McEvoy makes splash with fast 50m freestyle heat

DOHA: World champion Cameron McEvoy made a blistering start in his 50 metres freestyle title defence at the World Championships in Doha on Friday while American Claire Curzan took a step closer to a rare sweep of the women’s backstroke titles.

Australian McEvoy won his heat with ease, clocking an impressive 21.13 seconds at the Aspire Dome pool to be top seed for the semi-finals later on Friday ahead of Ukraine’s Vladyslav Bukhov (21.56).

Cesar Cielo’s world record of 20.91 in a now-banned super-suit has stood for over 14 years but McEvoy, who won the title last July in Fukuoka in 21.06, could be ready to threaten it.

With Australian champion and world record holder Kaylee McKeown skipping Doha along with the minor medallists from Fukuoka, American Curzan has had it all her own way in the backstroke.

Having already won the 50m and 100m golds in Doha, she qualified fastest for the 200m semis with a time of 2:10.50, ahead of Australia’s Jaclyn Barclay.

Victory in the 200 would make Curzan only the second woman to win all three backstroke titles at the same World Championships, with McKeown the first at Fukuoka.

Swedish swimming titan Sarah Sjostrom is on track for a sixth successive title in the non-Olympic women’s 50m butterfly.

Only one other swimmer has won six world golds in succession in a single event: Katie Ledecky in the 800m freestyle.

World record holder Sjostrom clocked 24.88, the ninth fastest time ever, to be top seed for the 50m butterfly semi-finals.

“I feel amazing, it was great to go under 25 seconds. I didn’t really expect that,” the 30-year-old told reporters.

“But of course I had a really nice feeling and a nice catch in my stroke, so it’s nice to see a good time.”

With American great Ledecky skipping Doha and forgoing her chance for a record seventh successive gold in the 800m freestyle, Germany’s Isabel Gose is seeded first for the final.

Gose clocked 8:26.49 in her heat, while Italian Simona Quadarella, who won the 1,500m title in Doha, was second quickest in 8:27.80.

With 100m freestyle world record holder Pan Zhanle swimming the final leg, China took top seed in the men’s 4x200m freestyle final ahead of South Korea and Italy.

Austrian Simon Bucher is top seed in a relatively weak field for the men’s 100m butterfly, which is missing French world champion Maxime Grousset and the other Fukuoka medallists.

With world champion Tatjana Schoenmaker skipping Doha, American Kate Douglass will bid for the 200m breaststroke title in the final later on Friday as the second fastest qualifier behind the Netherlands’ Tes Schouten.

Douglass already won the 200m individual medley title this week. Finland’s Olympic bronze medallist Matti Mattsson will aim for gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke final, with American Jake Foster the top seed.