BEIJING - The men's 4x200-metre relay team will have a chance to win Canada's first swimming medal since 2000 after advancing into Wednesday's final at the Beijing Olympic Games.
The Canadian team of Brian Johns of Richmond, B.C., Rick Say of Victoria, Adam Sioui of Trenton, Ont., and Andrew Hurd of Oakville, Ont., swam a Canadian record time of seven minutes, 08.04 seconds in Tuesday night's preliminaries. They go into the final with the fifth best time.
The Americans had the fastest time, setting an Olympic record of 7:04.66.
Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., swallowed a mouth full of water but still managed to advance into the semifinals of the 100-metre freestyle. That's the event where he tied for the gold medal at last year's world aquatic championships.
His time of 47.84 seconds was the third fastest.
Earlier Tuesday, Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., broke another Canadian record to qualify for the finals of the 200-metre individual medley.
