Hurley on the fast track through to semi-finals
Swimming Australia
Published: Dec 13, 2012 12:43:11 AM
Australian short course record holder for the men’s 100m backstroke Robert Hurley has qualified fastest for tonight’s semi-final at the FINA World Short Course Championships at the Sinan Erdem Arena, Istanbul.
The 23-year-old took the lead early eventually stopping the clock at 50.22, just 0.04 of a second shy of the Australian record of 50.18 that he shares with teammate Ashley Delaney.
Delaney will also progress through to the semi-finals, after finishing equal fifth in 51.19 but will no doubt be eager to stay hot on Hurley’s heels tonight.
Twenty-one-year-old Jarrod Killey will go straight through to the men’s 200m freestyle final after qualifying fifth fastest in an impressive time of 1:44.33.
The AIS based swimmer will have to face multiple Olympic medallist and gold medallist from the 200m freestyle at the World Short Course Championships in 2010 Ryan Lochte (1:42.41) and short course world record holder in the event, German swimmer Paul Biedermann (1:44.05).
Backstroke queens Grace Loh and Rachel Goh will each fight for a spot in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke after both successfully progressing through to the semi-finals tonight.
Loh will go through in fifth position after hitting the wall in 57.89 ahead of Goh in ninth with a time of 58.35.
Commonwealth short course record holder for this event Sarah Katsoulis powered through the heats of the women’s 50m breaststroke, hitting the wall in 30.24 and moving into the semi-finals ranked fifth.
Fellow Victorian Samantha Marshall will also swim in the semis tonight after her time of 30.90 saw her finish in 11th spot.
FINA World Cup Champion Kenneth To has made a promising start to his short course World Championship campaign flying through to the 100m butterfly semi-final in a time of 51.06.
Queenslanders Grant Irvine and Ellen Fullerton along with West Australian Brianna Throssell narrowly missed out on the finals in their respective events.
Twenty-one-year-old Irvine, swimming on his first senior Australian team, hit the wall in 51.81 in the men’s 100m butterfly while 16-year-old Throssell, also on her first senior swim team, finished 13th in the women’s 200m butterfly in an equal personal best time of 2:09.08.
Nineteen-year-old Fullerton was ranked 11th after finishing the women’s 400m IM in a time of 4:37.84, just shy of a finals qualification.
Tonight’s finals will be broadcast from 4:00am AEDST on ONE HD with results also available online at http://www.fina.org
For all media enquiries contact Kathleen Rayment on +905380352422 or at Kathleen.rayment@swimming.org.au
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