Laszlo Cseh Makes Noise in 200 IM as Kalisz & Seto Take Care of Business

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World Swimming Championships (Laszlo Cseh in 200 IM)

Gwangju 2019

Day 4 Heats (Men’s 200 IM)

The first of two medley showdowns between American Chase Kalisz and Japan’s Daiya Seto remained on track during the preliminaries of the 200 IM, but is another veteran of the international scene threatening to make an impact on the event. While Seto qualified second in 1:57.90 and Kalisz was third in 1:58.20, it was Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh who took the top seed for the semifinals, touching the wall in 1:57.79.

It remains to be seen how much Cseh has left in the tank for the next two rounds of the event, but he cleanly navigated his first hurdle in the quest for his fifth medal in the event at the World Championships. With Cseh bumped out of the 200 butterfly by his countrymen, Kristof Milak and Tamas Kenderesi, the six-time Olympic medalist had the opportunity to focus on the short medley. If nothing else, he has added an interesting storyline to the event.

For Kalisz and Seto, who have developed a friendship outside the pool, it was a businesslike morning. Neither man expended much energy, smartly holding back to wait for a more demanding moment. Kalisz is the defending champion in both the 200 medley and 400 medley while Seto is a two-time world champ in the 400 IM and has improved greatly in the 200 IM.

Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches (1:58.43) and Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (1:58.57) moved to the semifinals in fourth and fifth, with Scott choosing to scratch the 100 free and focus on this event. Germany’s Philip Heintz was sixth in 1:58.71 while seventh and eighth were occupied by Russia’s Andrey Zhilkin (1:58.73) and Australia’s Mitch Larkin (1:58.75).

“Obviously they are really close together, the 100 free and 200 IM,” Scott said. “I’ve done a double like that at another level but I have never done it at a worlds level. It was always going to be quite tough and I thought coming into it I was quite confident I could do the double. Looking at it, I have never done the 200 IM internationally properly. Did the heats at the Europeans, didn’t make it out. Did the heat and final at Commonwealth Games and that is it. I like to challenge myself in the 200 IM. I’ve done the 100 free a lot of times – Olympics, 2017, 2018. I thought I’d give the 200 IM a go.”

200 IM Semifinalists

1. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary 1:57.79
2. Daiya Seto, Japan 1:57.90
3. Chase Kalisz, United States 1:58.20
4. Jeremy Desplanches, Switzerland 1:58.43
5. Duncan Scott, Great Britain 1:58.57
6. Philip Heintz, Germany 1:58.71
7. Andrey Zhilkin, Russia 1:58.73
8. Mitch Larkin, Australia 1:58.75
9. Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Australia 1:58.86
10. Alexis Santos, Portugal 1:59.01
11. Wang Shun, China 1:59.18
12. Abrahm Devine, United States 1:59.26
13. Leonardo Santos, Brazil 1:59.37
14. Raphael Stacchiotti, Luxembourg 1:59.62
15. Tom Dean, Great Britain 1:59.64
16. Gabriel Lopes, Portugal 1:59.76

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Yossi Laluja
4 years ago

Noam Laloya

Ferenc Mihaly
4 years ago

excellent performances!

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