Kregor Zirk 22nd in 400 meter freestyle heats
Estonian swimmer Kregor Zirk finished 22nd in Saturday's 400 meter freestyle heat at the Paris Olympics, and will not progress further in that category.
The distance is not Zirk's strength, but after discussing it with his coach, Tom Rushton, the Estonian decided to compete.
"There are more pros than cons," of doing so, he said.
"I'm not expecting much from it: It's not my main event, and I haven't prepared specifically for it. I only found out fairly late on that I could compete in the 400 meters," Zirk went on, speaking at a press conference Wednesday.
Zirk's strong suit is the 200-meter butterfly, whose heats take place Tuesday, July 30th, with the final following on the Wednesday.
In Saturday's 400 meter freestyle, Zirk completed the eight lengths of the olympic pool in 3:49.59, quarter of a second slower than the time he put in at the World Championships in Doha in February and nearly three seconds slower than his PB and domestic record (3:47.05) in that event, which he posted at the last olympic games in Tokyo.
Zirk placed 22nd overall on Saturday; the top eight swimmers from each heat progress to the finals.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm