London 2012 day 5 prelims: Lochte safely through towards his 200 back/IM epic double

At the London 2012 Olympic prelims this morning, China’s Yi Tang posted best time in the women’s 100 freestyle, 53.28 ahead of Melanie Schlanger (AUS) in 53.50 and Jeanette Ottesen Gray (DEN) in 53.51, notable omission Russia’s single participant Veronika Popova and non-starting Cate Campbell (AUS) and Therese Alshammar (SWE). Rebecca Soni (AUS) posted the quickest time in the women’s 200 breaststroke, 2:21:40 ahead of Rikke Møller Pedersen (DEN) in 2:22.69 and Satomi Suzuki (JPN) in 2:23.22. Ryan Lochte cruised to semifinals in the 200 backstroke and 200 IM, 2nd both times with Tyler Clary faster in the 200 backstroke and Laszlo Cseh faster in the 200 IM. And in the women’s 200 freestyle, Australia was fastest in 7:49.44, Hungary 2/100 outside the final in 7:54.58 and Spain 3/100 in 7:54.59.