FINA Short Course World Championships: Day 1 Prelims Recap

by David Rieder - Senior Writer

06 December 2016, 12:00pm

Read below to find our full coverage of day one prelims at the FINA Short Course World Championships in Windsor. Competition began at 9:30 a.m. ET. Heat sheets are available here, and full results from the session are available by clicking here.

Men’s 400 Free

Russia’s Aleksandr Krashnykh won a tight race with South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan and the USA’s Zane Grothe in the seventh heat of eight in the men’s 400 free, and his time of 3:38.40 held up as the top seed overall in the event. Krashnykh, swimming in lane five, just held off Park in lane nine, as the South Korean came in second at 3:38.47. Grothe, who led the heat through the 350-meter mark, qualified third in 3:38.70

Defending Short Course World Champion Peter Bernek qualified fourth overall. The Hungarian won the final heat of the event in 3:39.08. France’s Jordan Pothain was next in 3:39.31.

Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak (3:40.49), the Netherlands’ Maarten Brzoskowski (3:40.80) and Great Britain’s Stephen Milne (3:40.87) also made the cut for the championship final.

Of note, Olympic bronze medalist Gabriele Detti of Italy could never find his footing in the race, and he ended up 12th in 3:42.58.

Women’s 200 Free

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu kicked off what should be a busy week of competing with a dominant performance in the eighth heat of the 200 free. In her first of three races for the morning prelims, she posted a time of 1:53.07 to earn lane four for the first women’s final of the meet.

The USA’s Mallory Comerford, in the first international swim of her career, opened up a big lead in the final heat over world record-holder Federica Pellegrini and then held on for the win. Comerford ended up qualifying second for the final in 1:53.71, and Italy’s Pellegrini earned the third seed in 1:54.10.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck, a 16-year-old competing in front of her home fans, finished second to Hosszu in their heat, earning the fourth seed for the final in 1:54.26. Her teammate Katerine Savard qualified sixth in 1:54.81, with Russia’s Veronika Popova splitting the difference in 1:54.32.

The USA’s Leah Smith earned lane one for the final with her time of 1:54.93, and Brazil’s Manuella Lyrio finished eighth in 1:55.19.

Women’s 200 Fly

Russia’s Aleksandr Kharlanov scared the world record in the prelims of the men’s 200 fly. He went out under Chad le Clos’ pace for the first 100 meters. but he could not quite keep up during the second half. He still managed to dominate the final heat and post the top time of the morning in 1:51.03.

Le Clos qualified second for the final in 1:51.23, and the USA’s Pace Clark (1:51.68) and Hungary’s Viktor Bromer (1:51.87) both got into the championship final out of le Clos’ heat.

Japan’s Daiya Seto, the bronze medalist in the 400 IM at the Olympic Games in Rio, qualified fifth in 1:52.44, and Brazil’s Leonardo De Deus was sixth in 1:52.89. Japan’s Nao Horomura qualified seventh in 1:53.09.

The USA’s Tom Shields, who entered as the top seed at 1:49.05 and ranks fourth all-time in the event, barely made it into the final, qualifying eighth in 1:53.09. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi became the second Olympic bronze medalist of the day to miss out on the final in his signature event as he finished ninth in 1:53.32.

Women’s 50 Breast

World record-holder Alia Atkinson of Jamaica posted the top time in prelims with a quick 29.48 in the final heat of the morning. That’s well off her world record of 28.64 set at the Tokyo World Cup stop in October but still plenty for Atkinson to advance to the semifinals.

Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen qualified second in 29.71 after finishing second to Atkinson in their heat, and Americans Lilly King (29.84) and Molly Hannis (29.92) each won their heats to finish third and fourth overall, respectively.

Belgium’s Fanny Lecluyse came in next at 30.06, and Russia’s Natalia Ivaneeva (30.23), Japan’s Miho Teramura (30.27) and Australia’s Jessica Hansen (30.35) finished sixth through eighth.

