"When I swim a good 100 my performance over the longer distance is always poor," she said.Sarah Hardcastle also fell at the heat stage, this time in the 400m individual medley, although she never had any great expectations in the first place "It's nice to loosen me up," she said before the race "It breaks me into the competition here. Somehow she drew some encouragement for the 200m freestyle today, a distance in which she won a gold in the world short-course championships three years ago. I'm always behind after the first length but it's much harder to get it back at this level."Pickering, who finished fifth, was half a second down on her swim in the trials in Sheffield in March which was the 10th fastest time recorded this year. At the finish Le, who later won the gold medal with a time of 54.50sec, was two yards ahead."I can never go out with them in the first 50 and if I improve my speed I compromise my stamina for the 200," Pickering said. "It's a bit daunting coming out of your dive to find you are down on Le but I expected to spend the race at her feet. An appearance in the B final last night was not a substantial compensation. The gap between Pickering and the world record holder, China's Le Jingyi, was apparent from the start. They were side by side on the blocks but by the time they had surfaced from the dive a gap of nearly a foot had opened.By the turn the distance between herself and Le had grown to 0.8 seconds and her hopes of making the final had disappeared.

She failed to reached the final of the 100m freestyle, unable even to match her time in the British trials. The 24-year-old from Ipswich clocked 56.4 seconds to miss the final by 0.33 sec. It sounds a small margin but there were five women ahead of her before the finishing list reached the fastest eight. Karen Pickering had said it would need a perfect race from her to win an Olympic medal but perfection was a long way beyond her grasp in the pool yesterday.

He walks as if he is going to kick your butt."Open diary, page 30Complete third-round scores(GB or Irl unless stated)* denotes amateur198T Lehman (US) 67 67 64204N Faldo 68 68 68205M Brooks (US) 67 70 68V Singh (Fiji) 69 67 69206F Couples (US) 67 70 69E Els (SA) 68 67 71207S Stricker (US) 71 70 66S Maruyama (Japan) 68 70 69D Clarke 70 68 69M McCumber (US) 67 79 71208B Faxon (US) 67 73 68R Mediate (US) 69 70 69H Tanaka (Japan) 67 71 70C Mason 68 70 70L Roberts (US) 67 79 72M O'Meara (US) 67 69 72P McGinley 69 65 74209D Duval (US) 76 67 66G Turner (NZ) 72 69 68D Gilford 71 67 71P Harrington 68 68 73210F Nobilo (NZ) 70 72 68J Parnevik (Swe) 72 69 69M McNulty (Zim) 69 71 70G Norman (Aus) 71 68 71P Mitchell 71 68 71C Pavin (US) 70 66 74P Hedblom (Swe) 70 65 75211*T Woods (US) 75 66 70A Cejka (Ger) 73 67 71J Maggert (US) 69 70 72J Furyk (US) 68 71 72P Broadhurst 65 72 74212T Kite (US) 77 66 69S Ames (Trin) 71 72 69J Daly (US) 70 73 69B Barnes 73 70 69R Chapman 72 70 70J Sluman (US) 72 70 70N Price (Zim) 68 73 71B Crenshaw (US) 73 68 71M Welch 71 68 73J Nicklaus (US) 69 66 77213E Darcy 73 69 71J Haas (US) 70 72 71D Frost (SA) 70 72 71R Allenby (Aus) 74 68 71R Boxall 72 70 71S Lyle 71 69 73S Simpson (US) 71 69 73M James 70 68 75214B Charles (NZ) 71 72 71T Tolles (US) 73 70 71P Stewart (US) 70 73 71G Law 74 69 71B Hughes (Aus) 70 69 75215D A Weibring (US) 71 72 72K Eriksson (Swe) 68 75 72C Strange (US) 71 72 72P Mickelson (US) 72 71 72M Jonzon (Swe) 69 73 73T Hamilton (US) 71 70 74C Rocca (It) 71 70 74216J Payne 72 71 73R Todd (Can) 74 69 73B Ogle (Aus) 70 73 73P Jacobsen (US) 72 70 74B Mayfair (US) 70 72 74D A Russell 70 72 74C Suneson (Sp) 73 69 74E Romero (Arg) 70 71 75M Calcavecchia (US) 72 68 76217R Goosen (SA) 72 71 74C Stadler (US) 71 71 75219H Clark 72 71 76220A Langenaeken (Bel) 72 71 77D Hospital (Sp) 75 68 77. He dropped successive shots at the 14th, 15th and 16th to flash a warning to those behind that Lytham was becoming no pushover on the second nine.There will be a healthy respect when Lehman and Faldo tee-off at the back of the field today. Faldo saw his quarry knock in a 30-footer on the 16th yesterday "He is playing great," he said Lehman has no illusions "Nick Faldo walks with his head held high. "The objective is the same as the Masters, to go out and shoot a great score and see what happens.

Being together in the last group again may be a help."If the wind blows just a little more intently tomorrow, the back nine will once more be the most challenging place on earth. Greg Norman was one of many who discovered its treachery yesterday when his surge to six under par was snatched back from him on the homeward nine holes.The Australian dropped three shots over the last five holes to find himself at three under, the point from which he had started Mark McNulty was another who was flattered by an outward 32. Faldo can see Lehman within a horizon he knows he reached once and believes he can reach again.He had his third successive 68 realises he needs to go for birdies today. He feels he deserved more yesterday and vowed to take every opportunity today "I must aim for a 63," Faldo said. Vijay Singh and Fred Couples edged themselves to the brink of today's climax. But it took all of Faldo's famed persistence to keep the American in sight.