2019 World Championships Day 3: Ledecky Scratches 1500; Belmonte into Final

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

For the first time since 2013, Katie Ledecky will not be in the final of the women’s 1500 free at FINA World Championships. The World Record-holder in the event, Ledecky has won three straight world titles. However, after announcing on Tuesday morning in Gwangju that Ledecky was withdrawing from the 200 freestyle heats due to illness, Team USA confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that she would pull out of the 1500 free final as well. Ledecky had posted the fastest qualifying time in heats of the 1500, going 15:48.90. Her absence allows Spain’s Mireia Belmonte, who finished 9th in prelims with 16:08.37, to move into lane 8 of the final. At the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Belmonte won the silver medal with 15:50.89, setting a new Spanish National Record. Belmonte is the World Record-holder in the short-course meters 1500 free with 15:19.71.

The only other scratch for Tuesday’s finals session came from Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in the 200 free. After an unprecedented prelims session in which three of the top four seeds pulled out of the event (Katie Ledecky was the first to announce, then came Emma McKeon, and finally Taylor Ruck), Hosszu swam well off her best time and finished 17th with 1:59.44. Ceding her place as first alternate, Hosszu moved Holly Hibbot of GBR (1:59.60) and Erika Jane Fairweather of NZL (1:59.68) into the alternate positions.

Day 3 prelims results

Day 3 finals heat sheets

The Day 3 evening session will begin at 8:00 P.M. Korean time on Tuesday, and will feature:

  • Men’s 200 IM final
  • Women’s 1500 freestyle final
  • Men’s 50 backstroke semi-finals
  • Women’s 100 backstroke final
  • Men’s 100 backstroke final
  • Women’s 200 freestyle semi-finals
  • Men’s 200 butterfly semi-finals
  • Women’s 100 breaststroke final

 

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MikeM
5 years ago

The humiliating defeat in the 400 by Ariarne most likely onset Katie’s illness

Issac
Reply to  MikeM
5 years ago

other way around , Ariarne was lucky that katie was under the weather.

LucyLovesWater
5 years ago

Wishing Katie Ledecky a speedy recovery.

Verram
5 years ago

I think you meant mens 200m free not 200m IM above

orangecounty
Reply to  Verram
5 years ago

And 50 breast not 50 back

Truth
5 years ago

Men’s 50 back and 100 back on the same day seems kind of fishy ngl

Swimmer
5 years ago

Holy cow. Any news on the illness?

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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