BEIJING — Earning the final spot in Wednesday night’s final, Cesar Cielo took off out of lane eight and never looked back as the former Auburn swimmer and Brazilian native tied for third in the 100-meter freestyle with a South American Record time of 47.67, earning his first career Olympic medal.

Cielo was one of two Auburn swimmers competing in the event as Australia’s Matt Targett, who will be a senior at Auburn in the fall, finished seventh in the race with a time of 48.20.

The race marked the third time this week that two Auburn swimmers competed against each other in an Olympic final. Targett and Fred Bousquet (France) swam against each other in the 400m freestyle relay, while Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) and Margaret Hoelzer (United States) competed just one lane apart in the 100m backstroke.

Cielo’s bronze medal is the seventh for current and former Auburn athletes at the 2008 Olympics. It breaks the Auburn record for medals in a single Olympic Games, surpassing 1984 and 2004, when the Tiger athletes won six.

Cielo joins Bousquet (Silver), Coventry (Silver, Silver, Silver), Hoelzer (Bronze) and Targett (Bronze) as medal winners in 2008.

Targett, who entered the final as the fourth seed, swam in seventh throughout most of the race. He went out in 23.11 seconds and came back in 25.09 for a final time of 48.20, almost a full second out of first place.

France’s Alain Bernard won the race in a time of 47.21, followed by Sullivan in second with a 47.32.

Cielo is the first Auburn swimmer to earn a medal in the 100m freestyle since 1984 when Rowdy Gaines, took gold and fellow Tiger Per Johansson followed with a bronze.

During the morning session, four former and future Auburn swimmers competed.

Stephanie Hormer set two Canadian records despite failing to advance to a final during Wednesday’s preliminaries, as part of the women’s 800-meter freestyle relay team in a time of 7:56.26. She also set a Canadian record in the 200-meter freestyle as part of her leg of the event, clocking a time of 1:58.00.

Incoming freshman Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace finished 28th in the women’s 100-meter freestyle for the Bahamas. She finished second in her heat and set a Bahamian record of 55.61, finishing .51 seconds out of 16th place and a semifinal appearance.

Jeremy Knowles of the Bahamas and Nick Bovell of Trinidad & Tobago competed in the 200-meter individual medley. Knowles finished fourth in his heat, 24th overall, with a Bahamian record time of 2:01.35.

Former Tiger Bovell finished fifth in his heat and 36th overall.