There were a couple of swimmers with Bay Area connections that were swimming in the pool on Thursday night. One of them was Cal's Anthony Ervin, who is 12 years removed from winning gold in Sydney at the men's 50 meter freestyle. Ervin isn't a favorite to win this event (César Cielo of Brazil is the current record holder and has been near the top of every heat), but he's proven in his first two heats that he is a definite threat to medal and might even sneak up and score a big upset.
Ervin finished with the fourth fastest time in the 50 free heat with a time of 21.83 seconds, which was only 0.06 seconds behind the fastest time in the heats. He improved upon that mark in the semifinals by two-tenths of a second and moving up to 21.62, where he finished third overall behind Cielo and Cullen Jones of the United States. Expect Ervin to be one of the big contenders for a medal tomorrow night.
For those who want updated medal results, watch for SI's complete medal tracker here.
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