World Championships, Day One Men’s Prelims: Daiya Seto Leads Stacked Field Into Final of 200 IM

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

World Championships, Day One Men’s Prelims: Daiya Seto Leads Stacked Field Into Final of 200 IM

The last major championship of the year has arrived, with the World Aquatics Short Course Championships taking place in Melbourne. The Australian city is handling its second World Champs, as Melbourne was the site of the 2007 edition of the long-course titles. While some athletes have opted to bypass the meet and focus on the upcoming start of the 2023 campaign, the likes of Romania’s David Popovici, Japan’s Daiya Seto, Australian Kyle Chalmers, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty and American Ryan Murphy will be in action on the men’s side.

The first session of preliminaries will feature five men’s events: The 100-meter backstroke, 50 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 1500 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay. The 1500 freestyle will be treated as a timed final, with the slower heats conducted at the end of prelims and the fastest heat contested during the first finals session.

Complete Results

Here is a look at what unfolded during the first day of prelims:

100 Backstroke

American Ryan Murphy fired an early warning shot to the competition in the 100 backstroke, as he secured the top seed heading into the semifinals. The 2018 short-course world champion in the event, Murphy clocked 49.34 for his initial outing of the meet, which handed him a comfortable cushion over France’s Mewen Tomac, who also cracked the 50-second barrier with a swim of 49.99.

Greece’s Apostolos Christou qualified in the third position, behind a time of 50.01, and Switzerland’s Thierry Bollin was fourth in 50.10. Unless a scratch helps him out, American Hunter Armstrong will miss out on the semifinals, following a 17th-place performance of 50.93. That mark left Armstrong .01 outside of the top-16, which is what is required to advance to the semifinals.

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50 Butterfly

The top seed for the semifinals of the 50 butterfly was shared when Swiss star Noe Ponti and Singapore’s Tzen Wei Teong posted matching times of 22.01. They were followed in third place by co-world-record holder Szebasztian Szabo, who posted an opening-round swim of 22.07. Meanwhile, World Cup circuit champ Dylan Carter of Trinidad & Tobago was fourth in 22.11.

Brazilian 42-year-old Nicholas Santos, who shares the world record with Szabo, squeezed into the semifinals in 14th place and will have to elevate his performance to extend his career. Santos has announced he will retire at the conclusion of the World Champs. Tying for 16th were France’s Florent Manaudou and Dutchman Nyls Korstanje, who must duel in a swimoff to advance to the semifinals.

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200 Individual Medley

A stacked field will battle for the medals in the 200 individual medley, with Japan’s Daiya Seto seeking to repeat as champion. Seto earned the No. 1 seed for the final behind a time of 1:51.76. That performance was followed by the 1:51.89 of Carson Foster, who was the silver medalist in the event at the long-course World Champs back in June.

Just .02 separated the next three qualifiers, as Canadian Finlay Knox went 1:52.50 for the third seed, and Matt Sates (South Africa) and Shaine Casas (United States) tied for fourth in 1:52.52. Casas was sharp in World Cup action and was considered the favorite heading into the World Champs. During the evening session, we’ll see how much he was holding back in the morning session.

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400 Freestyle Relay

The Italian contingent of Alessandro Miressi, Leonardo Deplano, Manuel Frigo and Paolo Conte Bonin registered with the fastest time of prelims by more than two seconds. Miressi led off in 46.08 and the Italians touched in 3:04.46, with the second seed going to Brazil in 3:06.82.

The United States was .01 behind the Brazilians, as Drew Kibler was 45.91 on the second leg and Kieran Smith clocked 46.08 on the anchor leg. A number of changes will be made for the finals. Australia was fourth in 3:07.02, but it will add the power of Kyle Chalmers during the medals race.

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