A Special Thanks to Deep Blue Media for providing the images from this meet Jordan Crooks went joint fourth all-time in the 50 freestyle in 20.31 to head the semis by 0.45 from Ben Proud at the World Championships in Melbourne. The Cayman Islands swimmer had already produced a huge performance in the heats to go fifth in history in 20.36 before returning to cut a further 0.05secs in the evening. Crooks, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, went out in 9.83 and a huge turn and propelled him to a 10.48 second 25 to book lane four for the final. Only Caeleb Dressel with his world record of 20.16, Florent Manaudou (20.26) and Roland Schoeman, who went 20.30 back in 2009, have gone quicker. Crooks elevated himself alongside Vladimir Morozov who clocked 20.13 at the 2017 European Short-Course Championships. He was the fastest swimmer through the prelims and semifinals of the 100 free although he faded to sixth in the final. Proud hasn’t been beaten in the 50 free in either the long or short-course pool since Tokyo where he finished joint fifth. The Briton won gold in Abu Dhabi last year since when he has won the world, Commonwealth and European titles. He split 9.93/10.83 to book lane five in 20.76. Szebasztian Szabo was next through in 20.83 along with Kyle Chalmers (20.91), Lewis Burras and Dylan Carter were both on 20.94, Manaudou (20.95) and Maxime Grousset (20.97). Kasia Wasick has been on fine form in the past few months and went sixth all-time in 23.10 at the Indianapolis stop of the World Cup tour in November. She went in the second semi, splitting 11.30/12.07 to head the field in 23.37. Emma McKeon booked lane five in 23.51 and also progressing were Michelle Coleman (23.77), Anna Hopkin (23.79), Julie Kepp Jensen (23.93), Meg Harris (23.97) with Erika Brown and Melanie Henique both through in 24.00 at the World Championships.
World Championships, Day Four Semi-Finals: Jordan Crooks Goes Joint Fourth All-Time In 50 Free
World Championships Semis: Women’s 50 Free
