Day Three of the Short Course World Championships continues on Friday after two sterling days of competition from Doha, Qatar. Today, we will see the women take the pool in an attempt to copy their male counterparts and take down the 4×50 Medley World Record.
We will get to see a few of the shorter sprints from the men today, including the 50 back and the 5o fly. In the backstroke, the United States’ Eugene Godsoe comes in with the top seed, and he has some momentum in his favor as he was the fastest of all lead-off swimmers in the Men’s 4×50 meter medley relay last night at a 23.11; however, he will face some SERIOUSLY stiff competition from France’s Florent Manaudou and Australia’s Mitch Larkin, both of whom are red hot right now. Manaudou has been fantastic in his sprint freestylse this meet, including splits of 20.0 and 44.8 in the 50 and 100 respectively, while Larkin took the event title in the 100 back last night. Don’t count out Great Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebborn either.
In the butterfly, Manaudou will return once more, but he will have to deal with newly-minted 100 fly World Record holder Chad le Clos of South Africa. Though le Clos typically needs a bit more time to wind up for his races, he has developed some serious speed over the last year or two in the shorter races, so expect Manaudou to have some serious competition here. Of course, the United States’ Matt Grevers and Tom Shields might have a thing or two to say about this event, and European standouts such as Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin and Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov will certainly be in the mix as well.
Katinka Hosszu will come off her brand new world record in the 100 back to tackle the longer variant of the stroke this morning. The 200 back world record is held by none other than the United States’ Missy Franklin at 2:00.03, and two swimmers in the field are within striking distance of it at the moment. Both Hosszu and Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina are less than a second away from that standard, and if we’ve noticed anything about Hosszu so far this meet, it’s that she’s ready to race in the morning. Though Hosszu came away with the world record and victory last night in the 100 back, Zevina was only a half second back from her, and the two are very comparable long course as well (Zevina – 2:08.7, Hosszu – 2:08.9).
Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte will return in the 100 breaststroke after very nearly missing the world record in the 50 breaststroke in the semifinals and in the finals. She is the world record holder at 1:02.36 from last October, but she comes into this event at this meet the second seed behind Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson. Atkinson was impressive in the 50 last night, and was only 0.07 seconds behind Meilutyte, although she will lose steam more quickly than the Lithuanian in the 100 meter distance. Also, don’t forget about Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen who is not seeded far behind the two aforementioned ladies, and also will certainly NOT lose steam over the course of a 100.
The men’s 200 IM may be the race of the day as Japan’s Kosuke Hagino and Daiya Seto will battle the United States’ Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary in a battle of heavyweights. Seto was fantastic last night in the 400 IM in a commanding win over Hagino, but any one of these swimmers can put together an awe-inspiring race at any instant. Fresh off becoming the first swimmer to ever win a medal at 6 straight short course world championships, Lochte may have a bit of extra momentum going into today as well.
Daniel Gyurta will finally get a chance to compete in his signature 200 breast race today, an event in which he owns the world record from earlier this year. His closest competition is Germany’s Marco Koch, though Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki is knocking on the door of the record as well at just a second back.
Also racing today is the prelims of the men’s and women’s 400 freestyles, as well as the women’s 4×100 free prelims.
2014 Short Course World Championships
- Meet website
- Doha, Qatar
- December 3-7, 2014 (Wednesday through Sunday)
- Prelims 9:30 am / Finals 6:00 pm (local time)
- Start Lists
- Live results
- Live photo stream
WOMEN’S 4 x 50 MEDLEY RELAY – PRELIMS
- World Record: 1:45.92 – Denmark – 2013
Denmark came away with a slim lead over the United States in prelims of the 4×50 medley relay as the two teams turned in times of 1:46.76 and 1:46.82 respectively.
Denmark was carried largely by their front half strength in Mie Nielsen (26.60, fastest in the field) and Rikke Moller Pedersen (30.06, 3rd fastest), while the United States relied on back-half legs by Claire Donahue (25.34, field-best) and Amanda Weir (24.04, 3rd fastest). Both teams are within a second of the world record, and if it’s anything like the men’s race last night, we could see multiple teams dip under the previous standard in finals.
