Is Chad le Clos playing possum again? The South African star exploded off the blocks for three lengths in the 200m butterfly semifinals at the world championships in Budapest last night.
He led by nearly a body length for three lengths, and then died dramatically on the final length as he fell back to third in 1min 55.09sec, behind Hungary's reigning world champion Laszlo Cseh (1:54.22) and his compatriot, Olympic bronze medallist Tamas Kenderesi (1:54.98).
And that was not even the quicker of the two semifinals. Earlier, Daiya Seto of Japan won his race in 1:54.03, with American Jack Conger second (1:55.30) and Olympic silver medallist Masato Sakai third (1:55.57).
Le Clos's antics were reminiscent of the 200m freestyle at the 2016 Olympics, in which he went out hard in the semifinals and died late.
In that final, however, he pushed hard and hung on for silver in a 1:45.20 African record, which last night would have got him a bronze medal in that event behind Olympic champion Sun Yang of China.
Le Clos withdrew from the freestyle race in Budapest to focus on the butterfly, looking to win the 100m crown for a third straight championship, and try his best to reclaim the title he won four years ago in 2013.
Cameron van der Burgh swam the fastest 50m breaststroke of his life yesterday morning, but he went a little slower in the evening semifinals as he booked his spot in tonight's final.
Van der Burgh had entered new territory as he touched in a 26.54 African record, but his main rival, Englishman Adam Peaty, lowered his own world record twice, going 26.10 in the morning and then 25.95 in the second semifinal.
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