Editorial Coverage provided by 
During the seventh morning of prelims at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Sarah Sjostrom rebounded from a disappointing silver medal in the women’s 100 free as she claimed the top spot in the 50 free prelims, while Lilly King edged out Yulia Efimova for the top seed in the 50 breast, and the final heat of the men’s 1500 produced some quick times.
Read below for event-by-event coverage of the morning session.
Women’s 50 Free
The morning after Simone Manuel ran her down to win the World title in the women’s 100 free, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom took down Manuel head-to-head in the prelims of the 50 free.
Sjostrom won the heat in 24.08, easily the top qualifying time but still short of her world-leading time of 23.83. Manuel, of the United States, finished second in the heat at 24.54 and fourth overall to advance to the semis.
Denmark’s Pernille Blume, who edged out Manuel for Olympic gold last summer and took bronze in the 100 free, qualified second in 24.32, and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo took third for the Netherlands in 24.53. Australia’s Bronte Campbell, the 2015 World Champion, qualified fifth in 24.61.
Canada’s Michelle Toro ended up sixth with her time of 24.64, followed by China’s Zhu Menghui (24.64), France’s Anna Santamans (24.71) and a tie between Egypt’s Farida Osman and China’s Liu Xiang at 24.78. Osman’s time stands as a new African record.
Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia (24.82), Australia’s Shayna Jack (24.85), the USA’s Abbey Weitzeil (24.92), the Netherlands’ Tamara Van Vliet (24.94), Canada’s Sandrine Mainville (24.99) and Japan’s Rikako Ikee (25.04) all made the semi-finals.
Men’s 50 Back
Neither Junya Koga of Japan or Camille Lacourt of France swam the 100 back or any other event at the FINA World Championships, but those two posted the top prelim times in the 50 back. Koga swam a mark of 25.54, and Lacourt came in at 24.58.
Lacourt is the defending World Champion in the event, and he has already declared this World Championships to be his final meet.
China’s Xu Jiayu edged out the USA’s Matt Grevers by four hundredths for gold in the men’s 100 back, and the two were even closer in prelims, tying for third in 24.78. France’s Jeremy Stravius took fifth in 24.80, while Israel’s Jonaton Kopelev tied the USA’s Justin Ress for the sixth-best time, with a 24.86.
Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich qualified eighth in 24.88, and also breaking 25 seconds were Hungary’s Richard Bohus (24.93), Belarus’ Pavel Sankovich (24.94) and Greece’s Apostolos Christou (24.99).
Rounding out the semi-final qualifiers were South Korea’s Won Youngjun (25.10), Poland’s Tomasz Polewska (25.10), Brazil’s Guilherme Guido (25.13), Canada’s Javier Acevedo (25.16) and Indonesia’s I Gede Siman Sudartawa (25.17).
Women’s 50 Breast
Lilly King of the United States and Yulia Efimova of Russia have each won gold in one breaststroke event this week in Budapest, and the rubber match will take place in the 50. King took the top spot in prelims of the race with a 29.76, a tenth off her American record of 29.66 from last month, while Efimova took second in 29.99.
Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni finished third in the morning in 30.33, just ahead of American Katie Meili. Meili, who won a surprising silver ahead of Efimova in the 100 breast, qualified in 30.37. Sweden’s Jennie Johansson took fifth in 30.40.
Lithuanian world record-holder Ruta Meilutyte touched in 30.58 for the sixth seed, ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hansen (30.59), Great Britain’s Sarah Vasey (30.71), Russia’s Natalia Ivaneeva (30.81) and Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen (30.82).
Also making semis were Iceland’s Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir (30.88), Finland’s Veera Kivirinta (30.89), Italy’s Martina Carrano (30.92), Japan’s Satomi Suzuki (30.95), Canada’s Rachel Nicol (31.02) and China’s Suo Ran (31.22).
Mixed 400 Free Relay
The Americans edged out the Netherlands for the World title in the inaugural mixed 400 free relay at the FINA World Championships two years ago in Kazan, but it was the Dutch claiming the top seed over the USA for the event’s finals. Ben Schwietert (48.97), Kyle Stolk (48.06), Femke Heemskerk (52.77) and Maud Van Der Meer (54.09) combined to finish in 3:23.89.
The American team of Blake Pieroni (48.23), Townley Haas (48.32), Lia Neal (53.98) and Kelsi Worrell (53.40) qualified four hundredths back in 3:23.93.
Both teams will likely make changes for the final, with Ranomi Kromowidjojo coming in for the Netherlands, and Simone Manuel, Mallory Comerford, Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel all possibilities for the Americans (although Dressel’s busy event schedule makes his participation less likely).
Canada’s team of Yuri Kisil (48.57), Markus Thormeyer (49.35), Sandrine Mainville (53.75) and Chantal Van Landeghem (53.40) qualified third in 3:25.07, and Penny Oleksiak could join the team at night.
Also making the final were Hungary (3:25.45), Italy (3:25.71), Japan (3:26.91), Russia (3:26.94) and Australia (3:27.49).
Men’s 1500 Free
Six of the eight qualifiers for the final of the men’s 1500 free final came out of the morning’s final heat, as Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk won a tight race with Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri to claim lane four for Sunday’s final.
Romanchuk’s time of 14:44.11 ranks second in the world behind Paltrinieri’s 14:37.08 from April, while the Italian Olympic gold medalist touched in 14:44.31.
Paltrinieri’s teammate, Gabriele Detti, qualified third in 14:50.10. Detti has already taken gold this week in the 800 free and finished third in the 400 free.
The Czech Republic’s Jan Micka touched fourth in 14:55.47, followed by Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak. Wojdak, fresh off a silver in the 800 free, was clocked at 14:57.39.
Norway’s Henrik Christiansen took sixth in 14:57.41, while Australia’s Mack Horton ended up sneaking in with the No. 7 time, at 14:59.24. Finally, Ukraine joined Italy with two swimmers in the championship final as Sergii Frolov placed eighth in 14:59.32.
Two other swimmers, South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan (14:59.44) and Egypt’s Akram Mahmoud (14:56.56), broke 15:00 but missed out on the final.
Also missing out were the two Americans, as True Sweetser placed 16th in 15:07.38, and Robert Finke was 21nd in 15:15.15.
China’s Sun Yang, the world record-holder and 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the event, did not even compete. Sun won gold in the 200 and 400 free in Budapest but appeared exhausted after his 800 free, where he missed the final. He has not competed in a major final of the 1500 since winning gold at the 2013 World Championships.
- FINA CHAMPIONSHIP PAGE
- ULTIMATE SCHEDULE GUIDE
- QUALIFIED HIGH DIVERS
- MEDAL TABLE
- 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
- LIVE RESULTS
- OPEN WATER LIVE RESULTS
- PSYCH SHEET
- DAY EIGHT FINALS HEAT SHEETS
- DAY ONE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY ONE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY TWO PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY TWO FINALS RESULTS
- DAY THREE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY THREE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY FOUR PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY FOUR FINALS RESULTS
- DAY FIVE PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY FIVE FINALS RESULTS
- DAY SIX PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY SIX FINALS RESULTS
- DAY SEVEN PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY SEVEN FINALS RESULTS
- DAY EIGHT PRELIMS RESULTS
- DAY EIGHT FINALS RESULTS