体坛英语新闻：French swimmer Yannick edges closer to third gold at Olympic Games

LONDON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Men's 200 meter freestyle and 4X100 meters freestyle gold medalist, Yannick Agnel has the chance of winning his third gold of the London Olmypic Games after qualifying for the semi-finals of the 100 meters freestyle on Tuesday morning.

Agnel only finished with the twelfth fastest qualifying time, but that is understandable after Monday night's exertion. World record holder Cesar Cielo went through in the tenth fastest time.

"It was my first swim and it was a tough one. I hope I'm going to make it back,"commented Cielo after his race.

Australian James Magnussen who wants to make up for missing out on a medal in the relay, had the fourth fastest time, while US swimmer Nathan Adrian clocked the fastest qualifying time.

"It was good. I am still trying to recover from not getting a medal in the relay and trying to stay positive. I have spent a lot of time with my coach one to one, thinking about what went wrong," said Magnussen.

China's day in the pool got off to a flying start in the women's 200 meters butterfly as world record holder, Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang both made it to the semi-finals with ease. Lui clocking the tenth fastest time and clearly conserving energy and Jiao going through with a time only bettered by American, Kathleen Hersey.

"I was trying to have a good, solid morning swim. I didn't feel I went into that last gear. The emotions take you through so much the first half. The only thing you have to think about is that last 50m,"she said.

Britain's Jemma Lowe also announced her candidacy for a medal with the third best time of the morning. "I'm really happy I've made it to the next round, that was the aim this morning," she said, adding it was the best time she had posted in an early morning swim.

The Brits looked to lay down the law in the heats for the men's 200 meters breaststroke and Michael Jameson and Andrew Willis had the home fans cheering with the second and third fastest times, although Jameson was under no illusion that the semi-finals would be a lot tougher.

" I usually struggle to catch these guys (in the second half of the race). A lot of the bigger guys will step up tonight so I am going to have to do the same," he said.

Both were behind Hungarian Daniel Gyurta, with this year's fastest in the event, Kitajma Kosuke coming through in the fifth fastest time. The winner of the 100 meters and 200 meters in Beijing will be looking to improve on his fifth place in the 100 meters final.

China's 4X200 meters men's freestyle relay team qualified for tonight's final. The team, which was without Sun Yang who shared silver with Park Tae Taehwan on Monday night, but was still able to clock the sixth fastest time.

"This is my first Olympics. I like the environment and I did my best. We expect to have the best two swimmers to join the final,"said Jun Dai, whose words imply that Sun Yang will compete later tonight, despite needing to save energy for the 1,500 meters.

It will be difficult for China to take a medal in a final that contains powerful teams from the USA, France, Germany and Australia, especially as the American's and Australians rested swimmers such as Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps and James Magnussen.