World Championships, Day 7 Semifinals: Ruta Meilutyte Easily Qualifies First for Final of 50 Breaststroke
While six finals were contested on the seventh night of the World Championships in Doha, there were three semifinals on the schedule. Competition in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke, women’s 50 freestyle and men’s 50 backstroke was on the slate, with gold medals in those events to be given out when the meet concludes on Sunday.
Here is a look at how the Day Seven semifinals unfolded.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
One of the surprises from early in the World Champs was Ruta Meilutyte’s failure to advance out of the prelims of the 100 breaststroke, an event in which she was the defending gold medalist. Well, it looks like the Lithuanian star has gotten back on track, as she went 29.42 to comfortably head the semifinals of the 50 breaststroke. Meilutyte finished .38 ahead of China’s Tang Qianting, who broke her own Asian record from the morning with a swim of 29.80.
Italian Benedetta Pilato was the third-quickest qualifier, on the strength of the final sub-30 mark of the session, a 29.91.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Coming off her sixth straight world title in the 50 butterfly, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom posted the only sub-24 performance of the 50 freestyle with an effort of 23.90. She was followed in qualifying for the final by Poland’s Kasia Wasick, who touched the wall in 24.01. Also setting themselves up for a chase at the podium were American Kate Douglass (24.24) and Australian Shayna Jack (24.44), who was the silver medalist to Sjostrom at last summer’s World Champs.
Men’s 50 Backstroke
Australian Isaac Cooper set a national record in the 50 backstroke to earn the top seed for the final. Cooper dashed his way to a time of 24.12, with American Hunter Armstrong next into the final at 24.43. Armstrong is the reigning world champion and already captured the gold medal in the 100 backstroke in Doha. Tying for third were South African Pieter Coetze and Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk at 24.46.
