2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

Photo Courtesy: Maria Dobysheva

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Everything you need to follow along with prelims live during the 2015 FINA World Championships. Hit refresh for the latest coverage.

Women’s 100 fly

Sarah Sjostrom certainly put herself in position to make a run at Dana Vollmer’s world record in the women’s 100-meter fly at the 2015 FINA World Championships during prelims.

Sjostrom clocked a swift time of 56.47 to dominate qualifying by more than a second. She already challenged Vollmer’s world record of 55.98 from 2012 with a world-best 56.04 earlier this year at the Sette Colli Trophy Meet. That time already is faster than Sjostrom’s meet record of 56.06 from 2009.

Sjostrom is the only Swedish swimmer to have ever won gold in this event with wins in 2009 and 2013, and she’s on path to do it again.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen qualified second with a 57.79, this after sustaining a broken finger during a road rage attack earlier this summer.

The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker (57.82), China’s Lu Ying (57.84) and Canada’s Katerine Savard (57.96) also cleared 58-seconds to make it into the semis.

Germany’s Nathalie Wenk (58.05), USA’s Kendyl Stewart (58.06) and Australia’s Emma McKeon (58.12) rounded out the top eight.

South Korea’s An Sehyeon (58.24), Australia’s Madeline Groves (58.31), China’s Chen Xinyi (58.34), Canada’s Noemie Thomas (58.35), Belgium’s Kimberly Buys (58.36), Italy’s Ilaria Bianchi (58.37) and Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi (58.47) secured semifinal spots as well.

Egypt’s Farida Osman and Great Britain’s Rachael Kelly set up a 16th-place swimoff with matching 58.48s. Kelly won the swimoff 58.17 to 58.22.

Men’s 400 free

Defending champion Sun Yang of China put himself in position to claim the men’s 400-meter free title yet again at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Sun hit the wall in 3:44.99, just off his fourth-ranked season best of 3:44.53 from Chinese Nationals. Sun had to shake off a doping controversy this year, but looks to be back in form in Kazan.

Great Britain’s James Guy turned in a second-seeded time of 3:45.37 with Canada’s Ryan Cochrane claiming the third seed in 3:45.86.

Guy is ranked second in the world with a 3:44.16 from British Nationals, while Cochrane moved up to sixth in the world.

USA’s Connor Jaeger (3:46.03), Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak (3:46.67), USA’s Michael McBroom (3:46.69), Hungary’s Peter Bernek (3:46.83) and Germany’s Clemens Rapp (3:47.19) also made the championship final.

In a surprising development, Australia’s 1-2 punch in the event, Mack Horton (3:47.37) and David McKeon (3:47.36) both missed finals by finishing 10th and 11th.

Horton (3:42.84) was the top seed coming in with a world-best, while McKeon was ranked third with a 3:44.28 from Australian Nationals as well.

Women’s 200 IM

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary unleashed a scorcher in the women’s 200-meter IM during prelims at the 2015 FINA World Championships as she downed the textile best in the event with a European record.

Hosszu blasted a top-seeded time of 2:07.30. That swim eclipsed Ye Shiwen’s textile best of 2:07.57 from the 2012 London Olympics, and also beat Hosszu’s European record of 2:07.46 from the 2009 World Championships.

All that is left for Hosszu is to take down Ariana Kukors’ transcendent World record of 2:06.15 from the techsuit-fueled 2009 Worlds meet. Although, Stephanie Rice also put up a 2:07.03 in 2009 as well to stand second all time.

Splits

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The rest of the field might as well be battling for silver if Hosszu continues to fire on all cylinders like that this morning.

Great Britain’s Siobhan Marie O’Connor blasted off a second-seeded time of 2:08.82 as her closest competition, while Japan’s Kanako Watanabe put up a third-seeded 2:10.37.

Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (2:10.94), China’s Ye Shiwen (2:11.23), USA’s Melanie Margalis (2:11.88), Great Britain’s Hannah Miley (2:12.22) and Japan’s Sakiko Shimizu (2:12.27) made up the rest of the top eight.

USA’s Maya DiRado (2:12.38), Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:12.38), Brazil’s Joanna Maranhao-Melo (2:12.74), Turkey’s Viktoria Gunes (2:12.91), Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (2:13.07), Czech’s Barbora Zavadova (2:13.12), Australia’s Tessa Wallace (2:13.23) and Vietnam’s Vien Nguyen (2:13.41) will also compete in the semifinals.

Men’s 50 fly

France’s Florent Manaudou will be looking to dethrone two-time defending champions Cesar Cielo of Brazil in the men’s 50-meter fly at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Manaudou led the way in qualifying with a 23.15. That put him third in the world rankings behind Nicholas Santos (22.90) and Cielo (23.11).

Cielo, meanwhile, barely made semifinals with a 14th-seeded time of 23.66, while Santos had a better time of it with a sixth-seeded 23.41.

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh put up a second-seeded 23.32 with Spain’s Rafael Munoz clocking a third-seeded 23.36.

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (23.38), Singapore’s Joseph Schooling (23.40), China’s Shi Yang (23.43) and South Africa’s Chad le Clos (23.45) also earned spots in the top eight.

Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin (23.49), Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov (23.49), Great Britain’s Ben Proud (23.58), Belgium’s Francois Heersbrandt (23.59), Japan’s Takeshi Kawamoto (23.61), Canada’s Santo Condorelli (23.67) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter (23.67) will also vie for finals spots in semis.

