Natasha Moodie clocked a personal-best 57.71 seconds in the women's 100 metres freestyle at the 13th FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome, Italy, yesterday but it was not good enough to get her past the first round of the event.

Drawn in lane seven, Moodie had a good start and she turned at the 50 metres wall in a respectable split time of 27.29 but her stroke never really looked relaxed. She seemed to shorten her stroke in an attempt to increase her speed and finished the heat in eighth place.

While not openly disappointed with her time, Moodie expressed mild frustration at not getting the improvements she had hoped for from the changes made to her summer-training programme. She had been looking very comfortable in training, and it was generally felt that Jamaica's Coach Janelle Wignall-Atkinson's 100 metres freestyle national record of 57.21 seconds was in jeopardy.

Fast-time form

In assessing her own performance, Moodie felt that she was never able to get into her "easy speed" stroke and by the 40m mark, she was disturbed that she was not staying with the swimmers in the middle of the pool. Coach Wignall-Atkinson believes that Moodie's current form is more suited for a fast time in the 50m freestyle which will come up tomorrow morning.

Amanda Wier (USA) led the semi-final qualifiers with a time of 53.20, followed by Australia's Lisbeth Trinkett (53.49 and Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands (53.61).

Jamaica's swimmers will compete in three events today. Brad Hamilton will swim the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle. Jonathan Wong will join Hamilton in the 50 metres freestyle while Kendese Nangle will compete in the women's 50 metres butterfly.