Steffen safely through to semi-finals of 50m freestyle

Steffen safely through to semi-finals of 50m freestyle Rome - Germany's Britta Steffen cruised into the semi-finals of the women's 50-metre freestyle at the swimming world championships in Rome Saturday, a day after claiming the 100m crown in world record time.

Steffen qualified in fifth in a time of 24.42 seconds, while Australia's Cate Campbell was the fastest qualifier in a championship record time of 24.24.

"I was pretty tired this morning," admitted Steffen.

American Dara Torres is also safely through to Saturday evening's semi-finals after qualifying in seventh with Libby Trickett of Australia 10th.

Yuliya Efimova of Russia was fastest in the heats of the women's 50m breaststroke with a championship record time of 30.24 seconds.

Brazil's Guilherme Guido set a championship record of 24.49 seconds in the men's 50m backstroke with Aschwin Wildeboer of Spain second fastest in 24.50.

China qualified fastest in the women's 400m medley, followed by Japan, Germany and the Netherlands.

The team of Zhao Jing, Chen Huijia, Jiao Liuyang, and Li Zhesi registered a winning time of 3 minutes 56.14 seconds for the distance while the US failed to qualify after finishing 10th fastest.

China's Suy Yang was the fastest qualifier in the men's 1,500m semi-finals with a time of 14:54.54 minutes while South Korea's Park Taehwan just missed out on qualification after finishing ninth overall.

The world championships continue later Saturday with finals in the women's 50m butterfly, men's 50m freestyle, women's 200m backstroke, men's 100m butterfly, women's
800m freestyle and 4x 100m medley.

There are also semi-finals in the women's 50m breaststroke, women's 50m freestyle and men's 50m backstroke. (dpa)