Hamill through to butterfly semis
- 13th August 2008
17-year-old Olympic swimmer Samantha Hamill.
SAMANTHA Hamill's Olympic journey will continue this afternoon, having qualified for the 200m butterfly semi finals last night.
Hamill touched the wall in fifth place in the final heat, clocking 2:08.83, 2.34 seconds behind Frenchwoman Aurore Mongel.
China's Liuyang Jiao exploded off the blocks, completing the opening 50m just below world record pace, before fading back into the field, eventually finishing in second position.
The Kawana 17-year-old finished the opening 100m in sixth position, before advancing a place in the final 50m.
She qualified with the 13th fastest time, in the 16-swimmer semi final field.
World record holder Jessicah Schipper, in the preceding heat, swam a surprisingly low-key race to finish in fourth position.
Her 2:08.11 was almost three seconds slower than the world mark she set in Canada in 2006.
American Kathleen Hersey lead the field to the wall in 2:07.65.
The quickest heat swim belonged to China's Zige Liu, who turned in a 2:06.46 in heat three, ahead of Japanese pair Nakanishi Yuko and Hoshi Natsumi. Semi finals start at 12.28pm today.
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