Canada's Samantha Cheverton, Amanda Reason and Barbara Jardin, left to right, cheer on their anchor Brittany Maclean during the final leg of their women's 4x200m freestyle relay heat at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on Wednesday.JORGE SILVA/Reuters
Canada advanced to the final of the women's 4x200-metre freestyle relay with the third fastest time Wednesday at the London Games.
The Canadian team of Barbara Jardin of Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Que., Samantha Cheverton of Lachine, Que., Toronto's Amanda Reason and Brittany MacLean of Etobicoke, Ont., finished in seven minutes 52.88 seconds.
Australia finished first 7:49.44 followed by the United States in 7:50.75.
It was part of a strong showing for Canada in the pool Wednesday morning, with four of five Canadians advancing.
In the men's 200-metre individual medley, Andrew Ford of Guelph, Ont., made the cut for the semifinal by finishing 16th in 2:00.28.
Laszlo Cseh of Hungary led the way in 1:57.20 followed by American Ryan Lochte in 1:58.03. Kosuke Hagino of Japan was third in 1:58.22.
Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont., was third in her 100 freestyle heat and advanced in 54.16. Tang Yi of China finished in 53.28 seconds, while Melanie Schlanger of Australia was second-quickest in 53.50. World champion Jeanette Ottesen Gray of Denmark was third in 53.51.
Martha McCabe of Toronto was third in her 200-metre breaststroke heat to earn a spot in the semis. She finished 13th overall in 2:26.39.
American Rebecca Soni finished first in 2:21.40 followed by Denmark's Rikke Pedersen (2:22.69) and Japan's Satomi Suzuki (2:23.22).
Tera Van Beilin of Oakville, Ont., was seventh in her heat and did not advance.
Toronto's Tobias Oriwol also advanced in the men's 200-metre backstroke.
He qualified with the 11th fastest time in 1:58.06. Tyler Clary (1:56.24) and Lochte (1:56.36) qualified 1-2 followed by China's Fenglin Zhang in 1:56.71..