Thorpe resumes golden quest

Ian Thorpe, three world records and four gold medals to the good, resumed his duels with Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband as both swung into the semifinals of the 100 metres freestyle at the world swimming championships on Thursday.

With qualification for the evening's semifinals a formality, neither exerted himself unduly in the final heat and Van den Hoogenband won in the morning's fastest time of 48.96 seconds.

Thorpe, in the adjacent lane as he had been the night before in his devastating victory over the Dutchman in the 200 freestyle final, was back in sixth place at the turn and did just enough on the return length to touch second in 49.21, the third-quickest aggregate time.

American Anthony Ervin, who on Monday added the world 50 freestyle title to the Olympic gold he won in Sydney, was second overall in 49.08 but immediately dismissed his chances of winning the final.

"I've a pretty good idea who's going to win and I don't think it's going to be me," Ervin, who sees himself as an out-and-out one-length sprinter in the 50-metre pool, said. "I think Van den Hoogenband is going to win."

Thorpe, who obliterated both his own world record and the Dutchman in the 200, has built his reputation on his prowess in distances from 200 upwards and is competing in the 100 at a major international championships for the first time.

"I felt a bit flat this morning because the 200 took a lot out of me last night," Thorpe, who lowered his own world record by a huge 0.63 seconds to 1:44.06 on Wednesday.

But he shrugged off the burden of pursuing an unprecedented seven world golds in his heavy eight-day programme.

"It's only hard if you make it hard for yourself," he said. "I'm trying to be positive and take every race as being just another race."

Ervin, by contrast, found it all heavy going.

"That was painful. It hurt a lot because I swim the 50 and when I try to swim longer I die," he said.