{"id":116565,"date":"2014-12-06T22:43:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T05:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=116565"},"modified":"2014-12-07T02:02:23","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T09:02:23","slug":"final-preliminary-session-sets-up-stacked-finals-at-fina-world-short-course-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/final-preliminary-session-sets-up-stacked-finals-at-fina-world-short-course-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Preliminary Session Sets Up Stacked Finals at FINA World Short Course Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOHA – The final day of qualifying at the FINA World Short Course Championships featured a world record in the women’s 200 free relay, as well as a stacked finale in the women’s 200 free and men’s 200 back.<\/p>\n

Women’s 200 free relay<\/h2>\n
\"Gian<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia Dalberto\/Lapresse<\/p><\/div>\n

The Netherlands kicked off the morning with a bang as its sprinters raced to a world record in the women’s 200 free relay at the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

The foursome of Esmee Vermeulen (25.09), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (23.01), Maud van der Meer (23.89) and Inge Dekker (23.75) crushed the world record with a sizzling time of 1:35.74.<\/p>\n

That swim eclipsed the 1:37.04 set by Denmark’s Pernille Blume (24.90), Jeanette Ottesen (23.66), Kelley Rasmussen (24.63) and Mie Nielsen (23.85) at last year’s European Championships in Herning.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands still owns the world best and European record with a 1:33.25 from 2009, but FINA did not retroactively recognize all potential world records upon recognizing this event last year.<\/p>\n

France’s Anna Santamans (24.15), Melanie Henique (24.49), Mathilde Cini (24.50) and Marie Wattel (24.62) took a distance second with a time of 1:37.76, while Team USA’s Abbey Weitzeil (24.23), Amy Bilquist (24.13), Kathleen Baker (23.90) and Amanda Weir (24.61) put the U.S. within striking distance of the American record with a third-place 1:37.87.<\/p>\n

Georgia, led by Kara Lynn Joyce, set the American record with a 1:37.27 at the 2004 NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

Italy (1:38.47), Denmark (1:38.55), Denmark (1:38.55), China (1:38.67), Japan (1:39.92) and Brazil (1:40.12) will also vie for the title tonight.<\/p>\n

Men’s 200 back<\/h2>\n
\"Ryosuke<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr<\/p><\/div>\n

Japan’s Ryosuke Irie was the only swimmer to break 1:50 this morning in the men’s 200 backstroke at the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

Irie turned in a time of 1:49.57, and is looking for his first career short course title. His time is also a season best, moving him to third in the world behind Mitch Larkin (1:47.72) and Christian Diener (1:49.14).<\/p>\n

The time broke the Asian record of 1:49.69 set by Yuki Shirai at the 2012 Tokyo stop of the FINA World Cup tour.<\/p>\n

USA’s Tyler Clary (1:50.05) and Ryan Lochte (1:50.35) qualified second and third in prelims. \u00a0Lochte has medaled four straight times in this event with two golds and two silvers, while Clary took silver in 2010.<\/p>\n

Israel’s David Gamburg and Japan’s Yuki Shirai tied for fourth with 1:50.83s, while Larkin took sixth in 1:51.11.<\/p>\n

Colombia’s Omar Pinzon (1:51.29) and Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki (1:51.44) also made the finale. \u00a0Kawecki is the defending champion.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Diener missed out on finals with an 11th-place 1:51.89 despite being second in the world this year.<\/p>\n[table \u201c\u201d not found \/]
\n\n

Women’s 200 breast<\/h2>\n
\"Kanako<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr<\/p><\/div>\n

Japan’s Kanako Watanabe led a quartet of swimmers in the 2:18 range during the women’s 200 breast at the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

Watanabe touched the wall in 2:18.45 to move to third in the world behind Alia Atkinson (2:17.84) and Vitalina Simonova (2:18.03), and will look to improve on her bronze-winning finish from 2012.<\/p>\n

Simonova qualified second tonight in 2:18.80, while Canada’s Kierra Smith put up a 2:18.95 for third to move to fifth in the world. \u00a0China’s Shi Jinglin wound up fourth in the finale with a 2:18.98 as well as just one of six swimmers under 2:19 this year.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Rie Kaneto (2:19.16), Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen (2:19.24), Canada’s Martha McCabe (2:19.49) and Russia’s Maria Astashkina (2:19.71) also made the finale.<\/p>\n

Atkinson, the world leader with her 2:17 from the Singapore stop of the FINA World Cup, missed finals with a 10th-place 2:20.08.<\/p>\n

She likely was suffering a bit of a hangover from winning Jamaica’s first world title ever last night with a world-record-tying swim in the 100 breast last night<\/a>.<\/p>\n[table \u201c\u201d not found \/]
\n\n

Men’s 200 fly<\/h2>\n
\"Daiya<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr<\/p><\/div>\n

Japan’s Daiya Seto threw down a meet record to lead prelims of the men’s 200 fly at the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

Seto turned in a sizzling time of 1:50.82 to clear the 1:51.01 set by compatriot Kazuya Kaneda to win the event in 2012.<\/p>\n

Seto has more in the tank as he posted a second-ranked 1:49.68 this year at the Tokyo stop of the FINA World Cup, behind Chad le Clos’ world-leading 1:48.88 from the Singapore stop.<\/p>\n

