2019 World University Games: Five Men’s Swimming Events to Watch This Week

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The 2019 World University Games will get started this week in Naples, Italy. The swimming competition will start Thursday July 4 at 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. EST) and finals will begin at 6:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. EST). The start lists have been released for this week as the Americans are sending a strong team of some of the best collegiate swimmers.

Swimming World has pinned five men’s races to keep an eye on for this week. The women’s list can be read here. A couple of the American swimmers will also be making appearances at the World Championships in three weeks with Zach Apple and Gabby DeLoof set to swim on relays in Gwangju at the end of the month.

Men’s Psych Sheet

Top Seeds

50 Free: Pawel Sendyk, Poland
100 Free: Zach Apple, United States
200 Free: Zach Apple, United States
400 Free: Henning Muehlleitner, Germany
800 Free: Robert Finke, United States
1500 Free: Robert Finke, United States
50 Back: Mark Nikolaev, Russia
100 Back: Justin Ress, United States
200 Back: Austin Katz, United States
50 Breast: Michael Houlie, South Africa
100 Breast: Craig Benson, Great Britain
200 Breast: Kirill Prigoda, Russia
50 Fly: William Yang, Australia
100 Fly: Jack Saunderson, United States
200 Fly: Nao Horomura, Japan
200 IM: Mark Szaranek, Great Britain
400 IM: Sean Grieshop, United States

4×100 Free Relay

dean farris 100 Backstroke, 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Championship, Day3 Finals, Farris Dean

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

World University Games Record: 3:10.88, Russia (2013)

The Universiade Record will be out of reach for many more years to come. The Russian team of Andrey Grechin, Nikita Lobintsev, Vlad Morozov and Danila Izotov swam in front of the Kazan crowd in 2013 just weeks before the World Championships. Swimming under low pressure, the Russians actually swam faster than the gold medal winning time at Barcelona that summer. The meet record isn’t expected to break, but the United States should put together a very strong team.

Dean Farris, who is coming off an incredible NCAA season, only qualified for World University Games in the 4×100 free relay. He will have a chance to put up a strong swim this week in Naples to show that his short course season was not a fluke. If Farris can have a good swim in the 4×100 free relay on the meet’s first day, then he will certainly be in contention for a spot on the 4×200 free relay and maybe even the medley at the end of the week. A lot of swimming fans will have their eyes on what Farris can do this week.

Along with Farris, the Americans have the option of Zach Apple, Robert Howard, Tate Jackson and Justin Ress on the free relay. It’ll be difficult to leave one of those guys off the relay, but the Americans have the potential to put up three 47 second splits in the 4×100 free relay.

100 Free

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

World University Games Record: 47.62, Vladimir Morozov, Russia (2013)

Top Seed: 48.03, Zach Apple, United States

2019 Fastest Times:

48.66, Marco Ferreira, Brazil
48.69, Zach Apple, United States
48.76, Tate Jackson, United States
48.87, Ivano Vendrame, Italy
48.95, Alessandro Bori, Italy
49.00, Ashton Brinkworth, Australia
49.09, Felipe de Souza, Brazil
49.11, David Cumberlidge, Great Britain

They call it the blue ribbon event and the 100 free should definitely be one of the best races to watch at the World University Games this week in Naples. USA’s Zach Apple leads the psych sheet but has the second fastest time from 2019 (48.69) behind Brazil’s Marco Ferreira (48.66). Less than half a second separates the top eight swimmers this year as Ferreira leads Apple and fellow American Tate Jackson.

The meet record of 47.62 from Vladimir Morozov should be safe this year but it could take under 48 seconds to win the gold medal. Apple will be swimming for Team USA at the World Championships in three weeks but will be swimming the individual event this week in Italy to tune up for the big show in Gwangju.

The Italian crowd will be cheering on Ivano Vendrame and Alessandro Bori as they have both been under 49 seconds already this year.