Additionally, although the Americans have not participated in the 200 medley relay in quite some time, it is worthwhile to mention that the American quartet of Felicia Lee (26.83), Emma Reaney (30.61), Claire Donahue (25.34), and Amanda Weir (24.04) absolutely crushed the old American record of 1:49.71 that was set back at ther 2000 NCAA Div. 1 Championships by the University of Arizona. Notably, Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard was on that record-setting relay.
Rounding out the top 8 are Brazil (1:47.20), China (1:47.40), Russia (1:47.40), France (1:47.86), Italy (1:48.02), and Japan (1:48.40).
Event results in PDF format here
MEN’S 50 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 23.04 – Robert Hurley – Australia
- 2010 World Champ: 22.93 – Stanislav Donets – Russia
- Meet Record: 22.93 – Stanislav Donets – Russia – 2010
- World Record: 22.61 – Peter Marshall – United States
The distribution in the 50 back stayed tight as expected, as the top 8 swimmers remained within 0.31 seconds of each other. Florent Manaudou claimed the top time in prelims at 23.24.
Following behind him was Russia’s Stanislav Donets (23.29), the United States’ Matt Grevers (23.32), the United Staets’ Eugene Godsoe (23.37), Great Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebborn (23.44), France’s Benjamin Stasiuliis (23.48), Norway’s Lavrans Solli (23.50), and Brazil’s Guilherme Guido (23.55).
100 back champion Mitch Larkin (23.69) qualified 10th in prelims, and though he may be a bit off from where he wants to be time-wise, he did enough to make it back for the semifinal. Also finding himself in a similar position is Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (23.75), who is sitting at 13th after prelims.
WOMEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 2:02.24 – Daryna Zevina – Ukraine
- 2010 World Champ: 2:01.67 – Alexianne Castel – France
- Meet Record: 2:00.91 – Kristy Coventry – Zimbabwe – 2008
- World Record: 2:00.03 – Missy Franklin – United States – 2011
Katinka Hosszu took the top time in very comfortable fashion with a 2:02.69. She was out in a 1:00.05 before coming back in a 1:02.64, and her last 3 50’s were very consistent at 31.0, 31.5, and 31.0. She also had about a three-quarters of a second margin over the rest of her heat.
Right behind her is Ukraine’s Zevina at a 2:03.18, and she had to work a little bit harder to win her heat over Australia’s Emily Seebohm (2:03.49). As Seebohm was right next to Zevina in lane 5, it’s likely that the 20-year old Ukrainian just did enough to win the heat.
Overall the top 8 after prelims stand at Hosszu (2:02.69), Zevina (2:03.18), Australia’s Madi Wilson (2:03.39), Japan’s Sayaka Akase (2:03.40), Canada’s Hillary Caldwell (2:03.44), Seebohm (2:03.49), the United States’ Elizabeth Beisel (2:03.66), and Czech Republic’s Simona Baumrtova (2:03.95).
Unfortunately, Russian teenage backstroke phenom and long course junior world record holder Daria Ustinova placed outside of the top 8 with a 9th placed 2:04.38 effort.
Notably, although she placed 11th in prelims and did not qualify for finals, the United States’ Kathleen Baker turned in another very respectable swim with a 2:04.99.
MEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 22.22 – Nicholas Santos – Brazil
- 2010 World Champ: 22.40 – Albert Subirats – Venezuela
- Meet Record: 22.22 – Nicholas Santos – Brazil – 2012
- World Record: 21.80 – Steffen Deibler – Germany – 2009
South Africa’s Chad le Clos retained his top position through the preliminary session with a 22.47 this morning. Consdiering that he only swam 50 meters, he actually won his heat by a considerable margin as Brazil’s Nicholas Santos took 2nd in the heat and 3rd overall with a 22.78. Considering that le Clos took out his world record-setting race last night in a 22.59, it’s fairly safe to imply that he has plenty left in the tank.
Filling the top 8 positions are le Clos (22.47), Venezuela’s Albert Subirats (22.60), Santos (22.78), the United States’ Tom Shields (22.80), Russia’s Aleksandr Popkov (22.80), Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov (22.81), Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin (22.85), and France’s Mehdy Metella (22.85).
