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Murray, Prinsloo into semis

Barcelona - Darren Murray and Karin Prinsloo qualified for the semi-finals of the men's and women's 100m backstroke, respectively, at the Fina World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday morning.

Murray, who unexpectedly swam in the first heat in the Palau Sant Jordi pool, said he was happy with his swim.

"I went pretty sweet but it is not my main event. God willing the 200m will be a bit better," he said, adding he thought he was placed in the first heat because he was a late entry.

He easily won his heat in 54.64 seconds for the 15th-fastest time overall - 1.04 seconds behind leader Ashley Delaney from Australia.

American David Plummer and Xu Jiayu from China had the second and third fastest times.

Prinsloo, 23, who participated at the London Olympics, swam in the third heat of the women's 100m backstroke and finished sixth with a time of one minute, 01.25 seconds (1:01.25).

That gave her the 16th-fastest time overall and the last place in Monday evening's semi-finals.

American Missy Franklin was fastest with 59.13 seconds - 2.06 seconds faster than Prinsloo.

There was disappointment for Tara-Lynn Nicholas in the women's 100m breaststroke, as she failed to qualify for the semi-finals, even though she came close to her personal best with a time of 1:10.22 missing it by 0.23 seconds.

Nicholas, who finished 32nd out of 60 in the rankings, said she was not too pleased with the result.

Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania set a new championship record of 1.04.52 and is the fastest qualifier for tonight’s semi-final.

American Jessica Hardy and Russian swimmer Yuliya Efimova were second and third fastest.

Prinsloo and Murray will be joined in Monday evening's session by Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh, who will swim in the men's 100m breaststroke final.

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