The first full morning of the 2019 FINA World Swimming Cup in Jinan, China had 10 preliminary events. China’s Chen Jie posted the top time in the 50 back heats as she was near her World Championships time in that event. Many of China’s best swimmers are in attendance this weekend including Yan Zibei, who is the second seed in the 100 breast, and Ji Xinjie, who is leading the 400 free heats. Sun Yang is notably not in attendance presumably because he has an upcoming hearing regarding the infamous hammer smashing incident last year.
Women’s 400 Free
Australia’s Maddy Gough had the fastest time in the 400 free to start the FINA World Swimming Cup in China with a 4:14.63 on Thursday morning. She is ahead of USA’s Erica Sullivan (4:15.09) as both were coming off showings at the World Championships with Gough finaling in the 1500 while Sullivan was fifth in the 25K. The 400 is a relative sprint for these two as they will have lanes four and five in the final.
China’s Bi Wenxin (4:16.60) leads a group of five Chinese swimmers that advanced to the final. Dong Jie (4:18.13), Yang Caiping (4:18.33), Liu Yaxin (4:18.74) and Liu Xin (4:18.75) all made the final. Australia’s Laura Taylor (4:20.59) was the last to make it through.
| 1 | GOUGH | Maddy |  AUS |
4:14.63 | ||||||
| 2 | SULLIVAN | Erica |  USA |
4:15.09 | ||||||
| 3 | BI | Wenxin |  CLB |
4:16.60 | ||||||
| 4 | DONG | Jie |  CHN |
4:18.13 | ||||||
| 5 | YANG | Caiping | CLB |
4:18.33 | ||||||
| 6 | LIU | Yaxin | CHN |
4:18.74 | ||||||
| 7 | LIU | Xin | CLB |
4:18.75 | ||||||
| 8 | TAYLOR | Laura | AUS |
4:20.59 |
Men’s 400 Free
Ji Xinjie cruised to the top seed in the men’s 400 free with a 3:56.33, which was well off his 3:45 he had at the World Championships. Ji was seventh in the 400 final in Korea two and a half weeks ago. He was one of his two swimmers to break 4:00 this morning with the other being USA’s Brennan Gravley, who was not far off his 3:57.99 best time from earlier this year. Gravley is more known in open water circles, swimming the 5K and 25K last month at Worlds.
Australia’s Thomas Fraser-Holmes is seeded third for finals with a 4:00.82. China’s Chen Chen (4:08.64), Xu Haonan (4:09.91), Liang Haonan (4:10.38) and Jing Rui (4:15.67) also qualified for the final along with Taiwan’s Hou Bo-Yu (4:10.59).
| 1 | JI | Xinjie | CHN |
3:56.33 | |||||
| 2 | GRAVLEY | Brennan | USA |
3:58.69 | |||||
| 3 | FRASER-HOLMES | Thomas | AUS |
4:00.82 | |||||
| 4 | CHEN | Chen | CLB |
4:08.64 | |||||
| 5 | XU | Haonan | CLB |
4:09.91 | |||||
| 6 | LIANG | Haonan | CLB |
4:10.38 | |||||
| 7 | HOU | Bo-Yu |  TPE |
4:10.59 | |||||
| 8 | JING | Rui | CLB |
4:15.67 |
Women’s 50 Back
China’s Chen Jie led a China 1-2-3 this morning in the heats of the women’s 50 back on Thursday morning in Jinan, China. Chen is ahead of world record holder Liu Xiang (28.22) and former World Champion Fu Yuanhui (28.33). Chen and Fu did not make it out of semifinals in this event at the World Championships.
They are ahead of Australia’s Emily Seebohm (28.63), Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch (28.64) and Australia’s Holly Barratt (28.70). Pilhatsch was seventh in Gwangju in this event.
Sweden’s Michelle Coleman (28.72) and Taiwan’s Chen Szu-Chi (29.81) also qualified.
| 1 | CHEN | Jie | CHN |
28.13 | ||||||
| 2 | LIU | Xiang | CHN |
28.22 | ||||||
| 3 | FU | Yuanhui | CHN |
28.33 | ||||||
| 4 | SEEBOHM | Emily | AUS |
28.63 | ||||||
| 5 | PILHATSCH | Caroline |  AUT |
28.64 | ||||||
| 6 | BARRATT | Holly | AUS |
28.70 | ||||||
| 7 | COLEMAN | Michelle |  SWE |
28.72 | ||||||
| 8 | CHEN | Szu-Chi | TPE |
29.81 |
Men’s 200 Back
Australia’s Mitch Larkin cruised in the 200 back heats on Thursday morning at the 2019 FINA Swimming World Cup in Jinan with a 2:01.55. Larkin is ahead of fellow Aussie Tristan Hollard (2:01.87). Larkin did not swim the 200 back at the World Championships to focus on the 200 IM final so he will be looking to put up a good time to see if he wants to focus on the backstroke or IM at next year’s Olympics.
