Tokyo Olympics 2021: Emma McKeon breaks Olympic 50m freestyle record in heats
Australia's Emma McKeon has continued her golden Tokyo Olympics by setting an Olympic record in the 50m freestyle heats.
McKeon's time of 24.02 was the quickest of the 11 heats, with Cate Campbell qualifying third quickest with 24.15.
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Both the Australians beat out Swedish 50m world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem who swam a 24.26.
China's Zhang Yufei, who took out gold in the 200m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle relay, qualified sixth quickest for the semi-finals with a 24.36 swim.
McKeon (R) and Campbell (L) were among the top three qualifiers in the women's 50m freestyle heats Getty
Unfortunately, there was no such success for Australia in the men's 50m freestyle heats, with Cameron McEvoy failing to qualify for the semi-finals.
McEvoy's 22.31 ranked 29th in the heats, much slower than the 21.89 he swam in the 50m semi-finals in Rio five years ago.
American star Caeleb Dressel qualified quickest for the semi-finals with 21.32 ahead of Rio silver medallist Florent Manaudou (France) who swam a 21.65.
Brazil's Bruno Fratus, who reached the 50m freestyle final in Rio was fourth-quickest in the heats with 21.67.
Jack McLoughlin finished 10th in the 1500m freestyle heats and failed to qualify for the final Getty
There was also heartbreak for Australia in the men's 1500m freestyle heats with Jack McLoughlin unable to qualify for the final after finishing 10th in the heats with a time of 14:56.98.
Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk led all qualifiers with a time of 14:45.99, beating out USA's Robert Finke (14:47.20) and Germany's Florian Wellbrock (14:48.53).
There was more luck in both the men's and women's 4 x 100m medley relay, with the women's team qualifying third-fastest for the final, while the men's team finished sixth fastest.
Australia looked to be in danger of missing the final before a brilliant final 50m from anchor Kyle Chalmers (22.73) allowed the team to finish third in its heat.
