Top Races to Watch at Short Course World Championships

Jul 25, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) celebrates with his gold medal during the medals ceremony for the men's 400m freestyle during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network

Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui will return to the international competition at the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi -- Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports

Top Races to Watch at Short Course World Championships

This week’s Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi will be far from a truly representative global affair. Of Swimming World’s eight regional swimmers of the year, just three will be present. None of the top-five finishers in the World Swimmer of the Year balloting for either women or men will be in attendance. Many would typically opt against attending Short Course Worlds, while others opted against attending while on a break following the Olympics and perhaps the ISL season.

But that’s not to say we won’t see some really fascinating races over the next week. Consider the groups of swimmers attending: those who just finished racing in the ISL, those who raced some short course meters meets (perhaps World Cup and/or the European Championships), those who have been swimming short course yards in U.S. college swimming and those who have barely raced at all since Tokyo.

Watching swimmers from these different tracks go head-to-head in Abu Dhabi will be fascinating as they set themselves up for the upcoming shortened Olympic cycle. Here are the races we are following most closely.

Men’s 400 Freestyle: Hafnaoui Returns to World Stage

Ahmed Hafnaoui will be back in international waters in Abu Dhabi for the first time since he shocked the world to take gold in the 400 freestyle from lane eight in Tokyo. Since then, Hafnaoui has committed to swim for Indiana University, but he has not actually raced. And while top Australian competitors Jack McLoughlin and Elijah Winnington will not be present this week, Hafnaoui will test himself against the third and co-fourth-place finishers from Tokyo (Kieran Smith, Henning Muhlleitner and Felix Aubock) and a generally strong international field.

The 19-year-old from Tunisia will also compete in the 1500 free in Abu Dhabi, a race which will feature the consistent European trio of Florian Wellbrock, Mykhailo Romanchuk and Gregorio Paltrinieri but no Bobby Finke as the surprising Olympic champion focuses on his college season with the Florida Gators.

Women’s 200 Freestyle: Can Haughey Track Down World Record?

Twice during the ISL playoffs, Siobhan Haughey made a run at Sarah Sjostrom’s world record in the 200 free before falling just two tenths short. On each occasion, she was racing in her second individual race of the day after the 100 free, but in Abu Dhabi, the 200 free final will allow Haughey to race fresh on day one. She will surely chase after that mark, and she is a heavy favorite for gold in a race that features none of the other finalists from the Tokyo Olympics. Haughey had never won a medal at a major international meet prior to Tokyo, and she has never won gold at a world-level event.

Haughey’s top competition in the 200 will come from Great Britain’s Freya Anderson, ISL breakout star Barbora Seemanova and Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh, but it’s hard to see anyone coming close to the 24-year-old from Hong Kong. Haughey could receive stronger challenges from Sjostrom in the 100 free or from McIntosh and a wide-open field in the 400 free.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke: Shymanovich-Fink Rematch in Talented Field

You won’t see breaststroke superstar Adam Peaty in Abu Dhabi, but the 100-meter race is still loaded as world-record holder Ilya Shymanovich will again face off with American Nic Fink, just two weeks after Fink beat Shymanovich in tight and stunning fashion in all three breaststroke races in the ISL final. The race will also feature the top three non-Peaty swimmers from the Olympic final, the Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga, Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi and the USA’s Michael Andrew.

This meet is likely a bigger deal for Shymanovich than any of the others since he is a short course specialist and never in his career a gold medalist on the global level. His only medals at a World Championships of any kind came at the last edition of this meet in 2018, when he finished with silver medals in the 50 and 100 breast behind Cameron van der Burgh. He is probably the most powerful swimmer in this field, but there will be lots of talent going head-to-head. Just like in the ISL final, if Shymanovich is even a little off his best, he will be beaten.

A few days later, the 200 breast will feature four multi-time winners from the ISL season, Shymanovich, Kamminga, Fink and Erik Persson, and they will face off against former world champion Marco Koch of Germany.

