16th FINA Championships: Campbell sisters storm into semis

Cate finishes joint first, Bronte second in 100m freestyle

KAZAN: Australia’s Cate and Bronte Campbell stormed into the 100-metre freestyle semi-finals on Thursday at the world swimming championships in their quest for more gold medals in Kazan.

Having helped Australia win the 4x100m freestyle relay last Sunday, the siblings opened their individual campaigns with fast times into the semi-finals.

Cate, the defending champion, matched Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who broke the women’s 100m butterfly world record in taking gold on Monday, with the joint fastest time of 53.22 seconds.

Bronte was right behind at 0.28s back, just ahead of Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo at 0.63s.

“I executed a good race plan, I could see where everyone was in my heat so that’s a nice start,” said Cate. “It’s been a fantastic week so far and it’s all about keeping it going now.”

Missy Franklin of the USA, who left the Barcelona championships two years ago with six golds but has only two bronzes to show so far, continued her disappointing Kazan campaign by finishing 10th fastest.

Haris, Anum register poor results

Pakistan swimmers Haris Bandey and Anum Bandey failed to qualify for the next round of their respective races at the worlds.

Haris, who ended his first race of the championship at the second last spot on Monday, finished last (47th) in the men’s 200m individual medley.

Meanwhile, Anum, who failed to qualify for the next round of her first race on Wednesday, finished third last (48th) in female’s 200m breaststroke.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th,  2015.

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