World University Games Open With Four American Claiming Top Seeds

Andrew Wilson of the USA qualified first in the men's 100 breast -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The swimming portion of the 2017 World University Games opened Sunday morning in Taipei with seven individual events and two relays, and Americans claimed the top seeds in four total races.

Justin Ress (men’s 100 back), Andrew Wilson (men’s 100 breast), Asia Seidt (women’s 200 back) and the women’s 400 free relay team all stood out during the first morning.

Read below for event-by-event full coverage.

Full results

Men’s 400 Free

Great Britain’s Jay Lelliott posted the No. 1 qualifying mark in the meet’s first event, recording a time of 3:48.30 to top Russia’s Mykhalio Romanchuk by almost a half second. Romanchuk came in at 3:48.73.

Ukraine’s Sergii Frolov qualified third in 3:49.67, while the United States’ Mitch D’Arrigo (3:49.84) and New Zealand’s Matt Hutchins (3:49.93) also broke 3:50. WUGs marks D’Arrigo’s first competition for the United States after previously representing Italy internationally.

American Grant Shoults qualified sixth in 3:50.19, and rounding out the field for the final were Canada’s Jeremy Bagshaw (3:50.89) and Sweden’s Adam Paulsson (3:51.19).

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Women’s 50 Fly

Germany’s Aleina Schmidtke finished atop the 50 fly prelims in 26.29, while Canada’s Katerine Savard was just behind in 26.39. Japan’s Kaho Okano took third in 26.71, just ahead of Poland’s Anna Dowgiert in 26.75 and a tie between the Netherlands’ Kinge Zandringa and Brazil’s Bruna Lemos Rocha, both of whom were 26.78.

Japan’s Yukina Hirayama took seventh in 28.84, and also breaking 27 were Great Britain’s Rachael Kelly (26.85), Brazil’s Ferreria Lopes (26.91), Italy’s Elena De Liddo (26.96) and the USA’s Katie McLaughlin (26.97).

Hellen Moffitt of the USA took 12th in 27.00, and also qualifying for the semi-finals were Russia’s Mariia Kameneva (27.21), Belarus’ Nastassia Karakouskaya (27.31), Australia’s Emily Washer (27.39) and Italy’s Aglaia Pezzato (27.41).

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Men’s 100 Back

American swimmers finished first and second in the 100 back prelims, with Justin Ress leading the way in 53.63 and Taylor Dale coming in next at 54.13. Ress was a finalist in the 50 back in his international debut last month at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.

Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys took third in 54.51, and Ireland’s Shane Ryan was fourth in 54.71. Greece’s Christou Apostolos (54.78) and Australia’s Ben Treffers (54.82) were the next two qualifiers, followed by Japan’s Kosuke Hagino. Hagino, the Olympic gold medalist in the 400 IM, posted a time of 54.96.

Canada’s Markus Thormeyer finished eighth in 55.04, and the other semi-final qualifiers included Russia’s Roman Larin (55.21), Israel’s David Gamburg (55.23), Hungary’s Galor Balog (55.32), Russia’s Andrei Shabasov (55.46), Japan’s Shuhei Uno (55.48), Belarus’ Mikita Tsmyh (55.49), Poland’s Tomasz Polweka (55.72) and Canada’s Robert Hill (55.75).

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Women’s 400 IM

Japan’s Yui Ohashi, the silver medalist in the 200 IM from the World Championships, paced the field in the 400-meter event at WUGs, recording the top overall qualifying time with her 4:40.82.

Finishing just behind her in her heat were Ally McHugh of the United States (4:41.47) and Sarah Darcel of Canada (4:41.90), and those times turned out to be good for No. 2 and No. 3 overall, respectively.

Hungary’s Reka Gyorgy qualified fourth in 4:43.52, and the USA’s Brooke Forde took fifth in 4:43.73. Other finalists will include the Czech Republic’s Barbora Zavadova (4:43.82), Italy’s Carlotta Toni (4:43.91) and South Korea’s Kim Seoyeong (4:44.30).

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Men’s 100 Breast

Andrew Wilson of the United States dominated the field in the 100 breast prelims, throwing down a time of 59.69 to beat out everyone else by eight tenths of a second. Wilson currently ranks 18th in the world for the event at 59.65, a time he swam at U.S. Nationals in June.

Switzerland’s Yannick Kaser qualified second in 1:00.47, ahead of Russia’s Rustam Gadirov (1:00.61) and Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich (1:00.62). Kazakhstan’s Dimitriy Balandin, the Olympic gold medalist in the 200 breast, was fifth in 1:00.76.

