To takes aim at 200 medley title

Swimming Australia
Published: Dec 15, 2012 11:06:18 AM Updated: Mar 19, 2013 09:28:11 AM

FINA World Cup Champion and bronze medallist from the meet so far Kenneth To will take second spot into the final of the men’s 200m individual medley at the short course World Championships in Istanbul tonight.

To stopped the clock at 1:53.57 to set a new personal best time and see him finish just behind multiple Olympic medallist and short course world record holder in the event Ryan Lochte (1:53.31).

The 20-year-old will have the 2010 short course champion and world record holder right by his side for the final and the pocket rocket will be hoping to stay close by for the duration of the race.

“Lochte doesn’t really have a weak stroke so I’ll have to be switched on the whole time. I’m confident in all of my strokes and my underwater skills so hopefully I can keep right by his side all the way to the wall,” To said.

To’s teammate Travis Mahoney hit the wall in 1:55.98 which saw him take tenth spot and narrowly miss a final swim.

Dual Olympian Angie Bainbridge will take on a trio of finals tonight racing in the 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay.

The AIS based swimmer touched the wall in 4:04.94 in the 400m freestyle to move forward in sixth spot and add to her busy finals schedule.

Bainbridge’s third swim came when the Australian 4x100m medley relay heat team just scraped in to the final, recording a time of 3:57.36, beating out Canada for eighth spot by 0.13 of a second.

The team will also have Sarah Katsoulis, Samantha Marshall, Robert Hurley and Ashley Delaney progress through to the semi-finals following their impressive heat swims.

Bronze medallist from the 50m final last night, Katsoulis will be hoping to continue her run of success in the 100m breaststroke semi-finals tonight.

The twenty-eight-year-old recorded another personal best in a textile suit this morning with her time of 1:04.76, which has her ranked third.

Fellow Victorian Marshall will join Katsoulis after also recording a personal best time of 1:06.32 to take eighth spot into the semis.

Backstrokers Hurley (23.57) and Delaney (23.77) will both be fighting for a finals swim tonight after qualifying fifth and ninth respectively from this morning’s heats.

With just over half a second separating the top 16 semi-finalists the result will come down to the touch.

The heats will be broadcast from 1:00am AEDST leading into live finals at 4:00am AEDST on ONE HD.

A full list of results can be found at http://www.fina.org

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