(BEIJING, August 9) -- All eyes were on Michael Phelps as he made his debut at the Water Cube in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley. Phelps brought his fans to their feet, beating the Olympic record he set in Athens with a time of 4:07.82. When asked about his race, he said: “I'm pretty satisfied with the time. I didn't think I'd swim that fast in the preliminaries. All I know, is I wanted to be in the middle (lane) of the pool tomorrow." Fellow US team member Ryan Lochte, the silver medalist in the 2007 World Championships in this event, finished fourth with a time of 4:10.33.
In the Women’s 100m butterfly, Jessicah Schipper of Australia had the fastest time in the prelims finishing the race in 57.58. Christine Magnuson of the United States and Zhou Yafei of China both came in second with a shared time of 57.70. Athens gold medalist Lisbeth Trickett of Australia finished second in her heat and 12th overall in 58.37. She commented on her performance afterwards: “It was good. I'm happy with that performance, probably my fastest heat ever. It probably doesn't look that good coming in second, but I am happy with that.”
Men’s 400m Freestyle attracted much attention due to the cluster of stars performing in this event. Grant Hackett of Australia, veteran swimmer Larsen Jensen of the United States, and rising star Park Tae-hwan of the Republic of Korea were some of the favorites. Jensen finished first in 3:43.10 with Zhang Lin from China (3:43.32) close behind. Park Tae-hwan was third with a time of 3:43.35. Hackett was fifth and when asked about his pace, he said: "I knew it would be quick but not that quick." Peter Vanderkaay of the United States finished sixth.
The Olympic record was broken by 5 swimmers in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke prelims. Alexander Dale Oen of Norway was the top finisher with a time of 59.41. The Athens gold medalist in this event, Japan's Kitajima Kosuke (59.52), placed second with Frances Hugues Duboscq in third at 59.67. Australian Brenton Rickard (59.89) and South African Cameron van der Burgh (59.96) also broke the former record of 1:00.01. The ex-Olympic-record and current world-record holder Brendan Hansen of the United States placed 10th. But he was still upbeat about the final.
The Women’s 400m Individual Medley saw no records broken, but a fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Beisel of the United States finished first in 4:34.55 while her teammate and world record holder in the event Katie Hoff was the second fastest qualifier with a time of 4:34.63. Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe qualified with the seventh fastest time of 4:36.43.
China was the fastest qualifier for the Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay final with an Asian record 3:36.78 via Pang Jiaying's stunning anchor split of 52.83. Germany was a surprise second fastest in 3:37.52, with the United States third fastest in 3:37.53. The Netherlands was fourth, finishing in 3:37.61.
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