sports

LONDON -- Rachel Bootsma was given one more chance to swim for the U.S. at the London Olympics, and she made it count.

Bootsma, of Eden Prairie, participated in Friday morning's preliminaries of the women's 4x100 meter medley relay and helped the Americans qualify for the Saturday evening final with the fourth-fastest time.

Bootsma joined Breeja Larson, Clair Donahue and Jessica Hardy for the preliminaries. She led off the relay with a 100-meter backstroke time of 59.70 seconds, putting the U.S. in third place.

Larson (breaststroke), Donahue (butterfly) and Hardy (freestyle) completed the relay, as the team finished in a time of 3:58.88. Australia qualified fastest in 3:55.42, with Japan second in 3:57.87 and Denmark third in 3:58.35.

Eight teams advance to Saturday's final. Missy Franklin is expected to swim the backstroke leg in the final.

If the U.S. team finishes in the top three, which is expected, Bootsma will receive a medal even though she won't be swimming on Saturday.