Women’s 400 free

In quite possibly the easiest 4:01 ever seen in the history of the sport, USA’s Katie Ledecky cruised through prelims of the women’s 400-meter freestyle at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Ledecky, who astonished the world last summer with a stunning world record of 3:58.37 at the 2015 Pan Pacific Championships, put the world on notice that more of the same could be coming tonight with a relaxed 4:01.73.

Splits

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Ledecky, who already leads the world with a 4:00.47 from the Austin stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series, is looking to defend her 2013 title where she won in 3:59.82.

Australia’s Jessica Ashwood qualified second today in 4:04.47 to move to fourth in the world rankings.

The Netherlands’ Sharon Van Rouwendaal qualified third in 4:05.02 for seventh in the world.

New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle (4:05.53), Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (4:06.21), Great Britain’s Jaz Carlin (4:07.15), Italy’s Diletta Carli (4:07.15) and Spain’s Melani Costa (4:07.58) also made the finale.

USA’s Cierra Runge just missed finals with a ninth-place 4:07.97.

Men’s 100 breast

Adam Peaty of Great Britain, the heavy favorite in the men’s 100-meter breast after clocking a world record in April set a meet record in the event at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Peaty threw down a 58.52 during prelims to clip the previous meet record of 58.58 set by Brenton Rickard in 2009. It’s not quite Peaty’s world record of 57.92, but still plenty fast for the morning.

South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh also cleared 59 second with a 58.59 for the second seed as swimmers saw some of the fastest 100 breaststrokes ever in back-to-back heats.

Peaty’s time stands third all time, while van der Burgh’s is fifth all time.

All Time 100 Breast

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The top 11 swimmers all cleared 1:00 in part of a phenomenally fast semifinal field.

Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Balandin (59.38), Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (59.48), Brazil’s Felipe Silva (59.56), Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (59.67), Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (59.81), Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis (59.84), Australia’s Jake Packard (59.92), Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (59.93) and USA’s Cody Miller (59.97) all broke 1:00 to make semis.

Germany’s Christian Vom Lehn (1:00.01), USA’s Nic Fink (1:00.05), Canada’s Richard Funk (1:00.26), Brazil’s Felipe Lima (1:00.26) and Serbia’s Caba Siladi (1:00.35) also earned semifinal lanes.

Women’s 400 free relay

After official results were delayed due to a huge administrative gaffe that had most spectators thinking Hong Kong paced prelims even though it was the U.S. quartet doing the swimming, Team USA moved into the top seed in the women’s 400-meter free relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

USA’s Shannon Vreeland (54.37), Abbey Weitzeil (53.85), Margo Geer (53.37) and Lia Neal (53.93) turned up the heat in heat 2 with a time of 3:35.52 for the top seed.

Australia’s Emily Seebohm (53.93), Madison Wilson (53.82), Melanie Wright (53.51) and Bronte Barratt (54.60) claimed the second seed in 3:35.86.

The Netherlands’ Maud van der Meer (54.69), Marrit Steenbergen (54.72), Femke Heemskerk (53.00) and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.50) earned the third seed in 3:35.91.

Sweden, led by an anchor leg of 52.75 from Sarah Sjostrom, qualified fourth in 3:36.24.

Canada (3:37.64), China (3:37.64), Italy (3:37.88) and France (3:38.35) also made their way into finals.

Men’s 400 free relay

For the first time in the history of the FINA World Championships, neither Team USA or Australia will medal in the men’s 400-meter free relay after a shocking turn of events at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Since Team USA won the first men’s 400-meter free relay world title in 1973, either USA or Australia has been on the medal podium.

That changes after USA (11th) and Australia (12th) finished outside the top eight.

USA’s Jimmy Feigen (49.21), Anthony Ervin (49.69), Matt Grevers (48.67) and Conor Dwyer (48.44) posted a 3:16.01 for 11th.

Australia’s Tommaso D’Orsogna (49.75), Kyle Chalmers (47.92), Matt Abood (48.78) and Ashley Delaney (49.89) finished 12th in 3:16.34.

Russia’s Andrey Grechin (48.42), Danila Izotov (48.08), Vlad Morozov (48.00) and Alex Sukhorukov (47.96) paced prelims in 3:12.46.

Brazil (3:13.99), Italy (3:14.44), France (3:14.53), Japan (3:14.76), Canada (3:15.00), Poland (3:15.18) and China (3:15.47) will battle for the gold medal tonight.

2015 FINA World Championships, Swimming: Day 1 Prelims – Results

SCHEDULED EVENTS

Women’s 100 fly
Men’s 400 free
Women’s 200 IM
Men’s 50 fly
Women’s 400 free
Men’s 100 breast
Women’s 400 free relay
Men’s 400 free relay

HEAT SHEETS

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INTHEFASTLANE

8 years ago

Jessica Ashwood has put herself in contention for a podium finish in the women 400m. Jessica from Sydney swam a pb to qualify fourth for the final.

INTHEFASTLANE

8 years ago

Reply to INTHEFASTLANE

Jessica Ashwood has put herself in contention for a podium finish in the women 400m. Jessica from Sydney swam a pb to qualify second for the final.

INTHEFASTLANE

8 years ago

Reply to INTHEFASTLANE

More sensation from pooldeck. Both the strong US and the Aussie Dolphins m.4/100m have missed the final!!! This is ludicrous as our fastest 100m swimmer Cameron McEvoy did not even get to swim. Why the hell was our slowest swimmer Ash Delaney swimming in his place? Swimming Australia has some explaining to do.

INTHEFASTLANE

8 years ago

Pandemonium in the heats of the women 4/100m with the scoredboard showing that Hong Kong had beaten favorites Australia to qualify for the final. After some red faces it was decided that in fact the winner was the US.

Ollan P

8 years ago

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