{"id":533973,"date":"2023-07-27T19:58:37","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T02:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=533973"},"modified":"2023-07-27T20:28:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T03:28:46","slug":"world-championships-day-six-prelims-cameron-mcevoy-puts-on-early-speed-show-in-50-freestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-day-six-prelims-cameron-mcevoy-puts-on-early-speed-show-in-50-freestyle\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships, Day Six Prelims: Cameron McEvoy Puts On Early Speed Show in 50 Freestyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships, Day Six Prelims: Cameron McEvoy Puts On Early Speed Show in 50 Freestyle<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most speed from the prelims of the 50-meter freestyle at the World Championships came from the final heat at the Marine Messe Hall. The top-four seeds for the semifinals raced in the 13th heat, which was headlined by Australian Cameron McEvoy<\/strong> in 21.35. McEvoy entered the meet as the top seed in the event, thanks to his world-leading mark of 21.27 at the Australian Trials. Obviously, the veteran has carried that speed to Fukuoka.<\/p>\n

Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo<\/strong> advanced as the second seed, on the strength of a 21.67 outing. He was followed in third and fourth, respectively, by Frenchman Florent Manaudou<\/strong> (21.72) and American Jack Alexy<\/strong> (21.73). Manaudou is a three-time Olympic medalist in the event, including the gold medal at the 2012 Games in London. Meanwhile, Alexy is coming off a silver medal in the 100 freestyle from Thursday night.<\/p>\n

There were 14 sub-22 performances in the session and Aussie Isaac Cooper<\/strong> made it two athletes from his homeland in the semifinals. Cooper touched the wall in 21.82, and was followed by Israel’s Meiron Cheruti<\/strong> (21.85) and Jordan Crooks<\/strong> (Cayman Islands) and Ben Proud<\/strong> (Great Britain). Crooks and Proud tied in 21.90.<\/p>\n

The other American in the field, Ryan Held<\/strong>, moved on with a time of 21.91, which was matched by Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Crooks jumped up from the 40th seed entering the meet to a tie for seventh, from an outside lane, no less. He\u2019s one of the few swimmers to make even a semifinal from the non-circle-seeded heats. He also dropped three tenths off his best to 21.90.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m just trying to stay in process and not allow outside factors to influence the swims,” he said of the less-than-ideal lane placement. “You could take it as motivation of what you will, but I just try to stay focused on my goals and try my best to get them done.”<\/p>\n