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Schoeman, Neethling show form
19/11/2004 14:44 - (SA)
Durban - Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling, having retained top form from their Athens Olympic relay triumph, are primed for strong impact in the 100m freestyle final at the Fina Swimming World Cup in Durban on Friday night.
Schoeman cruised through with the fastest heat of 49.28 in the morning session of the short course showpiece (25m lengths). Neethling followed with 49.33 in winning his heat and fellow Olympic 4x100 gold medal team member Darian Townsend finished with a fourth-fastest 50.36 - equal to the time set by Andrey Kapralov - behind Australia's Andrew Mewing in 49.86.
Neethling is having a busy time in the Kings Park pool. He started the day with third in the 400 freestyle in 3:53,64 behind Russia's Yuri Prilukov (3:45.14) and Dragos Coman of Romania (3:50.04), then went through to the finals in the 100 individual medley in 55.22, his time third-fastest behind Thomas Ruprath of Germany (54.89) and Australian Brenton Rickard (54.91).
Amanda Loots (50m fly) impressed with her 27.06 qualifier against seasoned Olympic silver medallist Martina Maravcova of Slovakia (27.38), while 18-year-old Melissa Corfe (200 backstroke) advanced to the finals with her 2:11.44. Tammy Laubscher also topped her 100 breaststroke heat with 1:10.57, followed by Claire Arichibald who swam 1:10.94.
Germany's Thomas Ruprath, who won silver in the 4x100 medley relay, was in a class of his own in the 50 backstroke with 24.09 against the 24.82 set by American Peter Marshall.
- SAPA
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