American giant Matt Grevers finished 10th in prelims with a 22.94 to secure a second swim tonight as well.
In this event, one of the most surprising developments came in the form of Australia’s Tommaso D’Orsogna finishing a disappointing 21st in a 23.24. This is slightly puzzling because D’Orsogna had a fantastic swim in the 100 fly last night (49.60, 3rd place), and he was actually out faster in that race (23.10).
Event results in PDF format here
WOMEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 1:03.52 – Ruta Meilutyte – Lithuania
- 2010 World Champ: 1:03.98 – Rebecca Soni – United States
- Meet Record: 1:03.52 -Ruta Meilutyte – Lithuania – 2012
- World Record: 1:02.36 – Ruta Meilutyte – Lithuania – 2012
The surprise leader after prelims in the 100 breast is the Netherlands’ Moniek Niejhuis at 1:04.32. She actually swam right next to Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte in heat 5, and despite having a slower start by over a tenth of a second and trailing at the 50, Niejhuis utilized a superior back half to claim the morning win. Niejhuis was out in a 30.34 before returning in a 33.98 (2nd best amongst semifinal qualifiers), and in the process, she took down her Dutch national record of 1:04.56 from 2009.
Aside from the top spot in prelims, the rest of the field filed in fairly tight fashion. Finishing 3rd through 8th were China’s Shi Jinglin (1:04.88), Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen (1:04.91), Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson (1:04.98), Japan’s Kanako Watanabe (1:05.04), the United States’ Emma Reaney (1:05.17), and Belgium’s Fanny Lecluyse (1:05.21).
In a somewhat rare development, Canada’s Kierra Smith, Slovenia’s Tjasa Vozel, and the United States’ Melanie Margalis finished in a three-way tie for 16th place. Barring two other scratches from the previous 15 finishers, we will get to see a three-way swim off to determine the final semifinal spot as well as the order of the alternates.
Keep checking back for updates once the swim-off is completed.
EDIT: Kierra Smith topped Tjasa Vozel 1:05.65 – 1:06.35 to qualify 16th in this race. Melanie Margalis seems to have scratched.
Event results in PDF format here
MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 3:39.15 – Paul Biedermann – Germany
- 2010 World Champ: 3:37.06 – Paul Biedermann – Germany
- Meet Record: 3:35.01 – Grant Hackett – Australia – 1999
- World Record: 3:32.25 – Yannick Agnel – France – 2012
Hungary’s Peter Bernek (3:37.34) grabbed the top time in prelims, and also posted the 2nd fastest time in the world this year behind China’s Sun Yang (3:37.10) from back in October. Bernek shattered a seven-year old National record by Gergo Kis (3:39.52 old record) in the process, and also took 3 seconds off of his seed time as well.
Bernek was out in a 1:47.67 at the 200 mark (3rd fastest amongst qualifiers), but really started kicking it into gear for the second half of the race. Bernek’s 5th split of 26.7 was a full second faster than his 200 split, and his third 100 split of 53.50 was almost 2 seconds faster than anyone else in the top 8. Truly a great performance by Bernek for a morning swim.
Following behind Bernek were Canada’s Ryan Cochrane (3:39.55), Great Britain’s James Guy (3:39.58), Australia’s Jordan Harrison (3:39.67), Australia’s Daniel Smith (3:40.12), Denmark’s Mads Glaesner (3:40.28), Slovenia’s Velimir Stjepanovic (3:40.30), and Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli (3:40.51).
The United States’ Michael McBroom had a relatively disappointing morning swim with a 3:40.73 to settle for 10th place. He will not return for the final tonight, and he also did not improve upon his personal best from last year’s Duel in the Pool meet, where he went a 3:40.57.
Also not making the final was Venezuela’s Cristian Quintero who turned in a 3:41.67 for 12th place. However, he did chop off 4.4 seconds from his previous national record of 3:46.06 from 2010.
