James Magnussen And Cameron McEvoy Clear Leaders In 100m Freestyle After Prelims Session At Commonwealth Games

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Today’s prelims session at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland were somewhat less uneventful than the previous days, but still gave way to a new Games record and a world record.

MENS 200m BUTTERFLY

The heats of the men’s 200m fly started it off this morning, and after its completion Scotland’s Cameron Brodie took the top seed in 1:57.28. Just behind him was Chad Le Clos in 1:57.45 so was clearly holding it back knowing that he could qualify in this event easily. Behind Le Clos was Sebastian Rousseau in 1:57.84 and Mitch Pratt of Australia in 1:57.95.

Joseph Schooling from Singapore set himself up perfectly to bring the Singapore national record in the 200m fly tonight. The time he needs to beat is a 1:56.27 that he swam last year at the World Championships. He was a 1:58.04 this morning and didn’t look like he was hurting too much, so if he’s able to step it up a bit the record should be within reach.

Chad Le Clos is the obvious favorite in this final, and it is unlikely anybody will be able to touch him. Coming off a bronze medal in the 50m fly he’s shown that he has tremendous speed. Since 2012, he’s been the man to beat in this event and shouldn’t be challenged too much by any of the other swimmers in the field. The final will be held tonight.

WOMENS 200m BREASTSTROKE

Kierra Smith from Canada took the top seed heading into tonight’s final with a time of 2:25.19 this morning. That time was about half-a-second in front of second seed Molly Renshaw who touched in at 2:25.75 for England. Taylor McKeown took the third seed in 2:26.38.

Smith will be joined by another Canadian in the final, Martha McCabe, as she swam a 2:27.45 to qualify fifth. McCabe has more international experience than most in this race, but is coming off an injury that prevented her from training breaststroke until early April.

Considering who’s in the final, if the Canadians really make a charge they could make it a 1-2 finish. A 2:25 should be good enough to get on the podium tonight. Wildcards for the final will be seventh and eighth seeds Hannah Miley and Alia Atkinson. Miley is coming off that 400m IM win and has to be drooling at the opportunity to get another gold in front of a home crowd. She was a 2:28.22 in prelims, not exactly in the mix, but not out of it either.

Atkinson has shown tremendous improvement in her 200m breaststroke over the season with some fantastic results at USA Grand Prix events. The Jamaican will need to swim in the 2:25 range to really be in the mix. She was a 2:28.33 this morning.

MENS 50m BACKSTROKE

Chris Walker-Hebborn is seeded first in the 50m backstroke after already taking gold in the 100m backstroke in a new Commonwealth Games record of 53.12. Walker-Hebborn was a 25.12 this morning to take the top seed ahead of Australians Joshua Beavers and Ben Treffers. Beavers and Treffers tied for the second seed 25.28. Mix in fifth and sixth seeds Liam Tancock (25.49) and George Bovell (25.50) and it will make this a very competitive field.

Liam Tancock is the defending Commonwealth Games record holder and world record holder, so if he can be in top form come the final this race should be his. Walker-Hebborn, however, has been looking amazing and will most likely have the slight edge heading into the final.

Look for someone to try to emerge as the leader tonight in the semifinals to set the tone for the final which will be contested on Sunday.

WOMENS 50m BUTTERFLY

The first and only Games record to fall today was at the hands of Francesca Halsall in the women’s 50m butterfly heats. Halsall was a 25.64 to establish herself as the clear leader going into tonight’s semifinal. She obviously has the speed after already breaking the Games record in the 50m freestyle several times earlier in the meet.

Brit Elmslie from Australia qualified behind her, but well behind in 26.18. Katerine Savard will be in the mix after wining the 100m fly in a new Games record of 57.40. She’s known for her speed in the fly and usually swims a front half race although as of late she’s been toying with her race strategy and seeing some great results.

Alica Coutts from Australia qualified fourth in 26.63. She’ll want to be a lot faster than that in semis tonight after a disappointing 100m fly final left her without a medal.

MENS 200m FREESTYLE S14

In the men’s 200m freestyle S14 Daniel Fox of Australia set a new world record of 1:57.16. That mark blew away the rest of the field as second place finisher australian Mitchell Kilduff was all the way back in 2:01.12.

Look for Fox to try to better his record tonight in finals. He’s got the confidence now to go in as the clear leader, although swimmers like Kilduff will continue to try to challenge him all the way through to the wall.

MENS 100m FREESTYLE

James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy are already establishing themselves early on as the clear leaders in the men’s 100m freestyle final. It was suspected that it would go down to a battle between these two Aussies and predctions might have been just right after all.

Magnussen was well ahead of McEvoy with a time of 48.47, but as is very clear by his patterns at recent meets he likes to take out prelims and semis hard to establish himself early on. McEvoy was only a 49.46, but will be a lot faster than that tonight in semis and later on in finals.

The two faced off at the Australian trials where Magnussen was ahead of McEvoy in both prelims and semifinals. McEvoy ended up running him down in the final though taking home the gold medal and taking the crown as the new Australian champion.

This race could very well be an exact mirror image of what happened at the Australian trials. Magnussen has the sour taste of losing in his mouth though, and won’t want to do it again. They’ve both raced each other recently which will make this final that much more exciting since they’ll know what to expect.

WOMENS 4x200m FREESTYLE RELAY

Australia will be going in as the top seed in the 4x200m freestyle relay after swimming a 7:57.95 this morning. New Zealand and Canada are seeded second a third. Most likely, Canada will be able to pick up the silver medal with the likes of Brittany MacLean on the team.

The world record will not be at risk here after the Aussies broke the 4x100m freestyle one earlier in the meet. Instead, the Commonwealth Games record of 7:53.71 set by Australia in New Delhi in 2010 will be threatened. The Aussies and Canadians should be faster tonight.

FULL RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE