2018 Pan Pacific Championships Day 1: Rio Prelims Déjà Vu in Men’s 400 IM

by Diana Pimer

08 August 2018, 05:50pm

The first session of the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships kicked off with some fast swims at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center in Tokyo. The meet runs from Aug 9-14 and features the following federations: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, People’s Republic of China, Cook Islands, Colombia, Ecuador, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, New Zealand, Oman, Palau, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and the United States of America.

Three events were conducted in a trials/finals format, leading to one meet record by Katie Ledecky and duplicated men’s 400 IM results from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The women’s 800 Freestyle and men’s 1500 Freestyle will also be swum in tonight’s finals as well as the mixed 4 x 100 Medley Relay.

Heat Sheets/Live Results

Live Timing

Women’s 100 Breaststroke

USA’s Lilly King claimed the top seed in the first event of the meet coming in at 1:05.76 in the 100 Breast. The swim is four-tenths off her performance from Phillips 66 Nationals which puts her second in the world rankings. She was one of two swimmers out in under 31 seconds as Katie Meili joined her out in front.

Meili ultimately finished fifth in a tight battle behind American teammate Micah Sumrall (1:06.44), Japan’s Reona Aoki (1:06.36) and Australia’s Jessica Hansen (1:06.63). Aoki entered the meet with the fastest time between the four women at 1:05.90 from earlier this year.

Competing in tonight’s final will be King, Aoki, Sumrall, Hansen, Satomi Suzuki (Japan-1:06.67), Macarena Ceballos (Argentina-1:08.01), Julia Sebastian (Argentina-1:08.06) and Kelsey Won (Canada-1:08.13) as only two swimmer per country are eligible to compete in each final.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

Coming in atop the men’s heats was USA’s Andrew Wilson at 59.42. The swim is in striking distance of the meet record of 59.04 set by Kosuke Kitajima in 2010. Wilson’s closing speed gave him the edge this time around as he out-touched both China’s Wang Lizhuo (59.50) and teammate Michael Andrew (59.55) for top honors.

Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (59.67), Brazil’s Joao Luiz Gomes Jr. (59.74) and Australian duo Jake Packard (59.81) and Matthew Wilson (59.90) were all in the mix. The men will be joined by Canada’s Richard Funk in tonight’s final.

Women’s 200 Freestyle

Katie Ledecky led the Americans three-for-three by claiming the top seed in the 200 Freestyle. Despite coming in at about half a second off her entry time, the swim of 1:55.16 was still quick enough to break her own meet record set in 2014. Teammate Allison Schmitt edged out Leah Smith 1:56.36-1:56.81 to earn a spot in tonight’s final. Schmitt was out in a quick 56.53 and was able to hold of Smith in the back half.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck broke of the American domination coming in fourth in 1:56.84. USA’s Katie McLaughlin was right behind in 1:56.88. Ruck should pose a challenge for the Americans in tonight’s final as she comes in with the second-fastest entry time only behind Ledecky.

Ruck’s teammate Kayla Sanchez placed sixth, but will hold the fourth seed for tonight’s final in 1:57.39. The swim was a season-best for the Canadian. Joining them in the top eight tonight are Japan’s Rikako Ikee (1:57.43), Australia’s Mikkayla Sheridan (1:58.05), Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi (1:58.51) and Australia’s Madeline Groves (1:58.80).

Men’s 200 Freestyle

Americans Andrew Seliskar (1:45.81) and Townley Haas (1:46.19) took first and second in the prelims of the men’s 200 Freestyle. Haas had the lead at the halfway point 51.54-51.75, but was caught by Seliskar on the third fifty. Australia’s Alexander Graham led the whole field at the 100 mark in 50.93 to ultimately claim the third seed in 1:46.35. The time is over two-tenths faster than his best so far this season and moves him from nineteenth to fourteenth in the world rankings.

Aussie teammate Jack Cartwright put himself in the top 15 world rankings with his prelim swim of 1:46.38. He finished ahead of Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto and teammate Clyde Lewis (1:46.54). Dolphins Kyle Chalmers (1:46.62) and Mack Horton (1:46.66), who currently hold the third and fifth world ranks, were out-raced in the heats, missing out on tonight’s final.

Joining Seliskar, Haas, Graham, Cartwright and Matsumoto in this final are Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer (1:46.63) and Altamir Melo (1:47.19) and Japan’s Naito Ehara (1:47.67).

Women’s 400 IM

Japan’s Yui Ohashi cruised to the top seed in the women’s 400 IM coming in at 4:36.05. Teammate Sakiko Shimizu was third in 4:39.76. Both women are currently ranked in top eleven worldwide and will be a force in the final of this event.

Splitting the Japanese swimmers was USA’s Melanie Margalis who finished in 4:39.09. Fellow American Brooke Forde claimed the fifth seed in 4:40.76 by beating out teammate Ally McHugh (4:41.08) for a spot in the final. Canada’s Emily Overholt will enter the final as the fourth seed after racing to a season-best 4:40.63. The swim moves her from fourty-ninth to thirty-fifth in the world rankings so far this year.

Rounding out the qualifiers for the final in this event are Canada’s Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (4:44.64), China’s Ye Huiyan (4:57.65) and Philippines’ Chloe Isleta (4:59.21).

Men’s 400 IM

A classic battle has been set up between USA’s Chase Kalisz (4:10.97) and Japan’s Daiya Seto (4:12.49) and Kosuke Hagino (4:12.65) in the men’s 400 IM. All three men seem to have put up relaxed performances in these prelims setting up a déjà vu scenario from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The three claimed the same three spots in prelims before Hagino came back to win the event followed by Kalisz and Seto.

American Jay Litherland took the fourth seed in 4:13.00 and was followed by teammate Sean Grieshop (4:14.27) who will not get a spot in the final. Brazil’s Brandonn Almeida (4:15.71), New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt (4:17.93), Brazil’s Leonardo Santos (4:21.60) and Canada’s Tristan Cote (4:21.60) will take the fifth through eighth seeds.

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Trudy York Miller

5 years ago

Broke swimming in final heat of 400IM in Tokyo at approx 5:30am Thursday morning. I will be up early!!!

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PS

5 years ago

The women’s 200 free meet record was set in 2014, not 2010.

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Pro Women Fitness

5 years ago

Curious to learn :

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