200 Back

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

World University Games Record: 1:54.13, Ryosuke Irie, Japan (2009)

Top Seed: 1:55.69, Austin Katz, United States

2019 Fastest Times:

1:57.54, Grigory Tarasevich, Russia
1:57.65, Luca Mencarini, Italy
1:58.31, Clark Beach, United States
1:58.39, Austin Katz, United States
1:58.53, Roman Larin, Russia
1:58.86, Geoffroy Mathieu, France
1:58.86, Kane Follows, New Zealand
1:59.05, Manuel Martos, Spain

The men’s 200 back will be a race to watch this week in Naples as USA’s Austin Katz is the top seed on the psych sheet with his 1:55.69 from 2018 US Nationals. Katz was the silver medalist in Taipei in 2017 and will be looking to upgrade to gold this week. But Katz has the fourth fastest time this year out of anyone entered in the meet.

Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich was a 1:57.54 in April and is not far ahead of Italy’s Luca Mencarini (1:57.65) this year. Mencarini will be feeding off the Italian crowd as he will fight for the gold medal. USA’s Clark Beach and reigning bronze medalist Roman Larin will also be in the running for a medal.

Katz had the third fastest time in the US last summer as he narrowly missed a spot on the World Championships team by 0.01 seconds. Katz has a chance to put up a world class time this week to gain some momentum heading into the Olympic year. At the 2015 World University Games, Jacob Pebley won the 200 back for his first international medal and went on to make the Olympic team in 2016. Katz has the potential to get on that path to Tokyo next year.

100 Breast

Kirill Prigoda; Photo Courtesy: Foto Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia /Insidefoto

World University Games Record: 59.53, Igor Borysik, Ukraine (2009)

Top Seed: 59.50, Craig Benson, Great Britain

2019 Fastest Times:

59.52, Kirill Prigoda, Russia
59.54, Berkay Ogretir, Turkey
59.90, Andrius Sidlauskas, Lithuania
59.91, Craig Benson, Great Britain
1:00.05, Ilya Khomenko, Russia
1:00.06, Pedro Cordona, Brazil
1:00.20, Moon Jaekwon, Korea
1:00.24, Federico Poggio, Italy

Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, who won the bronze medal in the 100 breast at the 2017 World Championships, will be one of the favorites to win the 100 breast this week at the World University Games in Naples. Prigoda is currently 15th in the world rankings for 2019 and is just slightly ahead of Turkey’s Berkay Ogretir (59.54).

Only four men entered in the 100 this week in Naples have broken 1:00 this season. Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas and Great Britain’s Craig Benson will be in the running for medals as they will be battling a deep field. The Americans will have Ian Finnerty (1:00.84) and Connor Hoppe (1:02.93) representing them.

Finnerty, the only man to ever break 50 seconds in the 100 breast in yards, has the potential to crack the 1:00 barrier, but he will have to take down a very talented field if he will get a medal.

400 IM

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

World University Games Record: 4:11.98, Daiya Seto, Japan (2017)

Top Seed: 4:12.72, Sean Grieshop, United States

2019 Fastest Times:

4:13.54, Yuuki Ikari, Japan
4:14.81, Joan Pons Ramon, Spain
4:14.91, Brendon Smith, Australia
4:15.11, Lewis Clareburt, New Zealand
4:15.60, Tomoya Takeuchi, Japan
4:15.73, Andrea Matteazzi, Italy
4:16.28, Mark Szaranek, Great Britain
4:16.30, Maxim Stupin, Russia

The 400 IM might be the deepest field of any men’s event at the World University Games. The top eight swimmers are all ranked in the top 30 in the world for 2019 with Japan’s Yuuki Ikari sitting in seventh overall. Ikari was a 4:13.54 at Japanese Nationals in April and is the frontrunner to win the gold medal this week in Naples.

The top seed in the event is American Sean Grieshop, who was a 4:12.72 last summer at US Nationals. Grieshop has only managed a 4:22.38 but had a very successful sophomore campaign for Cal at NCAAs this past March. If he can taper down to a 4:12 again, then he will definitely be on the podium in Naples. But it won’t be easy.

Spain’s Joan Pons Ramon was eighth in Rio in the 400 IM and has been a 4:14 this year already. Australia’s Brendon Smith and New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt are also medal favorites as they sit 16th and 17th in the world for 2019. The other American in the 400 IM is Sam Stewart out of Texas, who has only been a 4:23.13 this year.

With such a stacked field, it might take a 4:13 just to get on the podium. And if Grieshop finds himself with the gold medal, it would provide him a whole load of momentum going into 2020. Four years ago at the 2015 World University Games, Jay Litherland won his first international gold medal and went on to make his first Olympic team a year later.

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