Aug. 9, 2016
Marcelo Chierighini will swim for a medal in Rio on Wednesday night.
Chierighini, who swam at Auburn from 2010-14 and is swimming for his native Brazil, qualified for the men's 100m freestyle finals at the Rio Olympics with a 48.23 semifinal time on Tuesday night. Swimming in the second of two heats, he led at the 50m mark with a 22.59 split, which was the fastest first half of any semifinalist.
"I feel amazing," Chierighini said. "It's in my home country and after the race, all the crowd was being very supportive. It is an honor for me because I have been watching Cesar (Cielo), I've been watching (Fernando) Scherer and Gustavo (Borges) and this is a very traditional event for Brazil so it is an honor for me and I am very excited for tomorrow. War Eagle!"
"I am so proud of Marcelo and this achievement," Auburn head coach and Brazil assistant coach Brett Hawke said. "He has worked so hard over many years, but none more than this year and this preparation for his home Olympics. It's hard to fully understand the impact of the crowd until you walk out but he has handled it outstandingly. We are ready for the final! War Eagle!"
Chierighini would finish fifth in his semifinal, which placed him eighth for Wednesday night's final, which will go off at 9:03 p.m. CT on NBC. Nathan Adrian of the United States is the top overall seed after qualifying in 47.83.
Chierighini reached the semifinals with a 48.53 to finish fifth in the sixth of eight preliminary heats. That time ranked 13th-fastest in the morning, 0.63 seconds behind top qualifiers Kyle Chalmers of Australia (47.90).
Ziv Kalontarov, a sophomore at Auburn from Rishon Lezion, Israel, tied for 45th during the prelims, clocking a 50.65. The Israeli national record holder in the 50m free, he returns to the pool for that event's prelims on Thursday. He will be one of three Auburn swimmers in the event, joining George Bovell and Fred Bousquet. Kalontarov and Bovell will be in lanes 6 and 7, respectively, in heat 8 while Bousquet will swim in lane 1 in heat 9.
Swimming during Wednesday's prelims will be Julie Meynen and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, both in the women's 100m free. Meynen, an incoming freshman from Luxembourg, will swim in heat 3, lane 8 at 11:08 a.m. CT while Vanderpool-Wallace, swimming for the Bahamas, will swim in heat 5, lane 7 at 11:14 a.m. There will be six total heats in the event.