American swimming sprinter Nathan Adrian's hopes to retain his Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle remain intact following Tuesday's semifinals.
Adrian flirted with disaster in the afternoon preliminary heats after qualifying for semifinals by just three one-hundredths of a second (48.58) but made up for it in Lane 8 of the first semifinal heat, winning with a time of 47.83 seconds to move from 16th to first entering Wednesday's final.
Adrian was fifth at the turn but used a dominant turnover rate and powerful kick to out-touch Australia's Cameron McEvoy (47.93). Adrian's time was 0.05 seconds faster than semifinal heat No.