Women’s 100 Backstroke: Kira Toussaint and Kylie Masse Lead the Way

No Kaylee McKeown or Regan Smith for the 100 back in Abu Dhabi, but two of the top three swimmers from this year’s ISL season are in the field, the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint and Canada’s Kylie Masse. Masse captured silver in the event at the Tokyo Olympics, while Toussaint finished seventh before showing off her impressive short course skills over the past few months. Missing from the race is ISL final 100 back winner Ingrid Wilm, but the second Canadian will be Maggie MacNeil, who has shown hints of her short course backstroke talents while competing for the University of Michigan.

Certainly, this could be a big moment for Toussaint, who has never won a World Championship medal of any color, especially since she was forced to miss the recent ISL final with an undisclosed illness. Also worth watching here will be the USA’s Rhyan White (fourth in Tokyo) and Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko (eighth).

Men’s 200 Free: Seven of Eight Olympic Finalists in the Field

Unfortunately, world-junior-record holder Matt Sates will not be in Abu Dhabi to follow up his brilliant fall on the World Cup circuit, but we will get a field of big guns in the 200 free, with all but one finalist from the Olympics and six men who have swum 1:44s in the long course 200 free this year. The 200 free Olympic final was one of the best, with South Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo blasting out ahead of the field before falling off the pace on the last 50, when British men Tom Dean and Duncan Scott surged ahead to go 1-2. Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer just touched out Romanian teenager David Popovici for bronze.

The other returning Olympic finalists are American Kieran Smith and Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys, the silver medalist from the last Short Course Worlds in 2018. Remember that at this meet, the 200-meter races go directly from heats to finals, so perhaps more than one from this bunch will be locked out after the morning. In a short course 200 free, a swimmer can rely on raw speed and power far more than in the long course version of the event, so maybe that benefits 100 free Olympic finalists Popovici and Hwang. Scott is probably the favorite, but he will be racing a busy program in Abu Dhabi.

Women’s 100 Fly: MacNeil, Zhang, Huske Chase New World Record

Like the men’s 200 free, seven of the eight finalists from the women’s 100 fly in Tokyo will be at the meet in Abu Dhabi, but there’s a slight caveat as former world-record holder Sarah Sjostrom will not race the 100 fly. Tokyo bronze medalist Emma McKeon will also be missing, but gold medalist Maggie MacNeil, silver medalist Zhang Yufei and fourth-place finisher Torri Huske will all be present. The top four finishers all touched within 14 hundredths of each other in the Olympic final.

Sweden’s Louise Hansson, who was fifth in Tokyo, is actually the top seed in Abu Dhabi, while fellow finalists Marie Wattel and Anastasiya Shkurdai are also entered. So is American teenager Claire Curzan, who was off her best times in Tokyo but has been 56-low on multiple occasions this year.

Huske and Curzan representing the U.S. here means that Kelsi Dahlia is absent, just two weeks after she set the world record at 54.59 in the ISL final. We’ll see if this tough field can run down the new mark the 27-year-old American set in Eindhoven.

Men’s 400 IM: Carson Foster Takes on Daiya Seto in Global Debut

It was an exceptionally disappointing Olympics for Daiya Seto. Competing in his home country, considered a favorite for gold medals in at least one event and possibly more, but he ended up missing the 400 IM final and qualifying for the top-eight just once. But Seto looked brilliant during the ISL regular season, although his Tokyo Frog Kings failed to advance to the playoffs. He will swim the 100, 200 and 400 IM at Short Course Worlds, and he is the only Japanese athlete entered in the meet.

The 400 IM will feature Olympic finalists Max Litchfield and Alberto Razzetti, ISL final winner Duncan Scott and 18-year-old Russian Ilya Borodin, the European Champion in the event in both long and short course. Borodin missed the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19. Also in the field, in his debut at a senior-level international competition, is 20-year-old American Carson Foster, who narrowly missed out on the U.S. Olympic team but swam the world’s fastest time in the long course 400 IM in late July.

Foster has lofty goals ahead with the NCAA Championships in late March and the U.S. World Championship Trials in late April, but he chose to make the trip to Abu Dhabi to gain valuable international experience. Based on his recent performances during the college season, Foster will certainly have a chance at a medal in his signature event.

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