2017 FINA World Championships: King, Efimova Rivalry Off to Quick Start

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Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

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Day two prelims of the 2017 FINA World Championships are now complete. Katie Ledecky cruised to the top seed in the women’s 1500 free, while the rivalry between Lilly King and Yulia Efimova dove into action in the women’s 100 breast.

Canada’s Kylie Masse continued her reign as the top seed in the women’s 100 back, while Xu Jiayu propelled to first in prelims of the men’s 100 back.

Sun Yang started his quest for a second gold medal with a top showing in prelims of the 200 free.

PRELIMS RESULTS

Event schedule:

  • Women’s 100 back
  • Men’s 100 back
  • Women’s 100 breast
  • Men’s 200 free
  • Women’s 1500 free

Women’s 100 Back

Canada’s Kylie Masse, already the No. 1-ranked swimmer in the world for 2017, posted the fastest qualifying time in the women’s 100 back prelims at the World Championships.

Masse came in at 58.62, 0.18 ahead of hometown favorite and Olympic gold medalist Katinka Hosszu (58.80). However, it’s unclear if Hosszu will swim this race in semi-finals as she also has to deal with the 200 IM final shortly after the 100 back semis would be scheduled.

Australia’s Emily Seebohm, the defending World Champion, qualified third in 58.95, and then there was a big gap back to the fourth qualifier, Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova (59.58).

The two Americans in the field, Olivia Smoliga and Kathleen Baker, qualified fifth and sixth, respectively. Smoliga touched in 59.70, while Baker clocked in at 59.76.

Australia’s Holly Barratt (59.87), China’s Chen Jie (59.88), Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson (59.88) and Russia’s Daria Ustinova (59.90) also broke the 1:00-mark. Rounding out the semi-final field were Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (1:00.24), the Czech Republic’s Simona Baumrtova (1:00.28), Canada’s Hilary Caldwell (1:00.37), the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint (1:00.52), China’s Fu Yuanhui (1:00.52) and Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina (1:00.59).

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Men’s 100 Back

China’s Xu Jiayu, who earlier in 2017 missed the world record in the men’s 100 back by just one hundredth of a second, posted the top time out of prelims at the World Championships.

Xu finished in 52.77, while 2012 Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers took second in 52.92. Grevers is returning to the international stage after missing the U.S. Olympic team last summer.

Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich, who has already seen two of his Louisville teammates (Mallory Comerford and Kelsi Worrell) win gold in Budapest, qualified third in 53.18, one spot ahead of the American who won Olympic gold last summer and holds the world record, Ryan Murphy. Murphy checked in at 53.26.

Japan’s Ryosuke Irie was fifth in 53.54, one hundredth ahead of Greece’s Christou Apostolos (53.55). Defending World Champion Mitch Larkin of Australia tied with Brazil’s Guilherme Guido for seventh in 53.72, while New Zealand’s Corey Main rounded out the sub-53-second swims, qualifying ninth in 53.97.

China’s Li Guangyuan (54.04), Italy’s Matteo Milli (54.17), Poland’s Tomasz Polewka (54.30), Ireland’s Shane Ryan (54.33), Israel’s Yakor Toumarkin (54.39), Canada’s Javier Acevedo (54.43) and Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov (54.51) also got into the semi-finals.

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Women’s 100 Breast

Lilly King and Yulia Efimova will meet again in the women’s 100 breast at the World Championships, but that showdown won’t come until the final. The duo qualified first and second, respectively, in prelims, meaning they will swim in separate semi-final heats at night.

King, of the United States, won her heat in 1:05.20, while Russia’s Efimova took the next heat in 1:05.60. Efimova had to use a strong back half to catch and pass Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, who qualified third in 1:05.81.

Meilutyte was the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in this event but finished a disappointing seventh at the 2016 Olympics. She looks to be on the road to a bounce-back after posting the fourth-fastest time in the world this year in the heats.

The USA’s Katie Meili, who won bronze in Rio, qualified fourth in 1:06.39, and joining Meili in the 1:06-range were Australia’s Taylor McKeown (1:06.64), Spain’s Jessica Vall (1:06.85) and China’s Shi Jinglin (1:06.94).

Canada’s Rachel Nicol was eighth in 1:07.10, just ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hansen (1:07.12), Japan’s Satomi Suzuki (1:07.20), Great Britain’s Sarah Vasey (1:07.20), Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (1:07.33), Sweden’s Jennie Johansson (1:07.35) and Denmark’s Rikke Moeller Pedersen (1:07.39).

Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni and Canada’s Kierra Smith tied for 15th at 1:07.43 to earn the last two spots in the semi-finals.

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Men’s 200 Free

China’s Sun Yang captured his third straight World title in the men’s 400 free on night one in Budapest, and he led the way in the 200 free prelims on day two. Sun posted a time of 1:45.62, less than a second off his world top-ranked time of 1:45.78.

Great Britain’s James Guy qualified second in 1:46.22, and Russia’s Mikhail Dovgaluk was third in 1:46.47. American Townley Haas was fourth in 1:46.50, just ahead of the second Russian, Aleksandr Krashnykh (1:46.51).

Poland’s Kacper Majchrzak took sixth in 1:46.58, ahead of Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (1:46.62) and Hungarian crowd favorite Dominik Kozma (1:46.83). The other American, Blake Pieroni, was ninth in 1:46.88.

Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys took tenth in 1:46.88, and Australia’s Mack Horton also broke 1:47, qualifying 11th in 1:46.97. Horton was the silver medalist behind Sun already in the 400 free.

Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic (1:47.05), South Africa’s Myles Brown (1:47.09), South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan (1:47.11) and Japan’s Naito Ehara (1:47.31) also secured spots in the final.

Egypt’s Marwan Elkamash and Austria’s Felix Auboeck tied for 16th at 1:47.40, setting up a potential swim-off to determine the final slot into the semi-finals. The time was a new Egyptian record for Elkamash.

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Women’s 1500 Free

To no one’s surprise, it was American Katie Ledecky who posted the top time of the morning in the women’s 1500 free. Ledecky cruised to a top showing of 15:47.54, pulling for most of the race. Her World Record of 15:25.48 doubles as the Championship Record and will be the golden target for tomorrow’s final.

Mireia Belmonte of Spain picked up the second place seed from heat three, stopping the clock at a qualifying time of 16:05.37. Belmonte’s time doesn’t sit too far off her Spanish National Record of 15:57.29.

China’s Hou Yawen qualified close on Belmonte’s heels, turning in a final time of 16:05.87.

Simona Quadarella of Italy posted a fourth place finish of 16:07.08, followed by Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas and her time of 16:09.60.

Chile’s Kristel Kobrich (16:17.28), Liechenstein’s Julia Hassler (16:19.16), and Hungary’s Ajna Kesely (16:20.98) rounded out the top eight qualifiers.

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