OMAHA, Neb. -- Cullen Jones has set an American record in the 50-meter freestyle preliminaries at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.
Jones touched in 21.59 seconds, lowering the old mark of 21.76 set by Gary Hall Jr. at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Jones took one breath during the chaotic race.
"I'll take an American record," Jones said, smiling. "I definitely put my head down when I was going into the wall, but I think there's a lot more in the tank."
Jones, Ben Wildman-Tobriner and Hall were the only men under 22 seconds in the morning heats. World champion Wildman-Tobriner qualified second in 21.68; Hall, the 33-year-old, two-time defending Olympic champion, was third in 21.89.
"Everybody anticipated that record was going down," Hall said. "There's just been too much fast swimming in the world. Records don't last, especially these days."
Jones was the silver medalist at last year's world meet, where Wildman-Tobriner was the surprising winner. But he has struggled to regain the form that he first showed in 2006, when Jones became the first black swimmer to break a world record on the victorious 400-free relay at the Pan Pacific Championships.
"There's a lot of things that go into the 50 freestyle," he said. "One of the things is you have to be perfect for the most part or at least try to. There's never the perfect race; you always mess up something. That's what I love about the sport. You never swim that perfect race, but you keep trying."
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| Cullen Jones makes a splash with his U.S. record in the 50 free. (Getty Images) |
Also advancing to the evening semifinals were 100 backstroke runner-up Matt Grevers, Nick Brunelli, 2004 Olympian Gabe Woodward and two-time Olympian Neil Walker, who like Lezak, is 32.
Jones was third and Adrian fourth in Thursday's 100 free, both earning their first Olympic berths as relay swimmers. Jones' mind was racing later that night.
"I sat up in my bed just daydreaming about how I was going to swim the 50," he said. "I just kind of slapped myself and said, 'Wait a minute, you have to sleep before you can do that.' I had to force myself to go to sleep."
Ian Crocker and Michael Phelps set up another of their eagerly awaited matchups in the 100 butterfly by posting the two fastest prelim times.
Crocker, who set the world record three years ago, hit the wall in 51.52. He was the only man under 52 seconds.
