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World record holder Van der Burgh was the fastest qualifier in the men's 50m breaststroke semifinals on Tuesday, and will be hoping to go two spots better than the bronze medal he earned in the 100m event on Monday.
In Wednesday morning's heats, the South African contingent turned in solid performances.
Sprinters Graeme Moore and Gideon Louw advanced through to the semifinals of the men’s 100m freestyle with excellent swims.
Louw took the race out in front to turn in 23.35sec and then swam away from his opposition to win his heat and clock a personal best 48.74sec, finishing 10 th overall.
Moore had his turn in the final heat where he also turned in front at the 50m mark in a faster than expected 22.85sec.
Only Filippo Magnini (Italy) in the lane next to him managed to close the gap to record a fast 48.36sec, with Moore finishing second in 48.65sec - the 9th-best time for the semifinal. There is just 0.79sec separating the top 16 semifinalists.
Then it was Darian Townsend who tackled the men’s 200m individual medley, where he finished 3rd in his heat in 1:59.97.
Michael Phelps (USA) came from behind in the breaststroke and freestyle to win in 1:59.48 with Britain’s James Goddard second in 1:59.68. Townsend goes into the semifinal in 14th place overall.
Also competing this morning was Karin Prinsloo in the women's 50m backstroke. She continued with her good form to clock 29.03sec, but unfortunately this was the 22nd-best time, so she failed to advance.
