Here’s how North Carolina swimmer Claire Curzan did in the 100 butterfly prelims

For results from Claire Curzan’s semifinal swim in the women’s 100-meter butterfly July 24, see this story.

The youngest member of the U.S. Swim Team made her senior team Olympics debut Saturday morning in the third heat of five in the women’s 100-meter butterfly.

And Claire Curzan did what she’s been doing right along during her competitive season — she swam beside the best in the world and didn’t look a bit out of place.

Curzan finished third in her heat, swimming the two lengths of the pool in 57.49 seconds. That was good enough for tenth overall in the preliminary round, in which the top 16 advanced to the semifinals. She is one of two Americans who will race in Saturday night’s final, joining Torri Huske of Virginia. Huske had the second-fastest time in Heat 4, finishing in 56.29 for the fourth-best qualifying time.

Saturday’s preliminary round took place at 6:30 a.m. Eastern, which was 7:30 p.m. in Tokyo. After a night’s sleep, the athletes will return to the pool bright and early for the semifinals of the 100 butterfly, which will be live at 9:40 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.

According to Cardinal Gibbons, the school will be hosting a watch part on their football field from 8-10:15 p.m. Saturday to watch Curzan compete in the semifinals.

This story was originally published July 24, 2021 at 6:55 AM.

Justin Pelletier

The News & Observer

Justin is a 25-year veteran sports journalist with stops in Lewiston, Maine (Sun Journal), and Boston (Boston Herald). A proud husband, and father of twin girls, Pelletier is a Boston University graduate and member of the esteemed Jack Falla sportswriting mafia. He has earned dozens of state and national sportswriting and editing awards covering preps, colleges and professional leagues.