Yemen's Mokhtar Al Yamani won heat 3 of the men's 100m freestyle qualifying, with the UAE's Yousef Al Matrooshi third
Yemen's Mokhtar Al Yamani won heat 3 of the men's 100m freestyle qualifying, with the UAE's Yousef Al Matrooshi third Image Credit: AFP

UAE swimmer and Tokyo 2020 Olympics flag-bearer Yousef Al Matrooshi finished an impressive third in his 100m freestyle heat on Tuesday evening in the pool.

The Emirati finished third in Heat 3 at the Aquatics Centre in 51.50 seconds, behind Yemen’s Mokhtar Al Yamani (50.52s) and Malta’s Andrew Chetcuti (51.47s).

However, Al Matrooshi’s time was not enough to carry him into the semi-finals, which take place at 5.30am UAE time on Wednesday.

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon topped the timesheets (47.71s), with the 16 swimmers with the fastest times advancing. gold medal l hopefuls Australia’s Kyle Chalmers and United States’ Caeleb Dressel safely made it through, with both posting sub-48s times.