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FINA World Swimming Championships
Gwangju 2019
Day Seven Heats (Men’s 1500 Free)
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri cruised to the top seed in the heats of the men’s 1500 free on Saturday morning at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships in Gwangju. Paltrinieri, the reigning World and Olympic Champion led a field of eight Europeans into tomorrow night’s final for the 1500. Paltrinieri swam a 14:45.80 to get lane four for the final on the last night of the meet. He will be surrounded by Germany’s Florian Wellbrock (14:47.52) and the Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk (14:47.54).
It is not necessarily a surprise that eight Europeans made the eight-man final, considering last summer’s 1500 final at European Championships was the first time all eight swimmers broke 15:00 in the same heat. The top three seeds for tomorrow’s final were the medalists at Europeans last summer with Wellbrock winning over Romanchuk and Paltrinieri.
Paltrinieri already took care of business in the 800 free, winning his first gold medal in that event earlier this week. He will be tough to beat in the 1500 and he could be chasing the world record of 14:31.02 by Sun Yang set in 2012.
The medal favorites clinched the top three seeds, but Denmark’s Alexander Norgaard (14:47.75) had a stellar last 500 to get the fourth seed for the final and a new Danish record.
Norway’s Henrik Christiansen, who earlier in the week picked up his first medal at the World Championships with a silver in the 800, is seeded fifth at 14:50.28. It is not a new best for Christiansen, who set his Norwegian record earlier this year at 14:49.67.
Italy’s Domenico Acerenza, who trains alongside Paltrinieri, is seeded sixth at 14:52.03. France’s David Aubry (14:53.38) and the Ukraine’s Sergii Frolov (14:55.06) also qualified for the all-European final tomorrow night.
Notably, USA’s Jordan Wilimovsky (14:59.94), Great Britain’s Daniel Jervis (15:01.50) and Australia’s Jack McLoughlin (15:04.64), who were all potential medal spoilers, missed the final placing 11th, 13th and 16th respectively. USA’s Zane Grothe swam a disappointing 15:21.43 for 26th place.
| 1 | PALTRINIERI | Gregorio |  ITA |
14:45.80 | ||||||
| 2 | WELLBROCK | Florian |  GER |
14:47.52 | ||||||
| 3 | ROMANCHUK | Mykhailo |  UKR |
14:47.54 | ||||||
| 4 | NORGAARD | Alexander |  DEN |
14:47.75 | ||||||
| 5 | CHRISTIANSEN | Henrik |  NOR |
14:50.28 | ||||||
| 6 | ACERENZA | Domenico | ITA |
14:52.03 | ||||||
| 7 | AUBRY | David |  FRA |
14:53.38 | ||||||
| 8 | FROLOV | Sergii | UKR |
14:55.06 |
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