthew Abood (47.03) and France's Alain Bernard (47.04) qualified in the top eight.
Poland's Konrad Czerniak (47.06), Sweden's Stefan Nystrand (47.19), Australia's Kyle Richardson (47.23), Italy's Luca Dotto (47.32), Italy's Filippo Magnini (47.34), South Africa's Graeme Moore (47.40), Kenya's Jason Dunford (47.60) and Cayman Island's Shaune Fraser (47.61) also made their way into the semifinal round.
Women's 100 fly
The Netherlands' Inge Dekker led the way into semis with a time of 56.69. USA's Dana Vollmer finished second in 56.72, while Australia's Felicity Galvez touched third in 56.89.
USA's Christine Magnuson (56.90), Denmark's Jeanette Ottesen (56.90), China's Liu Zige (56.98), Israel's Amit Ivry (57.14) and Sweden's Therese Alshammar (57.15) finished fourth through eighth out of prelims. Ivry downed her Israeli national record of 57.85 set last December.
Great Britain's Jemma Lowe (57.40), Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom (57.68), China's Lu Ying (58.02), Italy's Alessia Polieri (58.05), Canada's Katerine Savard (58.16), Bahamas' Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (58.21), Portugal's Sara Oliveira (58.31) and Hong Kong's Hang Yu Sze (58.33) grabbed the rest of the transfer spots into semis.
Men's 100 IM
USA's Ryan Lochte set up a potential IM world record sweep for the meet with a swift 52.06 in the sprint medley. The time, which trumped the top-ranked 52.13 set by Markus Deibler last month, put him within striking distance of the 50.76 set by Peter Mankoc last year. Lochte already took down the 200 and 400 IM global standards earlier this week.
Brazil's Henrique Rodrigues finished second in 52.53, while Trinidad's George Bovell III snatched third in 52.60.
Australia's Kenneth To (52.75), Mankoc (52.78), Deibler (52.83), Russia's Sergey Fesikov (53.03) and Cayman Island's Shaune Fraser (53.05) touched fourth through eighth.
Japan's Takuro Fujii (53.12), Australia's Tommaso D'Orsogna (53.16), Canada's Jake Tapp (53.43), Barbardos' Bradley Ally (53.62), China's Sun Xiaolei (53.70), Colombia's Omar Pinzon (53.74), USA's Tyler Clary (53.94) and Italy's Christian Galenda (54.02) also made their way into the semifinal heats.
Women's 50 free
China's Li Zhesi and The Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo topped the splash-and-dash preliminary rounds with matching 24.15s. Li downed the Chinese record of 24.23 set by Le Jingyi back in 1993. The Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder (24.18) and USA's Jessica Hardy (24.34) qualified third and fourth.
Bahamas' Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (24.37), Belarus' Aleksandra Gerasimenya (24.38), Canada's Victoria Poon (24.39) and USA's Amanda Weir (24.41) made up the rest of the top eight.
Germany's Dorothea Brandt (24.48), Estonia's Triin Aljand (24.54), Australia's Emma McKeon (24.65), Belarus' Svetlana Khokhlova (24.70), Brazil's Flavia Delaroli-Cazziolato (24.71), Sweden's Claire Hedenskog (24.75), Australia's Marieke Guehrer (24.77) and Greece's Drakou Theodora (24.78) also grabbed semifinal spots.
Women's 200 IM
USA's Ariana Kukors raced to the top spot in the finale with a strong time of 2:07.67. Hungary's Evelyn Verraszto turned in a second-place effort of 2:08.19, while China's Ye Shiwen finished third in 2:08.83.
Italy's Francesca Segat (2:08.93), Hungary's Katinka Hosszu (2:09.01), USA's Missy Franklin (2:09.07), Australia's Kotuku Ngawati (2:09.39) and Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia (2:10.09) comprised the rest of the championship field.
Men's 50 breast
South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh eased through the sprint breast prelims with a top-seeded time of 26.14. That performance improved upon his second-ranked season best of 26.21 from the Singapore stop of the World Cup, and beat Oleg Lisogor's meet record of 26.39 set back in 2006. Italy's Fabio Scozzoli took second in 26.46, while Russia's Aleksandr Triznov touched third in 26.59.
Slovenia's Damir Dugonjic (26.69), Brazil's Felipe Silva (26.74), Brazil's Joao Gomes Jr. (26.76), South Africa's Roland Schoeman (26.78) and Kazakhstan's Vlad Polyakov (26.80) qualified fourth through eighth.
USA's Mike Alexandrov (26.81), USA's Mark Gangloff (26.82) and Norway's Aleksander Hetland (26.84) qualified ninth through 11th. China's Li Xiayan clocked a 26.91 for 12th in the first heat to lower the Chinese record of 27.12 set by Zhang Guoying.
Serbia's Caba Siladji (26.91), Russia's Stanislav Lakhtyukhov (26.98), Germany's Hendrik Feldwehr (27.08) and The Netherlands' Robin van Aggele (27.12) comprised the rest of the semifinal rounds.
Women's 400 free relay
United States' Kara Lynn Joyce, Katie Hoff, Amanda Weir and Jessica Hardy dominated the preliminary heats with an American record time of 3:31.90. That performance lowered the ratified American record of 3:34.96 set by Hardy, Rachel Komisarz, Emily Silver and Kara Denby in 2008. The swim, however, came up short of the fastest American relay in the event of a 3:28.89 posted by Missy Franklin, Christine Magnuson, Weir and Dana Vollmer at the Duel in the Pool last year. USA Swimming elected to not ratify any techsuit swims posted after the federation banned techsuits domestically Oct. 2009, even though the swims were done legally prior to FINA banning techsuits worldwide on Jan. 1, 2010.
Australia's Emma McKeon, Kelly Stubbins, Kylie Palmer and Kotuku Ngawati finished second in 3:34.16, while Canada's Victoria Poon, Genevieve Saumur, Sinead Russell and Amanda Reason qualified third in 3;34.44.
The Netherlands (3:34.57), China (3:35.09), Sweden (3:35.41), Brazil (3:37.46) and Russia (3:37.80) earned the rest of the spots in the championship heat.
