{"id":147365,"date":"2015-08-02T02:36:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T09:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=147365"},"modified":"2015-08-02T04:27:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T11:27:46","slug":"team-usa-overcomes-administrative-snafu-to-top-womens-400-free-relay-prelims-at-2015-fina-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/team-usa-overcomes-administrative-snafu-to-top-womens-400-free-relay-prelims-at-2015-fina-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Team USA Overcomes Administrative Snafu to Top Women’s 400 Free Relay Prelims at 2015 FINA World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

After official results were\u00a0delayed due to\u00a0a huge administrative gaffe that had most spectators thinking Hong Kong paced prelims even though it was the U.S. quartet doing the swimming, Team USA moved into the top seed in the women’s 400-meter free relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships.<\/p>\n

USA’s Shannon Vreeland<\/strong> (54.37), Abbey Weitzeil<\/strong> (53.85), Margo Geer<\/strong> (53.37) and Lia Neal<\/strong> (53.93) turned up the heat in heat 2 with a time of 3:35.52 for the top seed.<\/p>\n

Australia’s Emily Seebohm<\/strong> (53.93), Madison Wilson<\/strong> (53.82), Melanie Wright<\/strong> (53.51) and Bronte Barratt<\/strong> (54.60) claimed the second seed in 3:35.86.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands’ Maud van der Meer<\/strong> (54.69), Marrit Steenbergen<\/strong> (54.72), Femke Heemskerk<\/strong> (53.00) and Ranomi Kromowidjojo<\/strong> (53.50) earned the third seed in 3:35.91.<\/p>\n

Sweden, led by an anchor leg of 52.75 from Sarah Sjostrom<\/strong>, qualified fourth in 3:36.24.<\/p>\n

Canada (3:37.64), China (3:37.64), Italy (3:37.88) and France (3:38.35) also made their way into finals.<\/p>\n

Officials tell Swimming World<\/i> that the start list that was provided to competitors for the women’s 400 free relay was different from the one entered in the system by Omega. That resulted in a lot of confusion, as the American women were set to compete in heat two, but saw “United States” on the monitors among countries competing in heat one. Also, officials said FINA decided to use a “lottery” system for seeding the women’s and men’s 400 freestyle relays at the meet, the first time this has happened at the long course championships. This explains why top countries such as Australia and the United States were not racing in the middle lanes in prelims.<\/p>\n

SCHEDULED EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n