Natalie Coughlin’s world championship nightmare continued on Thursday when the American star failed to get past the qualifiers in the 100m freestyle.
Hanna-Maria Seppala of Finland was fastest in the heats in 54,82 seconds ahead of veteran American Jenny Thompson, who has already won two golds here, followed by Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands.
Coughlin finished 31st fastest in 56,98 seconds.
The 20-year-old started off by winning gold with the 4x100m US women’s relay team but was then eliminated in the heats of the 100m backstroke where she was defending champion and the only woman to have swum under a minute.
She blamed a fever for her underperformance and although reaching the 100m butterfly final finished last.
Coughlin is ranked among the top in the world in the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly.
She won four individual gold medals at the Pan Pacific championships last year, and holds short course world records in the 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m butterfly and 100m individual medley.
The Californian, competing in seven events here to test herself for next years Olympics, still has the 200m backstroke and two more relays this week. – Sapa-AFP