Event results in PDF format here
MEN’S 200 MEDLEY – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 1:49.63 – Ryan Lochte – United States
- 2010 World Champ: 1:50.08 – Ryan Lochte – United States
- Meet Record: 1:49.63 – Ryan Lochte – United States – 2012
- World Record: 1:49.63 – Ryan Lochte – United States – 2012
Ryan Lochte paced the morning swimmers in the 200 IM with a leading time of 1:52.92. Lochte raced Japanese stud Kosuke Hagino for the entire race and used his superior closing speed to seal a middle lane in tonight’s final while outtouching Hagino 1:52.92 – 1:53.13. This is an event that Lochte has dominated in the Short Course World Championships for a number of years now, and though he certainly has some reserve speed left, the two Japanese swimmers listed right behind him are probably a bit too dangerously close for his liking.
The rest of the top 8 behind the two leaders are Japan’s Daiya Seto (1:53.15), Brazil’s Henrique Rodrigues (1:53.49), Portugal’s Diogo Carvalho (1:53.70), Poland’s Marcin Cieslak (1:54.15), Germany’s Phillip Heintz (1:54.31), and Israel’s Yakov Toumarkin (1:54.99).
Shockingly, the United States’ Tyler Clary finished 11th at a 1:55.63, and failed to qualify for finals. As he was in the final heat with Lochte and Hagino, he was never really in the race, splitting two seconds slower than the leaders over the first 100 at a 54.39 (Lochte 52.40, Hagino 52.16).
Event results in PDF format here
WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 4:01.18 – Melanie Costa Schmidt – Spain
- 2010 World Champ: 3:57.07 – Katie Hoff – United States
- Meet Record: 3:57.07 – Katie Hoff – United States – 2010
- World Record: 3:54.52 – Mireia Belmonte Garcia – Spain – 2013
Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia is the top qualifier this morning with a leading time of 4:00.29. She actually negative split her race by going out in a 2:00.38 before returning in a 1:59.91, so we can be fairly confident that she’s conserving energy for her finals swim.
The top few spots in this event were actually relatively close together, as the Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal (4:00.60), China’s Zhang Yufei (4:00.86), the United States’ Elizabeth Beisel (4:01.33), Great Britain’s Jazmin Carlin (4:01.37), Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi (4:01.72), Australia’s Leah Neale (4:02.03), and Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (4:02.30) filed in behind the Spaniard.
Disappointingly, Chinese teenager Cao Yue, the 5th seed entering this morning at a 4:00.67, fell back to 17th with a 4:06.88 effort.
Notably, Katinka Hosszu scratched this event, presumably to focus on her 200 back and 100 IM tonight.
Event results in PDF format here
MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 2:01.35 – Daniel Gyurta – Hungary
- 2010 World Champ: 2:03.12 – Naoya Tomita – Japan
- Meet Record: 2:01.35 – Daniel Gyuta – Hungary – 2012
- World Record: 2:00.48 – Daniel Gyurta – Hungary – 2014
Hungary’s Daniel Gyurtac cruised to the top time in prelims with a 2:03.64 effort. He did exactly what he needed to do top put himself in a good lane tonight, and he even gave a little sneak peek of his signature closing speed with his swim this morning. Gyurta’s last 100 was a 1:03.94, and this was the fastest back half of all finals qualifiers. This is especially noticeable with his 3rd 50 (31.86), which was the second-fastest of the top 8 qualifiers to only Brazil’s Felipe Silva.
Filing in behind Gyurta are Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (2:04.04), Russia’s Kirill Progoda (2:04.18), Germany’s Marco Koch (2:04.20), Russia’s Oleg Kostin (2:04.46), Brazil’s Silva (2:04.63), Japan’s Yuta Oshikiri (2:04.90), and Slovakia’s Tomas Klobucnik (2:05.01)
Koseki was out particularly fast at the 100 with a 58.75 first 100, making him the only morning swimmer to be out under 59 seconds in the first half. For reference, that is actually exactly what Gyurta was out in when he set the world record of 2:00.48 back in the end of August.
Unfortunately for the United States, Cody Miller (2:06.03) and BJ Johnson (2:06.24) both missed the final with 9th and 10th place finishes respectively.
