Torres advances in 50 free, keeps bid for record sixth Games alive

Dara Torres is competing in just one event at trials after winning three silver medals four years ago in Beijing.

Mark J. Terrill/AP

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Dara Torres' bid to make a sixth Olympic team continues. The 45-year-old had the third-fastest time in the 50-meter freestyle semifinals and easily advanced to Monday night's final.

She touched in 24.80 seconds, about a tenth of a second faster than she had planned.

"Going faster is always a good thing," she said. "So I'm in the finals, I'm in the top eight, and I'm ecstatic."

Jessica Hardy (24.56) and Christine Magnuson (24.72) finished 1-2 in the semifinals.

Torres' time of 25.00 was fifth-fastest in the preliminaries. She said after her morning swim that she held back a bit to save energy for the semifinals.

Asked if she went 100 percent in the semifinals, she said, "It wasn't all I've got. But my coach wanted me to move my legs a little more at the end than I did this morning just to make sure I got in."

Torres is competing in just one event at trials after winning three silver medals four years ago in Beijing. She would be the first American to swim in six Olympics if she finishes in the top two Monday.

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