Farida Osman of Egypt set a new African Record in the semifinals of the 50 fly this evening. Her time of 25.88 was the 6th-fastest time in the semi-finals, allowing her to advance to tomorrow evening’s final.
Osman already had the record, having set it this June at the Arena Pro Series stop in Santa Clara, with a time of 26.08.
Here in Kazan, Osman is entered in both the 50 and 100 distances of both the fly and freestyle.
On the first day of the swimming competition this week, Osman tied with Rachael Kelly of Great Britain for 16th in the preliminaries of the 100 fly, then lost the swim-off that morning by a margin of only 0.05, narrowly missing the semi-finals.
Osman placed 26th in the 100 free and still has the 50 free to come. She’s slated to swim in the final heat of the 50 free tomorrow morning, and if she makes the semi-final in that event, she’ll have a double tomorrow evening, with approximately an hour between the two events.
Earlier this year, Osman was a key part of the Cal Bears’ NCAA Division I swimming title, earning 4th place finishes in the 50 free and 100 fly, as well as picking up seventh in the 100 free on the final day. She also anchored Cal’s winning 200 free and 200 medley relays. She swam alongside several other teammates on those relays who are competing in Kazan this week, including Rachel Bootsma and Missy Franklin of the United States, and Marina Garcia of Spain.
