World Championships, Day Five Prelims: Leah Smith, Louise Hansson, Ruta Meilutyte Earn Top Seeds

Leah Smith -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

A Special Thanks to Deep Blue Media for providing the images from this meet

World Championships, Day Five Prelims: Leah Smith, Louise Hansson, Ruta Meilutyte Earn Top Seeds

As the fifth of six days got underway at the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, four women’s events were scheduled for prelims, including the beginning of the women’s 100 butterfly featuring the two women who tied for the world title in the 50 fly, Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil and the USA’s Torri Huske. Mac Neil won the Olympic gold medal in the 100 fly last year and is the defending short course world champion while Huske dominated the event at the long course World Championships in June. Both swimmers qualified for the semifinals, but the top seed was Sweden’s Louise Hansson.

Meanwhile, the Australian women posted the top time in the 200 medley relay prelims while American Leah Smith claimed lane four going into the 400 IM final and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte led the way in the 50 breaststroke.

Women’s 200 Medley Relay

Australia has already captured two gold medals in women’s relays in Melbourne, and now, the women of the 200 medley relay will head into the final as the top-seeded team. The group of Kaylee McKeown, Jenna Strauch, Emma McKeon and Madison Wilson swam a time of 1:44.78 to take the top seed, just ahead of Sweden’s Hanna Rosvall, Klara Thormalm, Sara Junevik and Sofia Aastedt (1:44.83). Also very close to the top spot was France’s group of Analia Pigree, Charlotte Bonnet, Melanie Henique and Beryl Gastadello (1:44.86).

The Australians used many of their top swimmers in prelims, although Meg Harris could replace Wilson on the anchor leg in the final. Sweden will be able to insert Louise Hansson on backstroke or butterfly and Sophie Hansson on breaststroke in an attempt to defend last year’s gold medal, although star sprinter Sarah Sjostrom is absent.

Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States and the Czech Republic also qualified for the final. Canada could make wholesale changes to its finals squad with Maggie Mac Neil ready to come in after already winning the 50 fly and 50 back in Melbourne while Kylie Masse and Taylor Ruck are also options. The Americans used Alex Walsh, Annie Lazor, Erika Brown and Natalie Hinds in prelims, and the finals group will likely be totally different, with Claire Curzan on back, Lilly King on breast, Torri Huske on fly and Brown on free.

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Women’s 400 IM

The top five qualifiers into the women’s 400 IM final swam within a second of each other, and leading the way is a swimmer with plenty of international medals but primarily in freestyle. Leah Smith, already with bronze medals in the 400 free and 800 free relay this week, closed well to overtake Italy’s Sara Franceschi and U.S. teammate Hali Flickinger to win the final heat in 4:30.93. Franceschi touched just behind in 4:31.01 to qualify second for the final.

Japan’s Waka Kobori took third overall in 4:31.19, followed by Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakobos (4:31.36) and Flickinger (4:31.61). Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato was sixth (4:32.94) while defending short course world champion Tessa Cieplucha finished seventh in prelims in 4:33.58. France’s Cyrielle Duhamel qualified eighth (4:34.03).

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Women’s 100 Butterfly

The anticipated race in the women’s 100 fly will feature Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Maggie Mac Neil facing off again with long course world champion Torri Huske after the Canadian and the American tied for gold in the 50 fly. But in the first round of the event, it was a fast-finishing Louise Hansson of Sweden who emerged as the top seed with a time of 55.74. Hansson took silver in this event last yea, just six hundredths behind Mac Neil.

Alexander Perkins of Australia finished third in 56.46, while Mac Neil was fourth in 56.53. Other swimmers breaking 57 included Germany’s Angelina Kohler, the Netherlands’ Maaike de Waard, Japan’s Ai Soma, Canada’s Katerine Savard, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar and the USA’s Claire Curzan.

Australia’s Brittany Castelluzzo and Finland’s Laura Lahtinen tied for 16th in 57.85, setting up a potential swimoff to determine the last spot in the semifinals.

Lahtinen ended up winning the swimoff in 56.88, almost a second faster than her prelims effort, while Castelluzzo also swam faster with a time of 57.76.

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Women’s 50 Breaststroke

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte was disqualified in the 100 breast final, but she will be the favorite to add a short course world title to her long course gold from earlier this year. Meilutyte finished almost three tenths ahead of the field in prelims with a mark of 29.10, a much quicker time than last year’s gold-medal-winning time (29.34). China’s Tang Qianting, last year’s gold medalist in the 100 breast, took second in 29.38, and South Africa’s Lara van Niekerk took third in 29.45.

Great Britain’s Imogen Clark took fourth in 29.51, just ahead of the swimmers who won gold and bronze in the 100 breast, respectively: the USA’s Lilly King (29.53) and Germany’s Anna Elendt (29.59). Italy’s Benedetta Pilato took seventh in 29.32. Argentina’s Macarena Ceballos was the last qualifier for the semifinals with her time of 30.33.

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