Poland’s Pawel Korzeniowski took second this morning in 1:51.24, while le Clos cruised into third with a 1:51.37.<\/p>\n

Denmark’s Viktor Bromer (1:51.81), Australia’s Grant Irvine (1:52.12), USA’s Tom Shields (1:52.64), Russia’s Aleksandr Kudashev (1:52.66) and Russia’s Nikolay Skvortsov (1:52.67) also will compete for the title.<\/p>\n[table \u201c\u201d not found \/]
\n\n

Women’s 200 free<\/h2>\n
\"Femke<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: FINA Doha 2014<\/p><\/div>\n

The Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk picked up the top seed as just one of three 1:52s this morning in the women’s 200 free.<\/p>\n

Heemskerk clocked a time of 1:52.54, a bit off her third-ranked season best of 1:51.72 from the International Swim Festival in Germany.<\/p>\n

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, the second-ranked swimmer in the world with a 1:51.44, took the second seed this morning with a 1:52.60.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu grabbed the third seed in 1:52.73. \u00a0Hosszu is the world leader with a 1:51.41 from the Doha stop of the FINA World Cup tour, and could look for her fifth world record and victory of the meet already.<\/p>\n

Hosszu, who already set world records in the 100 back, 200 back, 100 IM and 200 IM this week, could challenge Federica Pellegrini’s world record of 1:51.17 from Istanbul in 2009. \u00a0Camille Muffat’s meet record of 1:52.29 from 2010 is almost assured of falling.<\/p>\n

USA’s Shannon Vreeland qualified fourth in 1:53.81 with Pellegrini taking fifth in 1:54.04.<\/p>\n

France’s Charlotte Bonnet (1:54.48), Russia’s Veronika Popova (1:54.63) and Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto (1:54.80) qualified sixth through eighth.<\/p>\n[table \u201c\u201d not found \/]
\n\n

Men’s 400 medley relay<\/h2>\n
\"Mehdy<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

France picked up the top time of the men’s 400 medley relay this morning during prelims of the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

France’s Ben Stasiulis (50.89), Giacomo Perez-Dortona (57.01), Mehdy Metella (50.15) and Clement Mignon (45.92) put up a 3:23.97 to lead the way this morning.<\/p>\n

The team will have some time to drop to challenge Russia’s world record of 3:19.16 to continue the trend of global standards this week.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Mitch Larkin (50.00), Jake Packard (57.80), Tommaso D’Orsogna (49.95) and Matt Abood (46.87) touched second in 3:24.62, while Russia’s Stanislav Donets (50.50), Oleg Kostin (57.26), Aleksandr Popkov (50.67) and Oleg Tikhobaev (46.59) finished third in 3:25.02.<\/p>\n

Germany (3:25.79), USA (3:26.29), Japan (3:26.39), Brazil (3:26.52) and Great Britain (3:26.81) closed out the championship field.<\/p>\n

Women’s 400 medley relay<\/h2>\n
\"Swimming<\/a>

Photo Courtesy: Action Images \/ Norman Ng<\/p><\/div>\n

Denmark topped the women’s 400 medley relay this morning at the FINA World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

Denmark’s Mie Nielsen (57.38), Rikke Moller Pedersen (1:05.90), Jeanette Ottesen (56.91) and Pernille Blume (52.71) put up the top time with a 3:52.90, but will need to drop some serious time to challenge USA’s world record of 3:45.56.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Sayaka Akase (57.86), Satomi Suzuki (1:06.00), Rino Hosoda (57.22) and Miki Uchida (52.06) touched second in 3:53.14.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Madi Wilson (57.85), Leiston Pickett (1:05.35), Brianna Throssell (57.95) and Bronte Campbell (52.51) clinched third in 3:53.66.<\/p>\n

Sweden (3:53.70), Italy (3:54.32), Finland (3:55.65), Germany (3:55.69) and Russia (3:55.77) will also compete in the finale.<\/p>\n

In a surprise, Team USA missed finals by half-a-second with a ninth-place time of 3:56.39. \u00a0Since the beginning of this event at Worlds in 1993, the U.S. has missed the podium only once in 1999.<\/p>\n

LIVE RESULTS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

TIME CONVERSION TOOL<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

PSYCH\u00a0SHEETS<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Live Streaming<\/h2>\n

This stream is a\u00a0broadcast-rights legal way to watch the FINA World Short Course Championships.\u00a0Swimming World\u00a0<\/em>does not support content theft by linking to or embedding pirated videos via YouTube or any other source.<\/p>\n

FINA LIVE STREAM<\/a><\/span>\u00a0Subject to geoblocking<\/p>\n

Scheduled Events<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Women’s 200 free relay<\/li>\n
  • Men’s 200 back<\/li>\n
  • Women’s 200 breast<\/li>\n
  • Men’s 200 fly<\/li>\n
  • Women’s 200 free<\/li>\n
  • Men’s 400 medley relay<\/li>\n
  • Women’s 400 medley relay<\/li>\n
  • Men’s 1500 free<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Twitter Coverage<\/h2>\n

    For up to the minute coverage, follow us on Twitter @SwimmingWorld:<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n