Ian Thorpe posted the fastest time in the Olympic 200m freestyle heats yesterday, while rivals Van Den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps also advanced to the semifinals.
The Aussie world record holder clocked 1:47.22, one tenth of a second faster than Holland's Van Den Hoogenband, who won the race in Sydney in 2000.
PHOTO: AFP
Emiliano Brembilla of Italy was third in 1:47.95, just ahead of Klete Keller of the US.
Phelps, who won his first gold of the Athens Games on Saturday with a world-record performance in the 400 individual medley, was fifth in 1 minute, 48.43 seconds. He is trying to break Mark Spitz's record of seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games.
"I was pretty tired after last night," Phelps said. "I didn't get to bed until after midnight. I wanted to come in and have a strong swim this morning to be in a good position tonight."
The 200 free final today night will pit some of swimming's biggest stars against each other, including the only individual Olympic matchup between Phelps and Thorpe.
As Van Den Hoogenband made his way past reporters, he was asked: "Is this the greatest race?"
"Ever," he replied, smiling.
Japan's Tomomi Morita had the top time in the 100 backstroke preliminaries, 54.41. American Aaron Peirsol was the second-fastest qualifier in 54.65 seconds. Lenny Krayzelburg, the defending Olympic champion, tied for fourth with Austria's Markus Rogan in 54.87.
Laszlo Cseh of Hungary, the bronze medalist in the 400 IM Saturday night, was third in 54.80. Australian Matt Welsh, second to Krayzelburg in Sydney, was ninth in 55.35.
Peirsol was second to Krayzelburg in the 200 back four years ago, but Krayzelburg is limiting himself to the shorter race after undergoing two shoulder surgeries. They swam in the same heat yesterday.
"You just control what you do and not worry about anything else," Krayzelburg said.
Laure Manaudou of France was fastest in the women's 100m backstroke preliminaries with 1:01.27. Reiko Nakamura of Japan was second in 1:01.39.
American Natalie Coughlin, the first and only woman to swim under 1 minute, was third-quickest with a time of 1:01.45.
Manaudou came back a short time later to lead the 400 freestyle preliminaries in 4:06.76. Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak was second in 4:07.11 and Camelia Potec of Romania was third in 4:07.39.
There were some surprises in the 400 free.
Claudia Poll Ahrens of Costa Rica, the bronze medalist in Sydney, didn't make the eight-woman final. She was ninth in 4:09.75.
American Kalyn Keller, the younger sister of Klete, was 10th in 4:09.83. Germany's Hannah Stockbauer, who was believed capable of challenging the 16-year-old world record of American Janet Evans, was 12th and failed to advance.
Australia's Brooke Hanson had the fastest preliminary time in the 100 breaststroke of 1:07.35, followed by teammate Leisel Jones, the world record holder, in 1:07.69.
The Chinese duo of Luo Xuejuan and Qi Hui advanced to the evening semifinals in sixth and seventh, respectively. Agnes Kovacs of Hungary, the defending Olympic champion, was 11th among 16 qualifiers.
Americans Tara Kirk and Amanda Beard earned spots in the 100 breaststroke semifinals, setting up a showdown with Hanson and Jones.
The 400 freestyle relay final won't be just a two-nation race.
Anchored by Ryk Neethling, the South African team led the preliminaries in 3 minutes, 13.84 seconds -- just 0.17 seconds off Australia's world record of the Sydney Games.
The American team of Gabe Woodward, Nate Dusing, Neil Walker and Gary Hall Jr. was second in 3:15.83 and Italy third in 3:16.18.
The Aussies tied France for a surprising sixth-place time of 3:17.64. But they'll likely insert Thorpe and Michael Klim for the evening swim.
"Don't write us off yet," said Todd Pearson, who anchored the Aussies' morning team.
Hall said last week that the American coaches were saving Phelps for the evening final, with one caveat: If two of the morning swimmers were faster than 48.4 for 100 meters, they would bump Phelps from the final. Jason Lezak and Ian Crocker already were assured of swimming at night.
However, only Walker bettered the time standard with a 100 split of 48.16. That should be good enough to put him on the team at night and possibly leave off Hall, an eight-time Olympic medalist and one of the greatest sprinters in American history.
There were plenty of empty seats for the preliminaries. Despite a searing sun, it was slightly cooler Sunday at 27C when the morning competition began.
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