London – South African swimmer Gideon Louw swam the second fastest time of the men's 100 metres freestyle heats to qualify for Tuesday night's semi-final at the London Olympic Games.
Louw recorded a personal best as he won his heat in a time of 48.29 seconds.
“I am very happy with that, I didn't expect to go that fast at all,” Louw said.
“My goal was around 48.6, so I overshot it a little bit, but hey best time so I can't complain.”
While the 25-year-old was on fire in the pool, compatriot Graeme Moore failed to go past the preliminary rounds.
Moore had to be content with a time of 49.29.
Louw's performance also bodes well for the 4x100m medley relay team and it is likely that he would swim the freestyle leg.
Louw said he expected fast times from the world class field which includes world champion James Magnussen of Australia.
“These guys are still warming up and you can definitely expect them to swim faster but anything can happen in the finals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team consisting of Darian Townsend, Jean Basson, Sebastien Rousseau and Chad le Clos qualified for Tuesday's final.
Townsend said while he wasn't satisfied with his own performance, the other three pulled it through for them. – Sapa