2015 FINA World Championships: Day 7 Prelims Preview

2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Women’s 50m Freestyle

The women’s 50 freestyle will kick off the prelims session on day 7. In heat 9 of 12 we will see British backstroke specialist Lauren Quigley and Hungarian IM’er Zsuzsanna Jakabos. In the first circle seeded heat we will see Simone Manuel, Sarah Sjostrom and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace. Sjostrom is coming off a silver medal performance in the 100 freestyle, and Manuel finished 6th. Sjostrom and Vanderpool-Wallace will both swim in the 50 fly final later on Saturday. Also in this heat will be Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus and Dorothea Brandt of Germany. Heat 11 will feature Chantal van Landeghem of Canada, Etiene Medeiros of Brazil, Fran Halsall of Great Britain and Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands. van Landeghem just missed the 100 free final in 9th, and Kromowidjojo finished 4th. Medeiros is coming off a silver medal performance in the 50 backstroke, and Halsall will swim in the 50 fly final later in the day. The penultimate heat will feature Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell of Australia and Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands. Bronte and Cate are coming off gold and bronze medal performances in the 100, and Heemskerk was 5th. Ottesen will join Sjostrom, Vanderpool-Wallace and Halsall in the 50 fly final in the finals session. Kromowidjojo is the defending world champion, and will look to at least win a medal after missing out in the 100.

Men’s 50m Backstroke

Heat 4 of 7 of the men’s 50 backstroke will feature butterfly specialists Albert Subirats (VEN) and Ryan Pini (PNG), along with NCAA finalist in the 100 backstroke Ralph Tribuntsov (EST). The first circle seeded heat will have Matt Grevers (USA), Camille Lacourt (FRA) and Mitchell Larkin (AUS). These three are the medalists from the 100 back and will all be dangerous here. Lacourt is the defending world champion, and Larkin has been on fire these championships winning both the 100 and 200 backstrokes. Grevers was disappointed after failing to defend his world title in the 100 back and will look to have a strong showing in this event. Heat 6 will feature Ben Treffers (AUS), David Plummer (USA) and Liam Tancock (GBR). Tancock is the world record holder and two-time world champion. He had a good performance in the 100 back making the final. At the last world championships Plummer slipped off the start in the semi-final and finished 16th as a result. He will look to make the final this year after finishing 9th in the 100. The final heat will feature Xu Jiayu (CHN), Vladimir Morozov (RUS) and Jeremy Stravius (FRA). Morozov will be looking to close off the meet strong in the 50 back and 50 free after a disappointing disqualification in the 100 free. Stravius was the silver medalist in this event from two years ago, and has had a somewhat disappointing championship here other than the 400 free relay on the first night.

Women’s 50m Breastroke

Heat 5 of 8 in the women’s 50 breastroke features Japanese 200m breastroke specialist Rie Kaneto. Heat 6 features Micah Lawrence (USA), Alia Atkinson (JAM), Moniek Nijhuis (NED) and Rikke Moller Pedersen (DEN). Lawrence and Pedersen had solid medal performances in the 200, with Lawrence winning silver and Pedersen part of that three-way tie for bronze. Atkinson had a terrific performance in the 100 breast winning bronze. Also in this heat will be Viktoria Zeynep Gunes of Turkey and Fanny Lecluyse of Belgium, who set a Belgian national record in the 200 breast. Heat 7 will have Jessica Hardy (USA), Jennie Johansson (SWE) and Shi Jinglin (CHN). Johansson and Jinglin both had strong performances in the 100 breast, making the final. Hardy is a two-time world champion in this event, and will look to have a rebound performance after missing the final in the 100 breast. The final heat will feature Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), Yuliya Efimova (RUS), Arianna Castiglioni (ITA) and Hranfnhildur Luthersdottir (ISL). All four swimmers made the 100 breast final, with Efimova winning and Meilutyte taking 2nd. Efimova will look to redeem herself after missing the 200m semi-finals finishing 17th.

Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay

The second of the mixed relays will go off on day 7, with 4 heats of the mixed freestyle relay. Heat 2 will feature Canada and Brazil. The Canadians should be strong in this event, with Santo Condorelli and Yuri Kisil most likely swimming for the men and Chantal van Landeghem and Sandrine Mainville potentially swimming for the women. All 4 swimmers have had strong meets so far. Brazil will have 2 strong male legs, likely Marcelo Chierighini and Matheus Santana, but will fall off when the females swim. Heat 3 will feature the Netherlands, Australia, USA, Sweden, Italy and Germany. All teams will be factors in this event and should make up the majority of the final. It’s hard to say who will swim in the prelims for any team, but potential stars coming into the final (if their team qualifies) are Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, Cameron McEvoy, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell of Australia, Nathan Adrian of the United States and Femke Heemskerk, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Sebastiaan Verschuren of the Netherlands. The 4th and final heat features France and Russia who both figure to be factors here. Potentially swimming for these teams in the final could be Fabien Gilot, Jeremy Stravius or Florent Manaudou of France, and Vladimir Morozov of Russia.

Men’s 1500m Freestyle

The men’s 1500 free heats will finish off day 7’s prelim session, with the final going on the last day. 400m freestyle finalist Peter Bernek of Hungary will swim in heat 3 of 5. In the first of two circle-seeded heats we will see Ryan Cochrane of Canada, Mack Horton of Australia and Michael McBroom of the United States. After winning bronze in the 400, Cochrane had a mishap in the 800 free prelims missing the final. I’m sure he won’t let that happen here in the 1500. After a poor 400 where he missed the final, Horton had a strong 800 winning bronze. McBroom has made the final in both the 400 and 800 freestyle, but his final performances have been well off his prelims times. Also in this heat will be Wojciech Jacek Wojdak of Poland, who has had a great meet making the final in both the 400 and 800, as well as Henrik Christiansen of Norway who made the 800 final. The final heat will have Connor Jaeger (USA), Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), Sun Yang (CHN) and Stephen Milne (GBR). Sun has won both the 400 and 800, Paltrinieri won silver in the 800, and Jaeger and Milne both made the 800 final. Paltrinieri almost beat out Sun in the 800, and will look to take him out in his best event. Sun has won three consecutive Olympic/World Championship titles in this event starting in 2011, and is the world record holder.

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About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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