Event results in PDF format here
WOMEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY – PRELIMS
- 2012 World Champ: 3:31.01 – United States
- 2010 World Champ: 3:28.54 – Netherlands
- Meet Record: 3:28.54 – Netherlands – 2010
- World Record: 3:28.22 – Netherlands – 2008
The United States took the top in the morning in the 4×100 free relay as Natalie Coughlin (51.92), Amy Bilquist (53.05), Madison Kennedy (52.52), and Amanda Weir (53.52) teamed up to post a 3:31.02. The swim gives them an almost 2 ssecond margin over the rest of the participating teams, and Natalie Coughlin’s lead-off split just missed her own American record of 51.88 from the 2010 Short Course World Championships.
Following in 2nd was Denmark with Mie Nielsen (53.13), Julie Levisen (53.79), Pernille Blume (53.29), and Jeanette Ottesen (52.74) combining to go a 3:32.94. This actually broke a national record set at the last World Champs in 2012 where Nielsen, Blume, Kelly Rasmussen, and Ottesen swam a 3:33.51
Filling out the rest of the final heat tonight will be Italy (3:33.65), China (3:34.12), Brazil (3:34.51), Japan (3:34.63), the Netherlands (3:34.86), and Germany at 3:35.35.
The Netherlands will surely jump several places with the addition of Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Inge Dekker in their finals relay, so the United States can not be too complacent with their standing after prelims. Femke Heemskerk split a 52.3 on the anchor leg for the Danes this morning, but we know she’s capable of much more than that. She’s had an exceptional year so far and they will be in an outside lane for the final, so this could catch a lot of teams off guard if they aren’t wary.
I hope Usa will win this relay with Natalie in great shape ! If they could add Simone manuel and Franklin , they would be unreachable in final – that could be for next year maybe in Kazan , to battle with Australia for the win .
Coughlin impressive in the relay prelims.
Manaudou very easy in the 50 back prelims.
My highlights of today’s final
Women’s 100 free huge battle between Sjöström and both Dutch girls
Women’s 200 back with Zevina vs Hosszu. Perhaps a world record?
Belmonte will win a 4th gold medal in the 400 free
Gyurta with a new world record in the 200 breast final?
Men’s 50 free clash with Manaudou vs Cielo vs Morozov I pick Manaudou.
And Sjöström vs Ottesen in the 50 fly
Lochte is in my opinion the only chance of gold medal in individual for USA this week.
He will probably win the 200 IM today. And perhaps the 200 back on Sunday as well. Have I missed someone else? I don’t think so.
Lochte in but clary out
Thanks. It was going to be a very intresting tussle had he not stratched it.
I thought I saw Manaudou bieng mentioned on the 50 butterfly. But on the result his name is nowhere to be seen.
He scratched it to swim the 50 back. he was indeed entered but he did not swim it
I thought I read somewhere that Ryan Lochte was entered in 50 fly but he is not on the Omega list
For Team Rwanda you are not talking up Rwanda’s very young swimmers 2000& 2001 Eric & Joyce. I will do it for you – great job kids . So pleased to see you there 🙂
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt that you are not mocking them.
I will do it for you . So glad to see Eric (2000) & Erica(2001) in there representing Rwanda.
Miracles do happen .
Thank you for mentioned them, I am not mocking them. I know Eric Niyonsaba personally and I follow his races closely: he did best times in 50 free and 50 fly. I discuss about Rwandan swimmers a lot at our local poor. I didn’t mentioned them here because I thought none would have recognize them or be interested because they are not getting past the heats. I am glad someone paid attention to them!
*mentioning them
I’m rather annoyed about Australia not fielding relay teams for the 4x50m events, the men’s 4x200m and women’s 4x100m free.
I don’t know the reason why Australia pulled out but Sweden pulled out due to the ridiculous length of the prelims. 4×50 first event of the day for the girls then 4×100 four hours later(!) as the last. Would’ve meant about an hour actual rest between prelims and finals and teams like Sweden don’t have the luxury of resting stars in the prelims. This is on the organizers imo, they have to find a way to make the prelims shorter than that.
HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!! Natalie C is still awesome!!! Left those other ladies in the dust. HUGE heart in that girl. Always rises to it for relays. Many more great swims in her, I think!