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Olympics: Fischer makes final as fellow Swiss struggle

Sabine Fischer, left, keeps Swiss hopes alive for another medal Keystone

With the exception of the 1500 metre runner, Sabine Fischer, Swiss competitors have had a disappointing day in Sydney. The 27-year-old athlete has qualified for Saturday's final.

Fischer only finished seventh in her semi-final on Thursday, but qualified thanks to a time of 4:06.67. The Swiss favourite in the event, Anita Weyermann, who won bronze at the 1997 world championships, finished last after pulling up 300 metres before the finish line.

In sailing, Switzerland’s men ended the 470 dinghy class competition two places from the bottom after their last race.

Lukas Erni and Simon Brügger finished 27th out of 29, with 184 points. The event was won by the world champions, Tom King and Mark Turnbull, with only 34 points after 11 races.

Switzerland’s Peter Theurer finished eighth in the seventh race of the Finn competition. The sailor from Biel is currently 17th in the field of 25 competitors.

In the Star competition, the Marazzi brothers are continuing to struggle, coming last in their latest race and retaining their penultimate position in the overall ranking.

It was also a poor day for the canoeist, Adrian Bachmann. He finished eighth in his semi-finals race in the 1,000 metres kayak sprint, failing to make it through to the finals. His time put him a lowly 24th out of 27 competitors.

The 24 year-old from Rapperswil gets another chance to test his strengths against the world’s best on Friday, when he competes in the semi-finals of the 500 metres sprint.

In freestyle wrestling Rolf Scherrer has been eliminated from the under 97kg category, despite winning one of his two fights. In a close-fought contest, Scherrer defeated the 1997 number two at the world championships, Ahmet Dogu of Turkey, 4-3.

However, Scherrer lost his first tussle 1-7 against the favourite for the gold medal, Iran’s Alireza Heidari, who went on to win the first round group.

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