Proud gets luck of the draw before 50 free final

PARIS : British swimmer Ben Proud got the luck of the draw before the men's 50 metres 'splash and dash' freestyle final at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

Proud and Australian Cameron McEvoy were fastest in the semi-finals at the La Defense Arena with the exact same time of 21.38 seconds over the shortest distance race on the programme.

Proud will start in the coveted lane four, taken by the fastest qualifier with the two closest rivals on either side, with McEvoy in lane five.

"In cases where swimmers have an identical time, the seeding is done through a random draw," said a spokesperson for World Aquatics. "The random draw was what was used for the Men’s 50m Freestyle Starting List."

Proud, the 2022 world champion, has yet to win an Olympic medal while McEvoy, the 2023 world champion, has three bronzes to his name.