Ex-Auburn swimmer Kirsty Coventry won her third silver medal of these Olympics tonight, placing second behind Australia's Stephanie Rice in the 200-meter individual medley. Both swimmers beat Rice's previous world record, with Coventry clocking a 2:08.59 and Rice a 2:08.45.

Coventry has also won silvers in 400m IM and 100m backstroke in Beijing. She also won three medals in 2004, giving her six for her career -- three more than the previous record for an Auburn swimmer.

In other Auburn Olympics news, Eric Shanteau, who gained international attention when he announced that he'd been diagnosed with testicular cancer after the Olympic Trials, failed to qualify for the finals in the 200m breastroke. He clocked a personal-best time, but finished in 10th place in 2:10.10. He needed to place eighth to advance to the finals.

Also, Auburn's Matt Targett and Cesar Cielo qualified for the 100m freestyle finals by finishing fourth and eighth, respectively, in the semis. I believe that finals race is Thursday.

From Auburn's release, previewing Wednesday's action:
Incoming freshman Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace gets things started at 5:39 a.m. CT as she competes in the 100m freestyle prelim. Wallace will swim in the third heat, occupying lane four, and enters with a seed time of 56.01.

Former Auburn swimmers get in on the action beginning at 6:22 a.m. CT as two are set to compete in the men’s 200m individual medley preliminary. Nick Bovell (Trinidad & Tobago) goes first in heat two, swimming in lane two, with a seed time of 2:03.02. Jeremy Knowles (Bahamas) follows in heat three, occupying lane eight, with a seed time of 2:02.79.

Rounding out the Auburn contingent in the session will be incoming freshman Stephanie Horner. She is part of the pool of swimmers available for the Canadian 800m freestyle relay. Canada is scheduled to swim at 7:06 a.m. CT, going in lane one in the first heat. The team enters with a seed time of 8:04.19.

Schedule