SWIMMING: With the newly bestowed title of Olympic champion following her into the pool, Australian Melanie Schlanger has qualified second for the semi-finals of the women’s 100 metres freestyle after this morning’s heats.
SWIMMING: With the newly bestowed title of Olympic champion following her into the pool, Australian Melanie Schlanger has qualified second for the semi-finals of the women’s 100 metres freestyle after this morning’s heats on Day 5.
While there was good news for Schlanger, compatriot Cate Campbell was forced to withdraw from the event after suffering from gastroenteritis. Campbell is hopeful of recovering in time for the heats of the 50m freestyle on Day 7.
Schlanger and Campbell were vital members of Australia’s victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team on Day 1 and this morning’s swim was their first opportunity to hit the race pool since that remarkable performance.
Schlanger clocked a personal best of 53.50 to movepast 2004 Athens Olympic Games gold medallist Jodie Henry to third on the Australian all-time list – behind only Libby Trickett and Campbell.
Fastest qualifier was China’s Tang Yi on 53.28, while defending Olympic champion Britta Steffen was only 14th on 54.42.
Schlanger used her powerful last 50m to win her heat and said she had more to give.
“I guess my second 50 is always my strength and i didn’t probably give it 100 per cent this morning and that’s really encouraging,” Schlanger said.
Schlanger is slated to swim the 4x200m freestyle relay final tonight after the 100m semi-final.
Men’s 200m backstroke
Australian Olympic rookie Mitchell Larkin has moved through to the semi-finals of the men’s 200m backstroke, while fellow debutant Matson Lawson has unfotrutanely missed the cut,
Larkin, 19, clocked 1:57.53 – a personal best and third best ever by an Australian to put himself in contention for a finals berth. Fastest of the morning was American Tyler Clary (1:56.24), just ahead of his teammate Ryan Lochte (1:54.36. Lawson was 21st in 1:58.92.
Larkin revealed he had been ready to race for days and now believed he could go even faster.
“The wait wasn’t too bad – I sort of woke up yesterday morning ready to race a day early, I just relaxed, took another 24 hours and this morning i was really excited to get out there,” Larkin said.
“There’s definitely areas where I wasn’t happy with that this morning and hopefully I can fix them tonight and go a little bit quicker.”
Lawson said the sense of occasion was beyond his wildest dreams.
“It’s an amazing feeling walking out in front of a crowd like that and they are all cheering,” Lawson said.
“The sense of adrenaline running through you at that stage is just an amazing thing. It was a lot more than I (expected), I don’t think you can ever think of anything like this. It’s so surreal and I still can’t believe i am here representing my country.”
Women’s 200m breaststroke
Sally Foster (2:26.04) and Tessa Wallace (2:26.94) have qualified for the women’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals in tenth and 16th after their heats.
Foster was a semi-finalist in the same event in Beijing four years ago and will be looking to go at least one step better this time around, while Wallace, who stormed onto the Australian team by winning the Olympic Trials in March despite almost two years in the wilderness battling Ross River Fever and a serious knee injury is determined to make an Olympic final on her debut.
Predictably American defending champion Rebecca Soni (2:21.40) easily topped the qualifiers. Soni will is aiming to avenge her shock defeat at the hands of Lithuanian teenage sensation Ruta Meilutyte in the 100m breaststroke on Day 3.
Foster was unhappy with her performance at the Australian Olympic Trials – she swam 0.47 seconds quicker this morning – and said she had worked hard to arrive in London a faster swimmer.
“I wasn’t really happy with what I did at trials, I didn’t swim my own race and put it together really badly,” Foster said.
I’ve been working on getting faster and stronger in training, and being a lot more consistent. Getting all the little things right, I think, is the key between trials and Olympic Games.”
Men’s 200m individual medley
Daniel Tranter has bounced back from a disappointing swim earlier in the week, where he finished 32nd in the 400m individual medley, to qualify for the semi-finals of the 200m individual medley.
Tranter posted a time of 1:59.70 to finish in 13th place in a race that contained American stars Ryan Lochte (second, 1:58.03) and Michael Phelps (fourth, 1:58.24), last night’s South African 200m butterfly winner Chad le Clos (11th, 1:59.45) and Beijing silver medallist, Hungarian Laszlo Cseh (first, 1:57.20).
Jayden Hadler, 18, and on his Olympic debut, finished 31st in 2:01.54. He will swim in the 100m butterfly heats on Day 6.
Tranter said he was not daunted by the prospect of improving further and making the final.
“Any step here at the Olympics is a big deal. It’s the biggest sporting event in the world and even just getting here and stepping up for a heat swim is a huge step in itself.
“So it’s just one huge step after another to try and progress through from the heats into the semi into the final but i’m prepared to take them.”
Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay
They won the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and now Australia is through to the final of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay in London as the fastest qualifier.
The morning heat team of Brittany Elmslie (1:57.50), Angie Bainbridge (1:57.70), Jade Neilson (1:57.25) and Blair Evans (1:56.99) combined for a slick heat time of 7:49.44 – 1.31 seconds ahead of the crack American squad that qualified second and will upgrade its team for the final.
As she had done in the 4x100m freestyle heat and final on Day 1, Elmslie underlined her undoubted potential, leading the field through the first 200m to continue what has been a dream Olympic debut.
Bainbridge dropped back to second but kept Australia in contention before Neilsen, then Evans, restored and extended the lead.
The Australians rested Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer after they finished third and eighth in last night’s individual 200m final and that pair, along with Melanie Schlanger and possibly Stephanie Rice, could come into tonight’s team for the final.
Rice, Barratt, Palmer and the now retired Linda MacKenzie combined for the win and one of Australia’s most memorable moments in Beijing. Bainbridge and Schlanger were heat swimmers there too.
After the race 18 year-old Elmslie said she had concentrated on relaxing after the high of winning gold in the 4x100m freestyle on the first night of competition.
“The first couple of days (I was) still running on a high but by yesterday I was kind of just normal and trying to stay focussed for today and do a really good heat swim.
Dave Lyall
Olympics.com.au
