The Week That Was: Sun Yang Out of Tokyo Olympics; Sarah Sjostrom Wins 100 Fly in Rome

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

China’s Sun Yang had his doping ban reduced to four years and will miss the 2020 Olympic Games after initially receiving an eight-year ban in early 2020 that kept him out of the 2024 Paris Games. Sun will be eligible in early 2024 to return to competition.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom also won her first butterfly race internationally since sustaining an elbow injury earlier this year.

Read the five biggest stories of the week in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #1: Sun Yang Doping Ban Reduced to Four Years, Still Out of Tokyo Olympics

Sun Yang. Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Liz Byrnes

Sun Yang will not defend his 200 freestyle title at the Tokyo Olympics after he was banned for four years and three months after a retrial at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Chinese swimmer had been handed an eight-year suspension in February 2020 which stemmed from an out-of-competition test in September 2018 during which a vial of Sun’s blood was smashed with a hammer by a member of his team.

There were also allegations of aggression and intimidation of the testers while Sun’s team claimed they didn’t have the correct credentials.

Governing body FINA initially ruled that Sun just be issued a caution but an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency was upheld by CAS and the ban imposed.

The three-time Olympic champion appealed the verdict to the Swiss Federal Tribunal which ruled that a member of the three-person CAS panel, Franco Frattini, made biased comments on social media and sent the case back to the CAS for retrial.

A new panel was formed comprising Dr Hans Nater (Switzerland), President, Prof. Jan Paulsson
(France) and Prof. Bernard Hanotiau (Belgium) and the hearing was held in May.

On Tuesday CAS announced it had lowered the length of the ban but ensured Sun will not defend his title in Tokyo next month.

It was backdated to 28 February 2020 meaning he will be free to compete in June 2024, ahead of the Olympics in Paris.

Sun will be 32 by then and his intentions are not yet known: the Chinese trials were held in May this year so should it be the same in 2024, he may not even get the chance to qualify for the team.

It was Sun’s second doping infraction after he tested positive for the stimulant Trimetazidine in May 2014 for which he was given a three-month penalty with four years imposed for the second offence.

#2: Sarah Sjostrom Continues Comeback at Sette Colli

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Liz Byrnes

Sarah Sjostrom won a medal of each colour at Rio 2016 and now has less than a month to go before she attempts to defend her 100 fly title in Tokyo.

The meet at the iconic Foro Italico is the second for the 27-year-old as she returns to competition following surgery and rehab on the elbow she broke in a fall on ice south of Stockholm in February.

Sjostrom won the 50 fly on Friday in 25.42 to go third in the rankings and on Saturday she went out in 26.65 – the only sub-27 in the field – and back in 31.00 to touch first.

Behind her came Elena Di Liddo (57.93) and Ilaria Bianchi (57.95).

The time would have been good enough to match that in which Svetlana Chimrova finished fourth at the European Championships in May.

The Swede then returned for the 100 free in which she finished second in 53.47 behind Femke Heemskerk who won in 53.03.

The Week That Was #3: Gregorio Paltrinieri Diagnosed With Mononucleosis

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Matthew de George

Italian distance star Gregorio Paltrinieri has contracted mononucleosis, which casts doubt on his status for the Tokyo Olympics.

Paltrinieri is experiencing minor systems, according to the Italian Swimming Federation, but the virus is notoriously sapping, particularly for an aerobic challenge like distance freestyle. Paltrinieri is among the medal contenders in the men’s 800 free, 1,500 free and 10K open-water swim.

“We’re obviously upset because his Olympic preparations were proceeding perfectly,” Italian Swimming Federation president Paolo Barelli said Wednesday. “But Paltrinieri is a phenomenal champion and will battle down to the last meter to win the medals he’s dreaming about for Tokyo.”

Paltrinieri is the reigning Olympic champion in the 1,500. He’s won two World Championships in the event and is the reigning world champ in the 800 free, among eight career Worlds medals. Tokyo will be the 26-year-old’s third Olympics.

At the European Championships in May, he won the 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer swims to go with silvers in the 800 and 1,500 free (both behind Ukraine’s Mykhalio Romanchuk).

Paltrinieri did not swim in this weekend’s Seven Hills meet in Rome.

“He’s never given up on anything and with his determination he’s won everything,” Barelli said. “I’m confident that he’ll pull through this time too. He’s facing one of the toughest challenges of his career.”

#4: Swimming Canada Names Olympic Team

maggie-macneil-penny-oleksiak-canada-2019-fina-world-championships

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Matthew de George

Swimming Canada has nominated 26 swimmers to the Canadian Olympic Team for this summer’s Tokyo Games, following its Olympic Trials this week. The list includes a return to a fourth Olympic Games for Brent Hayden and a debut for 14-year-old Summer McIntosh.

The group of 26 includes 16 women and 10 men. Six swimmers were provisionally nominated in January in specific events, and the rest came from Trials, conducted over the last five days at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

The group includes reigning Olympic gold medalist Penny Oleksiak and world champions Maggie MacNeil and Kylie Masse. Hayden is making his fourth Olympics and first since 2012 following a seven-year retirement. Katerine Savard is in her third straight Games.

Thursday’s announcement of the Canadian Olympic team did not include specific events for each swimmer. Swimming Canada did release each swimmer’s qualified events with its provisional nomination list in January. But in certain events where more than two swimmers have FINA A cuts – the men’s and women’s 100 free are among those – Swimming Canada has latitude to determine who will qualify. They also have to balance the requirements of six qualified relays – all three women’s relays, plus the men’s 400 free and medley relay and the mixed medley relay.

High Performance Director John Atkinson said those conversations are ongoing with coaches and swimmers. He’s anticipating that swimmers will be informed late Thursday or Friday, with a public release of that information soon after.

“We’ve already been talking with coaches and swimmers about the invent mix and jigsaw they have to look at through the competition,” Atkinson said on a Zoom call Thursday. “You can imagine nine days with six relays, and while we may not have 30 or 40 swimmers on the team, we have a very busy schedule for the athletes that are there. … We’re already working with coaches and with athletes and looking at where the athletes are at, and we’ve had those conversations.”

The Week That Was #5: Cseh, Hosszu, Verraszto, Jakabos Named to Fifth Olympic Team for Hungary

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

By Liz Byrnes

Laszlo Cseh, Katinka Hosszu, Evelyn Verraszto and Zsuzsanna Jakabos are headed for their fifth Olympics after being named in a 38-strong Hungary team for Tokyo, 17 years after their debuts at Athens 2004.

Cseh, who at 35 was the second-oldest man at last month’s European Championships behind only Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski, won 400IM bronze in the Greek capital.

Since then he has claimed a further four silvers and one bronze medal across three Games, the last being at Rio 2016 where he shared a historic silver with Michael Phelps and Chad Le Clos in the 100 fly behind winner Joseph Schooling.

Cseh, who has 13 world medals including two gold, will go in the 200IM which will also feature the likes of Japanese duo Daiya Seto and Kosuke Hagino, Michael Andrew of the United States, Britain’s Duncan Scott, European champion Hugo Gonzalez as well as his fellow Hungarian Hubert Kos.

While Cseh has won medals across four Games, Hosszu had to wait until Rio 2016 before she visited the Olympic podium, a feat she managed to four times.

The 32-year-old won three golds in the 200 and 400IM and 100 backstroke plus silver over 200 back.

Now she will head to Tokyo where she’s entered in the 200 back, 200 fly plus the two individual medleys.

Hosszu is currently the third-most successful Hungarian swimmer in Olympic history behind Krisztina Egerszegi,who won five golds across three Games at Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996.

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