James Magnussen shines in Men’s 100m freestyle semi-final: Day four – 2011 FINA World Championships
Australian 100m freestyle champion, James Magnussen, showed his real strength in the semi-finals of Men’s 100m freestyle meet, on fourth day of the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) organised 2011 World Championships on Wednesday, July 27, in
Shanghai, China.
Magnussen, who qualified as the second fastest swimmer into the semi-finals, improved his swim in the semi-final, by submitting a time of 47.90 seconds. His time was only 0.99 seconds away from the championship and world record of Cesar Cielo Filho of Brazil,
who won the title of 100m event in a record time of 46.91 seconds at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
Nevertheless, his top qualifying efforts were 0.15 seconds ahead of Nathan Adrian of USA, who occupied second fastest qualification spot into the final, by reporting in a time of 48.05 seconds. He was followed by French swimmer, William Meynard, who stayed
just 0.20 seconds behind Adrian and posted a third fastest qualifying time of 48.25 seconds.
For the fourth fastest spot, the Shanghai crowd witnessed an immense battle between Brent Hayden of Canada and Cielo Filho, where Hayden overwhelmed the world record holder’s effort with a difference of 0.04 seconds. Hayden out-touched Cielo, by producing
a fourth ranked time of 48.30 seconds. Cielo Filho clocked a fifth fastest time of 48.34 seconds and stayed 0.07 seconds away from his subsequent swimmer, Sebastiaan Verschuren.
Verschuren of Netherlands was the sixth best qualifying swimmer, as he produced a time of 48.41 seconds. Luca Dotto of Italy remained only 0.03 seconds behind his preceding swimmer and occupied the seventh fastest qualification spot, with timing of 48.44
seconds. France’s Fabien Gilot, who qualified as the fifth best swimmer into the semi-finals, failed to sustain his position in the semi-finals and secured the eighth qualification spot in the final rounds, by producing a time of 48.46 seconds.
Furthermore, Magnussen is now one-step closer to win his first world title. In addition, the Australian swimmer has expressed his desire of maintaining his fastest spot in the final rounds of the meet.
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