Bucher stayed in 23.55 as 19th by 0.06 seconds above his OSV record, the Tyrolean missed promotion to the semifinals by 0.17 seconds. Pilhatsch was only 21st in 26.81 seconds, that was for him Ascend too slow by 0.27s. Four years ago in Hangzhou, China, at the age of 19, the Styrian became vice world champion in the back sprint in 25.99 seconds. In Australia, she didn’t run the 100m backstroke or the mixed medley relay either. Bucher, on the other hand, still has his main course ahead of him, on Saturday he is going into the competition over 100 m dolphin with absolute ambitions for the final.
Reitshammer and Gigler are aiming for finals over the shorter distance this week for the second time, the day before they had finished 15th and 14th over 100 m breaststroke and 100 m crawl. So far, the best OSV placement of the six-man red-white-red team in the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center was Bucher’s eleventh place over 50 m dolphin. On Friday Kreundl will be in action over 200 m breaststroke and Gigler over 50 m crawl.