Also qualifying for the evening semifinals were Norway’s Susann Bjornsen (30.41), Italy’s Martina Carraro (30.43), Canada’s Rachel Nicol (30.52), Sweden’s Sophie Hansson (30.52), Russia’s Valentina Artemeva (30.55), Japan’s Misaki Sekiguchi (30.61), Island’s Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir (30.64) and Finland’s Silja Kansakoski (30.70).

Men’s 100 Back

The top three times in the men’s 100 back all came out of the final preliminary heat. China’s Xu Jiayu touched out Australia’s Mitch Larkin by one one-hundredth of a second for the top seed overall, 50.21 to 50.22. Xu was the Olympic silver medalist in the event back in August, and Larkin was the long course World Champion in the event a year ago. Finishing third in the heat was Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki, who finished in 50.63 for the third overall seed.

The USA’s Jacob Pebley posted a strong performance to qualify fourth in 50.64, just ahead of Japan’s Junya Koga and Russia’s Andrei Shabasov, who tied for fifth in 50.71. Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich earned the seventh seed in 50.93, rounding out the group of swimmers under 51 seconds.

Japan’s Masaki Kaneko (51.01) and Romania’s Robert Flinta (51.03), finished eighth and ninth, respectively, just ahead of Belarus’ Pavel Sankovich, who qualified in 51.07. Poland’s Tomasz Polewka (51.11) was 11th, ahead of former 50 back world record-holder Bobby Hurley of Australia, who finished in 51.13.

Canada’s Javier Acevedo (51.32), Spain’s Miguel Ortiz-Canavate (51.5), Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys (51.61) and Israel’s David Gamburg (51.61) also made the semifinals.

The USA’s Michael Taylor was disqualified for an illegal turn.

Women’s 400 IM

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, the world record-holder in the event, qualified first comfortably for her second final of the day. She posted a time of 4:25.03, well ahead of the rest of the field.

The USA’s Ella Eastin, the NCAA champion in both IMs a season ago, made her senior international debut in the event and dominated heat two. She posted a time of 4:29.64 for the second-best qualifying time and lane five in the final. Spain’s Mireia Belmonte, the Olympic bronze medalist in the event behind Hosszu and Maya DiRado, qualified third in 4:31.14, just ahead of Great Britain’s Hannah Miley (4:31.48).

The Czech Republic’s Barbora Zavadova finished fifth in prelims in 4:32.06. Vietnam’s Anh Vien Nguyen was sixth in 4:32.20, and Japan’s Yui Ohashi took seventh in 4:32.20. The USA’s Madisyn Cox snuck into the final with her time of 4:45.50.

Men’s 100 Breast

Germany’s Marco Koch posted the top time of the morning out of the final heat of the event. Koch touched in 57.01 after tracking down Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich, who ended up qualifying second in 57.39.

American Olympic bronze medalist Cody Miller qualified third in 57.41, just ahead of China’s Yan Zibei, who finished fourth in 57.47. Brazilians Felipe Lima and Felipe Franca Silva tied for fifth in 57.68, and Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli finished seventh in 57.70.

World Cup champion Vladimir Morozov finished seventh in prelims in 57.73, and South Africa’s Cameron van der Burgh, the world record-holder in the event, finished in the ninth spot in 57.78. Venezuela’s Carlos Claverie, who had the top time headed into the circle seeded heats, qualified 10th in 57.81.

Russia’s Oleg Kostin (57.93) and American Nic Fink (57.97) both got under 57 seconds, and they were followed by Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (58.03) and Andrew Willis (58.04). Japan’s Yoshiki Yamanaka (58.10) and Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis (58.18) rounded out the list of semifinalists.

Women’s 100 Back

Canada’s Kylie Masse gave the crowd something to cheer about as the Windsor-native posted the top time in the prelims with a 56.02, good for a new Canadian record. Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, swimming in her third event of the morning, did not pick up her third top seed in three tries, but she will still have lane four in the first of two semifinals this evening as she qualified second in 56.16.

The USA’s Ali DeLoof posted a swift 56.40 to win the first of the circle-seeded heats out of lane one, and that was good for the third seed overall. Australia’s Emily Seebohm, last year’s long course World Champion in the event, qualified fourth in 56.60, and Great Britain’s Georgia Davies was fifth in 56.99.

