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By Steve Keating
PARIS (Reuters) - Once the queen of breaststroke, American Lilly King has come to Paris to reclaim the 100 metres throne but there are no shortage of contenders eyeing the Paris Olympics golden crown.
King, who set the 100 breaststroke world record seven years ago, got her quest off to a controlled start on Sunday at a raucous La Defense Arena by winning her heat in one minute 6.10 seconds to place fifth best among the 16 semi-finalists.
After grabbing two golds, including the 100 breaststroke, at the 2016 Rio Olympics, King was kept from top spot at the Tokyo Games and instead pocketed two silvers and a bronze.
Sunday's heats in a seething arena still buzzing from a swim by French sensation Leon Marchand provided the ideal tune-up for King, who admitted to a few nerves going into her first event.
"The first one I'm always a lot more nervous so good to get in there and race and get it out of the way," said a relaxed King, the 100 breaststroke bronze medal winner in Tokyo.
"We were getting ready, actually, when Leon was swimming and we could hear how loud it was getting so it's fun.
"I haven't really been in a meet like this with this large crowd in a while, with the exclusion of our trials, but yeah, it's been cool," added the 27-year-old.
"I think the trials is our most stressful meet. So once we get here it's just time to swim fast and see what we can do."
South Africa's Tatjana Smith, the Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, is also looking for an upgrade in Paris and signalled her intent by clocking the top qualifying time of 1:05.00, just 0.87 of a second off King's world mark.
China's Tang Qianting, whose best time this season is just a quarter of a second behind King’s 2017 record, was second fastest while Ireland's Mona McSharry was third best.
"I usually just go out and race my heat and that's what I did this morning," said King. "Hopefully I will be able to do the same tonight and just a little faster."
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