Japan’s Ryuya Mura finished sixth in 1:01.12, and rounding out the top ten finishers were Poland’s Marcin Stolarski (1:01.22), Canada’s Elijah Wall (1:01.27), Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas (1:01.29) and Brazil’s Rodriguez De Oliveira (1:01.32).

The remainder of the semi-finalists were Italy’s Andrea Toniato (1:01.34), the USA’s Jacob Montague (1:01.36), Japan’s Mamoru Mori (1:01.43), South Korea’s Kim Jaeyoun (1:01.47), Ireland’s Darragh Greene (1:01.56) and Brazil’s Felipe Kage Monni (1:01.67).

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Women’s 200 Back

The United States’ Asia Seidt picked up the top seed in the women’s 200 back, recording a time of 2:10.41 to edge out Australia’s Sian Whittaker, who came in second at 2:10.55.

Canada’s Alexia Zevnik, who recently completed her NCAA eligibility at NC State, qualified third in 2:11.20, and fourth went to Seidt’s USA and Kentucky teammate, Bridgette Alexander, in 2:11.69.

Italy’s Margherita Panziera (2:11.69), Japan’s Mayuko Goto (2:11.93) and Canada’s Mackenzie Glover (2:11.94) also broke 2:12, and Germany’s Lisa Graf was next best in 2:12.85.

Others making the semi-finals included Poland’s Alicja Tchorz (2:13.12), Russia’s Irina Prikhodko (2:13.27), Poland’s Klaudia Nazieblo (2:14.18), the Czech Republic’s Vera Koprivova (2:14.64), Switzerland’s Martina Van Berkel (2:15.01), Japan’s Anna Konishi (2:15.07), Germany’s Nadine Laemmler (2:15.10) and the Netherlands’ Tessa Vermeulen (2:15.29).

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Men’s 50 Fly

Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov took the top seed in the men’s 50 fly with his time of 23.52, and he ended up two tenths ahead of the rest of the field. Japan’s Shunichi Nakao qualified second in 23.74, and Brazil’s Guilherme Rosolen was third in 23.76.

Tying for fourth were Russia’s Aleksandr Sadovnikov and Brazil’s Henrieuq De Souza Martins in 23.79, and others under 24 seconds included Russia’s Andrey Zhilkin (23.86), Ukraine’s Andrii Khloptsov (23.87), Belarus’ Yahor Dodaleu (23.96) and Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (23.97).

Israel’s Marcus Schlesinger (24.05), Australia’s Brayden McCarthy (24.08), Japan’s Nao Horomura (24.09), South Africa’s Zane Waddell (24.16), Italy’s Andrea Vergani (24.21) and the USA’s Justin Lynch (24.25) also secured their spots in the semi-finals.

There was a tie for 16th between the Czech Republic’s Jan Sefl and Ireland’s Conor Brines, with both men stopping the clock in 24.26. That set up a swim-off to determine the last spot in the semis.

Brines ended up winning that swim-off over Sefl, 24.07 to 24.17

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Women’s 400 Free Relay

The American women posted the top time in the 400 free relay prelims as Claire Rasmus (55.50), Katrina Konopka (55.20), Katie Drabot (55.37) and Katie McLaughlin (55.23) combined to swim a time of 3:41.30. The U.S. should remain favorites for the final when Veronica Burchill and Caroline Baldwin join the squad.

Russia’s Mariia Baklakova, Polina Lapshina, Anastasia Guzhenkova and Arina Openysheva qualified second in 3:41.89, and third went to the Brazilian squad of Larissa Martins De Olveiera, Marchio Harrison, Manuella Duarte Lyrio and Daynara Lopes Ferrreira in 3:42.23.

Italy took fourth in 3:42.34, and other qualifiers for the final included Japan (3:42.80), Great Britain (3:42.94), Canada (3:43.99) and France (3:44.83).

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Men’s 400 Free Relay

Italy swam almost one second faster than any other country during the men’s 400 free relay prelims, with Lorenzo Zazzeri (49.15), Ivano Vendrame (49.00), Alex Di Giorgio (49.38) and Alessandro Miressi (48.59) combining to swim a time of 3:16.12.

The American men, meanwhile, qualified second in 3:17.08, and they still have an ace to play in Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held, who sat out the prelims relay. Maxime Rooney (49.03), Justin Lynch (48.79), Zach Harting (49.68) and Taylor Dale (49.58) comprised the AM squad.

Russia’s Nikita Korolev, Sergei Fesikov, Aleksei Brianskii and Andrey Abruzov qualified fourth in 3:17.30, just ahead of Brazil (3:17.44) and Poland (3:17.83).

Other finalists included Japan (3:18.66), Ireland (3:19.66) and South Africa (3:19.81).

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Pleasants Parrott Higgs

6 years ago

Is there a live feed?

Swimming Pool Lovers

6 years ago

Fancy that