World Swimming Championships at a glance

Times staff writer Lisa Dillman’s first day highlights from Melbourne, Australia:

1. No Morning Glory: Klete Keller of Club Wolverine and formerly of USC, ranked first in the world last year in the 400-meter freestyle, didn’t even make it out of the morning preliminaries at that distance, finishing 10th overall in 3 minutes 49.03 seconds, nearly five seconds off his top time. Australian Grant Hackett almost shared Keller’s fate but slipped in, taking the eighth and final spot for finals, in 3:48.72.

2. Laure Mania: Versatile French star Laure Manaudou conserved her energy and scratched from the 200 individual medley and focused on the 400 freestyle, which came later in the morning program. Manaudou, the world-record holder in the 400 free, took out the championship record in the morning prelims, going 4:05.29. The old record, of 4:06.28 by Australian Tracey Wickham, dated to the 1978 Championships in Berlin. And Manaudou showed she is just as fast out of the pool, blowing past a group of French reporters in the mixed zone without stopping for comment.

3. Doubling Up: American Katie Hoff survived a hectic opening morning with a tough individual double. She had the fastest qualifying time in the prelims of the 200 individual medley (2:12.04) and then followed Hackett’s risky path in the 400 free, grabbing the eighth spot in 4:08.38.