China finished first on Thursday morning heats in women's 4x200 freestyle relay held at the Palau Sant Jordi swimming pool in the 15th FINA World Championships.

China finished the race in 7:52.50, ahead of the Australians who clocked 7:52.69. Both teams were fighting for the first position along the race with China's Olympic champion Ye Shiwen clocking the best time 1:57.43.

Shao Yiwen, Guo Junjun and Zhang Wenqing were also part of the team who holds the world record in this discipline achieved in Rome 2009, clocking 7:42.08.

The third position was for the United States, who finished in 7:53.03 followed by Spain in 7:54.90.

Thursday morning also saw preliminaries of women's 100 meters freestyle and 200 meters breaststroke, and men's 200 meters backstroke and breaststroke.

Australia's Cate Campbell finished first in women's 100 meters freestyle clocking 53.24. She was followed by American Missy Franklin, who won gold medal in 200 meters freestyle in Barcelona on Wednesday, clocking 53.36.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom, 100 meters butterfly gold medallist in Barcelona this year, finished third, while world record holder (52.07) Germany's Brita Steffen finished fourth.

Meanwhile, Micah Lawrence of the United States finished first in women's 200 meters breaststroke followed by Denmark's Rikke Moller and Russia's Yuliya Efimora.

American Clary Tyler finished first in men's 200 meters backstroke, followed by Britain's Craig Mcnally and U.S. star Ryan Lochte.

Meanwhile, Germany's Marco Koch finished first in men's 200 meters backstroke, followed by Britain's Andrew Willis and Hungary's Daniel Gyurta.

After Thursday heats, the Palau Sant Jordi will host five finals and four semifinals in the evening.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)