Swiss swimming hope Remo Lütolf was a second too slow for a place in Monday's 100 metres breaststroke semi-finals at the world championships in Japan.

Lütolf's time of 1'03"56 was more than a second faster than that with which he clinched the Swiss national title in March, but it still saw him finish 1"04 behind the last of the 16 swimmers to qualify for Monday's semi-final stage in Fukuoka.

The 21-year-old law student from St Gallen will be looking to do better on Saturday when he returns to action in his specialist event, the 50 metres breaststroke.

There was better news for Switzerland on Monday in the women's 50 metres backstroke where Lütolf's Uster swimming club team-mate Dominique Diezi managed to qualify for the semi-finals after knocking 12 hundredths of a second off her own Swiss record.

With more Swiss swimmers travelling to the world championships than ever before, the national association has set its sights on two finals places and eight new Swiss records.

Ticino's Flavia Rigamonti has already ensured that the team are halfway towards meeting their first target after reaching the final of the 800 metres crawl.

swissinfo with agencies

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