(BEIJING, August 12) -- The blue ribbon event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be decided on Thursday when Eamon Sullivan of Australia battles other fast men, excluding Michael Phelps, for gold in the Men's 100m Freestyle final.
Finals:
Eamon Sullivan will participate in the Men's 100m Freestyle final at 10:49 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8), carrying on his tug-of-war for world records with Alain Bernard of France. The two broke the WR in turns in the 100m Freestyle semis, and Sullivan wound it up with an even quicker time. Tomorrow's race will reveal which of the two will have the final edge over the other
The Women's 200m Butterfly semis saw China's Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang ascend to the top three, together with veteran Jessicah Schipper (AUS), who is also the world record holder. If the semifinal results are any indication of how tomorrow morning's final will go, the home crowd will go wild with celebration.
In the Men's 200m Breaststroke final, Kitajima Kosuke might dominate the pool again just as he did in the 100m Breaststroke on August 11, grabbing gold and setting a new WR. He qualified the fastest in the semis and is up for a second gold in Breaststroke. Mike Andrew Brown of Canada and Scott Spann of the United States might pose a threat though.
The Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay will be held later in the morning. France has placed ahead of the United States to top the qualifiers. Whether the US girls will shine as brightly as their male counterparts is still unknown, since France will likely aim for more than just a silver medal. The US women are, however, anticipated to add at least one more gold to their swimming medal chart. Meanwhile, Italy, China and Sweden are in competition for bronze.
Semifinals:
The Women's 100m Freestyle semis will be held early in the morning. In the prelims Hanna-Maria Seppala (FIN) and Britta Steffen (GER) swam neck-and-neck, an early sign that the semis will see an even fiercer battle.
Ryan Lochte of the United States topped the Men's 200m Backstroke heats almost two seconds slower than the WR he set himself in Melbourne Worlds, followed by Aaron Peirsol (USA) and Markus Rogan (AUT), who were also saving their energy for tomorrow's semis. All three veterans are medal hopefuls.
The Women's 200m Breaststroke semis await Jones Leisel (AUS), who championed the 100m Breaststroke Wednesday and qualified later in the evening for the 200m Breaststroke. She maintains the WR of the 200m Breaststroke, though she faces competition from compatriot Rebecca Soni, who topped the prelims breaking the OR. The clawing for gold might play out after their semifinal duel.
The Men's 200m Individual Medley semis welcome Michael Phelps, who has already grabbed five of the eight gold medals he is eyeing at these Games. Laszlo Cseh from Hungary and Ryan Lochte are also swimmers to watch. Sixteen qualifiers will fight for the eight final berths.
Heats:
After the morning duel Sullivan will take to the pool as the favorite for the Men's 50m Freestyle, with big-time rivals Garrett Weber-Gale (USA) and Frenchman Amaury Leveaux out to push the 22-year-old hard.
In the Women's 800m Freestyle heats, Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain and Katie Hoff of the United States will go into the race with the 1989 world record (8:16.22) under serious threat.
US swimming stars Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker will go head-to-head in the Men's 100m Butterfly in a key event that could derail Phelps from his quest for a clean sweep of the medals. As the current world and defending Olympic champion, Phelps is favored to take the event, though Crocker still holds the world record (50.40), which he set in 2005.
Margaret Hoelzer of the United States will need to see off Kristy Coventry of Zimbabwe and Laure Manaudou of France if she plans to take the gold medal in the Women's 200m Backstroke.
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