{"id":378111,"date":"2019-07-03T07:24:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T14:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=378111"},"modified":"2019-07-03T07:28:42","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T14:28:42","slug":"kathleen-baker-drops-200-im-from-world-championship-program-ella-eastin-picks-up-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/kathleen-baker-drops-200-im-from-world-championship-program-ella-eastin-picks-up-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathleen Baker Drops 200 IM From World Championship Program; Ella Eastin Picks Up Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathleen Baker\u00a0<\/strong>will be a little less busy in two and a half weeks at the 2019 World Championships. She was originally scheduled to swim the 50, 100 and 200 back, along with the 200 IM. But Baker has indicated she has dropped the 200 IM at Worlds since the final falls on the same day as the 100 back semi-final.<\/p>\n

Ella Eastin\u00a0<\/strong>will pick up the vacant Worlds spot in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n

Baker was ranked second in the world in 2018 with her 2:08.32 she swam at US Nationals last July<\/a>. She is the third fastest American this year in the 200 IM with a 2:10.65 behind\u00a0Madisyn<\/strong> Cox<\/strong>, who is not swimming at Worlds, and Melanie Margalis<\/strong>, who will be swimming on her third Worlds team in the 200 IM.<\/p>\n

Baker will now be solely focusing on swimming backstroke in Korea, where she will do battle with the likes of Canada’s Kylie Masse\u00a0<\/strong>and Italy’s\u00a0Margherita Panziera<\/strong>. That leaves the door open for Eastin to make her World Championship debut.<\/p>\n

The updated roster looks like this:<\/p>\n

US Women\u2019s Roster For World Championships<\/h3>\n