2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Live results
Denmark’s Pernille Blume, the number five seed in the women’s 100-meter freestyle, has scratched out of Thursday morning’s heats. Blume was only entered in the 100 free (where she was seeded fifth with 52.72) and the 50 free. She did not swim in prelims on the Danish 4×100 freestyle relay; Julie Kepp Jensen, Signe Bro (who scratched the 200 free prelims), Jeanette Ottesen, and Emily Gantriis finished 14th in prelims and did not advance to the final.
Blume is the 2016 Olympic Champion in the 50 free, where she beat Simone Manuel by .02 with 24.07. She placed fourth in the event at 2017 World Championships. She is seeded second for Saturday morning’s 50 free heats with an entry time of 23.75.
Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros, seeded 28th with 54.48, has opted out of the 100 freestyle heats as well. The defending World Champion in the 50 backstroke, she qualified second on Wednesday night for that final, finishing .07 behind Kathleen Baker in the semi-finals. The 50 back final will take place Thursday night so Medeiros is focused on that event. Moreover, she told Brazilian media in March that she was shifting her focus to sprint freestyle in preparation for Tokyo 2020.
Great Britain’s Georgia Coates scratched out of her only event, the 200 breaststroke. She had been seeded 18th with 2:25.62. Great Britain will not field a women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, either.
Day 5 prelims in Gwangju will feature ten heats of women’s 100 freestyle, five heats of men’s 200 backstroke, four heats of women’s 200 breaststroke, four heats of men’s 200 breaststroke, and two heats of women’s 4×200 freestyle relays.
Thursday’s preliminary session begins at 10:00 AM local time and is expected to conclude at around 12:45 PM.
Why?!
They saw Vlad’s prelims struggles and decided to just focus on the 50?
For both swimmers, their “Olympic gold medal” chance is in the 50. Medeiros is not really a surprise to scratch; Blume I would’ve expected to swim this just to see, but she also missed some training time this year after heart surgery so maybe she’s just decided to play it safe: https://swimswam.com/olympic-gold-medalist-pernille-blume-undergoes-heart-surgery/
Ugh my pickrems:(