China’s Xu Jiayu (2:04.03) should give a serious challenge to Larkin in the final even though Xu put up a pedestrian 2:04 in the heats. Xu also scratched the 200 back at Worlds to focus on China’s 4×200 free relay.
| 1 | LARKIN | Mitch | AUS |
2:01.55 | ||||||
| 2 | HOLLARD | Tristan | AUS |
2:01.87 | ||||||
| 3 | XU | Jiayu | CHN |
2:04.03 | ||||||
| 4 | DU | Shixian | CLB |
2:11.92 | ||||||
| 5 | LOW | Malcolm |  SGP |
2:13.97 | ||||||
| 6 | FU | Kun-Ming | TPE |
2:16.42 | ||||||
| 7 | HAN | Feiyang | CLB |
2:19.15 | ||||||
| CAO | Weiguo | CLB |
2:22.40 |
Women’s 200 Fly
Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos is the top seed in the 200 fly with a 2:09.15 on Thursday morning in Jinan, China. Jakabos did not swim this event at the World Championships and neither did fellow Hungarian Katinka Hosszu. Hosszu is the third seed for finals with a 2:11.90. China’s Zhang Yufei, who was a medal favorite for the World Championships, is seeded second at 2:09.40. Zhang did not make it out of the heats in Gwangju.
China’s Zhang Yuhan is seeded fourth at 2:14.93 ahead of Australia’s Laura Taylor, who was a 2:06 in 2018.
| 1 | JAKABOS | Zsuzsanna |  HUN |
2:09.15 | ||||||
| 2 | ZHANG | Yufei | CHN |
2:09.40 | ||||||
| 3 | HOSSZU | Katinka | HUN |
2:11.90 | ||||||
| 4 | ZHANG | Yuhan | CHN |
2:14.93 | ||||||
| 5 | TAYLOR | Laura | AUS |
2:15.43 | ||||||
| 6 | WANG | Ya-Jen | TPE |
2:20.62 | ||||||
| 7 | MA | Mingxuan | CLB |
2:20.99 | ||||||
| 8 | LIN | Yung-Hsin | TPE |
2:22.27 |
Men’s 100 Fly
Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo has enjoyed a good breakout 2019 season as he is among the world’s elite. Szabo was a 51.95 on Thursday morning at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Cup in the 100 fly, seeded first for the final ahead of Italy’s Santo Condorelli. Condorelli did not swim this event at the Worlds but his heat swim here was faster than either Italian at Worlds. Condorelli was a successful international swimmer for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games and he has since taken his talents across the Atlantic.
USA’s Michael Andrew is seeded third at 52.51 as he is swimming in his second straight World Cup meet. Australia’s Grant Irvine, who did not swim at the World Championships, is seeded fourth at 52.73 ahead of Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin (53.19) and China’s Li Zhuhao (53.23). Li had a disappointing showing at the World Championships with a 13th place finish in this event in the semifinals.
Australia’s Nic Brown (53.36) and China’s Wang Shun (53.67) also qualified for the final.
| 1 | SZABO | Szebasztian | HUN |
51.95 | ||||||
| 2 | CONDORELLI | Santo |  ITA |
52.28 | ||||||
| 3 | ANDREW | Michael | USA |
52.51 | ||||||
| 4 | IRVINE | Grant | AUS |
52.73 | ||||||
| 5 | TSURKIN | Yauhen |  BLR |
53.19 | ||||||
| 6 | LI | Zhuhao | CHN |
53.23 | ||||||
| 7 | BROWN | Nic | AUS |
53.36 | ||||||
| 8 | WANG | Shun | CHN |
53.67 |
Women’s 200 Breast
Russia’s Vitalina Simonova put up the only sub-2:30 200 breast on Thursday morning at the FINA World Swimming Cup in Jinan. Simonova is seeded ahead of Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson (2:34.07), who is missing out on the Pan American Games going on right now in Lima, Peru. China’s Yu Jingyao (2:35.12) is one of three Chinese swimmers to advance to the final as she placed third this morning.
