Santo Condorelli just misses medal at swimming world championships

Santo Condorelli narrowly missed winning Canada's second medal of the swimming world championships, finishing fourth in the men's 100-metre freestyle final on Thursday in Kazan, Russia.

Condorelli led at the turn but was out-touched by 0.07 of a second for the bronze medal by Argentina's Federico Grabich, who came in at 48.12 seconds.

​China's Ning Zetao won gold in 47.84, and the silver went to Australia's Cameron McEvoy (47.95).

"I'm not used to being behind and trying to catch up. It's a lot better for me to be out ahead and focus on myself. I don't have to worry about who's beside me or get caught in any waves," said Condorelli, 20-year-old who is appearing at the world championships for the first time and was the youngest swimmer in the race.

"It's not as scary as I thought," he added. "I can hang with these guys."

A silver medallist in this event at last month's Pan Am Games, Condorelli made it to the final after a Russian swimmer was disqualified from Wednesday's semifinals, bumping the Canadian up from ninth position into the eight-man medal race.

Condorelli was born in Japan and grew up in Portland, Ore. His mother is from Kenora, Ont., allowing him to compete for Canada.

With three days of competition left, Ryan Cochrane's 400m freestyle bronze remains Canada's only swimming medal at the world aquatics championships in Kazan, where swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo and diving championships are all being held.

Canada's three-metre and 10m divers won four silver medals before their events closed last Sunday.

Cochrane is back in the pool Saturday for the heats in the 1,500 freestyle. The Victoria swimmer has won the world silver at that distance three times running, and also owns a pair of Olympic medals.

Smith reaches semis

Canada will have an entry in Friday's women's 200m breaststroke final after Kierra Smith qualified with the fifth-fastest time in Thursday's semis.

The Kelowna, B.C., native swam a personal best, clocking in at 2:22.82 to improve on the 2:24.12 she posted in the morning heats, which itself bettered the Pan Am Games-record time of 2:24.38 she swam to win gold in Toronto last month.

"I'm just going to try to remember that I belong in this final now," Smith said. "It might be a little nerve-wracking, but if I can just remember that I can race these girls then I think I can try to go into it with as much confidence as I can."

Toronto's Martha McCabe was eliminated in the heats after finishing 21st in 2:26.51, a full two seconds off her silver-medal time from the Pan Am Games

Defending world champion Yuliya Efimova of Russia also surprisingly missed the semifinal, finishing 17th.

Van Landeghem out

Pan Am champion Chantal Van Landeghem of Winnipeg missed out on the final in the women's 100m freestyle by the narrowest of margins. Her semifinal time of 53.93 seconds left her 0.01 of a second behind American star Missy Franklin for a spot in the all-important top eight.

Michelle Williams didn't get past the heats, finishing 20th with a time of 55.08.

In other early-session action, the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Katerine Savard, Aly Ackman, Emily Overholt and Kennedy Goss finished 11th in the heats. Despite missing out on the final, the team clinched a 2016 Olympic spot for Canada by finishing in the top 12.

Lochte 4-peats in 200 IM

American swimmer Ryan Lochte made history by becoming the first man to win the 200m individual medley four consecutive times. Lochte trailed through the first three legs but came home strong on the freestyle lap and touched first in 1:55.81.

Thiago Pereira of Brazil finished second in 1:56.65, and Wang Shun of China was third in 1:56.81.

It was Lochte's 24th world championships medal — second only to Michael Phelps' career total of 33 — and his 16th gold.