A successful heat session at the Singapore Sports School pool this morning sees Australia swimmers going into three finals tonight as the fastest qualifiers.

Kenneth To in the 200m Individual Medley and the girls 4x100m medley relay team comprising Madi Wilson (backstroke), Emily Selig (breaststroke), Zoe Johnson (butterfly), Emma McKeon (freestyle) join Nicholas Schafer (100m breaststroke) who qualified quickest yesterday.

To, was dominant in his 200m IM heat winning with a time of 2:02.42 minutes. The girls had a tough fight in their heat coming from behind over to secure lane 4 for the final. 

“Kenny swam very well to go through the fastest in the fly and the IM,” Australian coach Ron McKeon said.

“He was particularly impressive in the IM – starting from an outside lane (lane 2) it was always going to be a tough race.”

McKeon will also swim the 100m freestyle semi tonight after a winning her heat in 56.04 seconds To also has the 100m butterfly semi after his 54.16s qualifying win this morning. 

“We’ve got a big night tonight, with the girls in the medley relay we are expecting strong opposition from the Germans, the Chinese and the Russians,” coach McKeon said.

“Add to that Kenny (To’s) semi in the fly and final in the IM, Emma’s semi in the 100m and Nick (Schafer’s) breast stroke final it will be a very exciting night.”

Justin James had a tough morning. He unluckily missed the semi-finals of the 100m fly by one place with a seventh place 55.70 in the heat won by To. He also missed the final of the 200m freestyle finishing fourth in his heat (1:52.51).  

“Morning heats always present challenges for swimmers and this morning was certainly no exception,” McKeon said.

“Dealing with the early morning and the excitement of last night meant it was always going to be tough but I think we dealt with it in a very positive way and that has come through in the results.”

Johnson did well to back up for the medley relay heat after fading badly in her 200m butterfly heat. She finished seventh in 2:21.54. 

The first Australian chasing gold tonight is Schafer at 7:38pm (9:38pm AEST).

Elliot Woods & Andrew Reid
AOC