Davies’ British teammate Kathleen Dawson finished sixth in prelims in 57.17, and Denmark’s Mie Nielsen came in seventh in 57.36. Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina rounded out the top eight in 57.36.

Hellen Moffitt of the USA posted a big performance outside of the seeded heats, qualifying ninth in 57.43, just ahead of fellow the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint, who came in at 57.50. Australia’s Minna Atherton (57.63), Japan’s Emi Moronuki (57.74), the Czech Republic’s Simona Baumrtova (57.79), Argentina’s Andrea Berrino (57.88) and China’s Chen Jie (57.90) finished 11th through 15th.

Japan’s Sayaka Akase picked up the last qualifying spot into the semifinals, clocking 58.08 to beat our Russia’s Mariia Kameneva (58.09) by one one-hundredth of a second.

Men’s 200 IM

Japan’s Daiya Seto qualified for his second final of the day in the 200 IM. After getting into the 200 fly final, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 IM from this summer led the way into this final in 1:53.49. He was followed by Great Britain’s Mark Szarenek, who qualified in 1:53.77, and Russia’s Kirill Prigoda, who picked up the third spot in 1:53.94.

Germany’s Phillip Heintz qualified fourth in 1:54.07, and then came American Josh Prenot, who won a tight final heat to secure lane two for the final with his time of 1:54.10.

China’s Wang Shun, the Olympic bronze medalist, finished sixth in 1:54.21, and then Greece’s Andreas Vazaios (1:54.30) and Japan’s Takeharu Fujimori (1:54.37) rounded out the top eight.

Women’s 400 Free Relay

Canada blasted the field in the prelims of the women’s 400 free relay as Sandrine Mainville (52.72), Alexia Zevnik (52.12), Michelle Williams (52.02) and Taylor Ruck (52.63). The Canadians might be able to pose a challenge to the Netherlands’ world record of 3:26.53 in the final as they add Olympic gold medalist Penny Oleksiak to their squad.

Italy’s Erika Ferraioli, Silvia Di Pietro, Aglaia Pezzato and Federica Pellegrini qualified second in 3:32.41, and the Netherlands’ Maud Van Der Meer, Kim Busch, Robin Neumann and Ranomi Kromowidjojo picked up the third seed in 3:33.59, just ahead of Australia (3:33.65), who had Emily Seebohm swimming the third leg and Brittany Elmslie anchoring.

China finished fourth in 3:34.49, and France was sixth in 3:34.48.

The United States’ squad of Katrinka Konopka, Katie Drabot, Madison Kennedy and Ali DeLoof barely snuck into the final, placing seventh in 3:34.98, but Amanda Weir and possibly Mallory Comerford or Kelsi Worrell will be added in the evening. Japan grabbed the last finals spot in 3:35.04.

Men’s 400 Free Relay

France opened up a massive lead in the second of two heats in the men’s 400 free relay and held on to take the top seed for the evening’s final. Clement Mignon (46.75), Mehdy Metella (46.38), Jeremy Stravius (46.56) and Yonel Govindin (48.36) combined to post a 3:08.05 to secure lane four for the final.

Russia’s Nikita Lobintsev, Aleksei Brianskii, Mikhail Vekovishchev and Aleksandr Popkov qualified second in 3:08.39, just ahead of the Australian squad of Brayden McCarthy, Jack Gerrard, David Morgan and Tommaso D’Orsogna, who posted a time if 3:08.97.

The Americans finished fourth with a team of Paul Powers, Matthew Josa, Michael Chadwick and Blake Pieroni. They posted a time of 3:09.02, and Tom Shields could be poised to join that squad in the evening.

Canada (3:10.80), Japan (3:11.33), the Netherlands (3:12.07) and Belarus (3:12.89) all made it into the final.

Subscribe

Login

Notify of

new follow-up comments new replies to my comments

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Eileen

7 years ago

Taylor Ruck lives and trains in Arizona . How does that make her a Canadian swimmer. ? Too slow to make American team.

0

Reply