World champions Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh step onto the pool deck in Kazan, Russia, seeded second in their races — the 200m butterfly and the 50m breaststroke respectively.
Van der Burgh cracked a short-lived world record on Tuesday morning while Le Clos had the confidence to seemingly taunt one of his rivals in the 200m butterfly semifinal.
Le Clos, who failed to clinch a medal in the 200m freestyle earlier in the evening, returned to the pool 90 minutes later to win his ’ fly semifinal, clocking his best time since 2013.
Racing in lane one, he had built up a big lead going into the final lap but he let it dwindle as he kept glancing over at Denmark’s Viktor Bromer, one of five swimmers who had come into this gala with faster times than him, as if to say: "I’ll give you a chance; I’m slowing down for you."
Le Clos’s 1 minute 54.50 seconds, however, was only the second fastest of the night, behind Hungarian veteran Laszlo Cseh, winner of the other semifinal in 1:53.53.
Van der Burgh clocked the fastest time of the morning heats, touching in 26.62 seconds to equal the unofficial world mark held by Englishman Adam Peaty.
But Peaty hit back in the evening semifinals with 26.42 seconds to reclaim a record of 26.62 he had set at the European Championships last year but that had not been ratified because he was not tested for banned blood hormone EPO.
