AUSSIES OFF TO A GOOD START AT WORLD GAMES

Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, July 23: The Australian Lifesaving Team title defence got off to a solid start here today with five Australians in the running for medals in tonight's finals.

First up, Naomi Flood and Kristyl Smith feature in the final of the 200m obstacle swim, scheduled for 19:10h local time (21:10h AEST). SEAN O'CONNELL reports...

Both Flood and Smith swam personal bests in their heats this morning, qualifying fourth and fifth fastest respectively, and Flood said it felt good to blow the cobwebs away.

"It is good to get the first race out of the way and I felt OK, considering we are all still getting over the trip," she said.

Team captain, Shannon Eckstein who qualififed seventh fastest, is the next Australian up for medal chance in the male final of the 200m obstacle swim, followed by Sarah Windsor (fourth fastest) and Andrew Bowden in the 50m obstacle finals (also fourth fastest qualifier).

But it was the blistering pace of the swimmers from China and host nation Chinese Taipei in the female 200m Obstacle Swim that was the talk of the pool deck today.

Chinese swimmer Ying Lu broke the previous world record of 2:08:27 with a 2:08:11 swim and Chin-Kuei Yang from Chinese Taipei swam 2:08:56 in a separate heat.

Team coach, Danny Short said he was not surprised that the Chinese would be fast but it was the form of the host nation Chinese Taipei (otherwise known as Taiwan) that was a surprise.

"We had some very solid results considering the very high level of competition here this morning, and the team is looking forward to digging deep in this evening's finals," he said.

Finals and the 4x50m Obstacle and 4x25m Manikin Carry Relays will be held on Thursday from 19:00h local time (21:00h AEST).

For live results see here.