He Yun (2:36.17) and Zhang Xinyu (2:43.44) also advanced.
| 1 | SIMONOVA | Vitalina |  RUS |
2:28.63 | ||||||
| 2 | ATKINSON | Alia |  JAM |
2:34.07 | ||||||
| 3 | YU | Jingyao | CHN |
2:35.12 | ||||||
| 4 | HE | Yun | CLB |
2:36.17 | ||||||
| 5 | GORDON | Lucy |  NZL |
2:37.45 | ||||||
| 6 | CHEN | Jing-An | TPE |
2:41.63 | ||||||
| 7 | ZHANG | Xinyu | CLB |
2:43.44 | ||||||
| 8 | WU | Yu-Chen | TPE |
2:44.37 |
Men’s 100 Breast
China’s Qin Haiyang (1:00.10) and Yan Zibei (1:00.25) posted the top two times in the 100 breast on Thursday morning at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Jinan, China. Yan is coming off a bronze medal at the World Championships where he broke the Asian record in this event.
USA’s Michael Andrew placed third this morning with a 1:00.27, which was not far off his 1:00.04 he swam at Worlds where he didn’t make it out of the heats. Andrew will also have the 100 fly final.
Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas (1:00.29) and Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi (1:00.50) also advanced to the final in fourth and fifth place. Both guys did not make it out of the semifinals at the World Championships with Sidlauskas placing 14th and Martinenghi drawing a disqualification.
| 1 | QIN | Haiyang | CHN |
1:00.10 | ||||||
| 2 | YAN | Zibei | CHN |
1:00.25 | ||||||
| 3 | WILSON | Andrew | USA |
1:00.27 | ||||||
| 4 | SIDLAUSKAS | Andrius |  LTU |
1:00.29 | ||||||
| 5 | MARTINENGHI | Nicolo | ITA |
1:00.50 | ||||||
| 6 | WANG | Lizhuo | CHN |
1:00.53 | ||||||
| 7 | FRANCA SILVA | Felipe |  BRA |
1:00.73 | ||||||
| 8 | ZHANG | Ruixuan | CHN |
1:01.51 |
Women’s 50 Free
Australia’s Cate Campbell, fresh off a World Championships bronze medal in this event, posted a 24.44 to lead the 50 free qualifiers on Thursday morning at the FINA World Swimming Cup in Jinan, China. Campbell is ahead of Sweden’s Michelle Coleman (24.87) and Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen (24.97). Ottesen did not swim this in Gwangju but Coleman did and she placed 14th in this event.
China’s Zhu Menghui (25.22) qualified for the final here in Jinan ahead of Australia’s Holly Barratt (25.32) and China’s Suo Ran (25.63).
| 1 | CAMPBELL | Cate | AUS |
24.44 | ||||||
| 2 | COLEMAN | Michelle | SWE |
24.87 | ||||||
| 3 | OTTESEN | Jeanette |  DEN |
24.97 | ||||||
| 4 | ZHU | Menghui | CHN |
25.22 | ||||||
| 5 | BARRATT | Holly | AUS |
25.32 | ||||||
| 6 | SUO | Ran | CHN |
25.63 | ||||||
| 7 | BAO | Ying | CLB |
26.23 | ||||||
| 8 | SEEBOHM | Emily | AUS |
26.39 |
Men’s 50 Free
Italy’s Santo Condorelli swam his second event of the day and scored the top seed in the men’s 50 free to close out the last session of the 2019 FINA World Swimming Cup in Jinan. Condorelli was a 22.25, which was faster than either Italian swam at Worlds in Gwangju not too long ago. Condorelli is seeded ahead of USA’s Michael Andrew (22.26) and Blake Pieroni (22.43) as both Americans swam last week in Tokyo as well.
Russia’s Vladimir Morozov is seeded fourth at 22.60 which is the same place he had at Worlds in this event. China’s Yu Hexin (22.61), who did not make it out of semifinals at Worlds, is seeded fifth ahead of fellow Chinese Yang Jintong (22.84) and Liu Shaofeng (22.93).
| 1 | CONDORELLI | Santo | ITA |
22.25 | ||||||
| 2 | ANDREW | Michael | USA |
22.26 | ||||||
| 3 | PIERONI | Blake | USA |
22.43 | ||||||
| 4 | MOROZOV | Vladimir | RUS |
22.60 | ||||||
| 5 | YU | Hexin | CHN |
22.61 | ||||||
| 6 | YANG | Jintong | CHN |
22.84 | ||||||
| 7 | LIU | Shaofeng | CLB |
22.93 | ||||||
| 8 | SZABO | Szebasztian | HUN |
22.95 |
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