2024 SC World Championships: Day 6 Prelims Live Recap

2024 SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

We have now reached the final day of competition in the 2024 swim season. This last prelims session shouldn’t disappoint. Today’s competition starts with some 200s, and in traditional international competition fashion, we wrap it up with the medley relays.

Day 6 Prelims Line-Up

  • Women’s 200 free
  • Men’s 200 free
  • Women’s 200 back
  • Men’s 200 back
  • Women’s 4×100 medley relay
  • Men’s 4×100 medley relay

In the first event, the women’s 200 freestyle, Siobhan Haughey will be looking for a spot in finals to make it three straight world titles in this event. The men’s event, meanwhile, has a brand new world record holder in Luke Hobson from the 800 free relays earlier in the meet. Can Hobson back up his swim individually?

This short course season, Regan Smith has been on a warpath in backstroke, breaking world records in all three distances at least once. This 200 backstroke could serve as her victory lap and perhaps an opportunity to set new records.

The final individual event is the men’s 200 backstroke. Reigning Olympic gold medalist, Hungary’s Hubert Kos, has a shot to win his first short course world title. However, he’ll face competition from a slew of European talent, including top seed Lorenzo Mora.

Women’s 200 freestyle

  • World Record: 1:50.31 — Siobhan Haughey, HKG (2021)
  • World Junior Record: 1:52.59 — Bella Sims, USA (2022)
  • Championship Record: 1:50.31 — Siobhan Haughey, HKG (2021)
  • 2022 Champion: Siobhan Haughey, HKG — 1:51.65

Top 8

  1. Claire Weinstein (USA) — 1:52.51
  2. Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN) — 1:52.81  
  3. Lani Pallister (AUS) — 1:53.01  
  4. Leah Neale (AUS) — 1:53.48  
  5. Siobhan Haughey (HKG) — 1:53.76  
  6. Paige Madden (USA) — 1:53.94  
  7. Freya Anderson (GBR) — 1:53.99  
  8. Sofia Morini (ITA) — 1:54.29 

The first of the seeded heats, and the top seed overall, went to Team USA’s Claire Weinstein. The 17 year-old carried over the momentum from her monster 1:50 split in the 800 free relay, breaking Bella Sims’ World Junior record with a 1:52.51. It slashes nearly two seconds off her best time of 1:54.31 from the World Cup this year.

Weinstein’s teammate Paige Madden controlled following heat to qualify 6th overall in 1:53.94. Just behind her was Freya Anderson (1:53.99)

Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey took the final heat in a new personal best of 1:52.81. She had a very strong back half, overtaking defending world champion Siobhan Haughey in the final 50.

Men’s 200 freestyle

  • World Record: 1:38.91 — Luke Hobson, USA (2024)
  • World Junior Record: 1:40.68 — Matthew Sates, RSA (2021)
  • Championship Record: 1:38.91 — Luke Hobson, USA (2024)
  • 2022 Champion: Hwang Sun-woo, KOR — 1:39.72

Top 8

  1. Luke Hobson (USA) — 1:41.55  
  2. Lucas Pierre Henveaux (BEL) — 1:41.58  
  3. Tomas Koski (FIN) — 1:41.92  
  4. Kieran Smith (USA) — 1:42.22  
  5. Tatsuya Murasa (JPN) — 1:42.28  
  6. Rafael Miroslaw (GER) — 1:42.38  
  7. Maximillian Giuliani (AUS) — 1:42.67  
  8. Danas Rapsys (LTU) — 1:42.84 

Two new national records came out of heat 6. Belgium’s Lucas Pierre Henveaux won the heat in 1:41.58, eclipsing his own 1:42.14 national record. Tomas Koski touched second in a new Finnish record of 1:41.92. The record previously belonged to Matias Koski (1:43.51).

In the following heat, the Americans posted a 1-2 finish. Luke Hobson led the race from the start and never looked back, touching in 1:41.55. Kieran Smith trailed him in 1:42.22, narrowly out touching Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa and Germany’s Rafael Miroslaw to come back seeded 4th tonight.

Women’s 200 backstroke

  • World Record: 1:58.83 — Regan Smith, USA (2024)
  • World Junior Record: 2:00.03 — Missy Franklin, USA (2011)
  • Championship Record: 1:59.23 — Katinka Hosszu, HUN (2014)
  • 2022 Champion: Kaylee McKeown, AUS — 1:59.26

Top 8

  1. Summer McIntosh (CAN) — 2:01.52  
  2. Anastasiya Shkurdai (Neutral BEL) — 2:01.78  
  3. Carmen Weiler Sastre (ESP) — 2:02.16  
  4. Phoebe Bacon (USA) — 2:02.36  
  5. Regan Smith (USA) — 2:02.42  
  6. Pauline Mahieu (FRA) — 2:03.26  
  7. Iona Anderson (AUS) — 2:03.57  
  8. Milana Stepanova (Neutral RUS) — 2:04.62 

As if freestyle and IM and butterfly weren’t enough, Summer McIntosh has now put the backstroke world on notice. The Canadian posted the top time of the morning in 2:01.52. This is a new best time by about 1.3 seconds. She is now a quarter a second away from Kylie Masse’s national record of 2:01.26.

McIntosh wasn’t the only newsworthy swimmer of the morning. Carmen Weiler Sastre had a phenomenal morning swim, winning the final heat and breaking a 13 year-old Spanish record. The 20 year-old dropped over two and a half seconds, going from 2:04.94 down to 2:02.16. She also got well under Duane da Rocha’s 2:03.23 national record from 2011.

Top seeds Regan Smith and Anastasiya Shkurdai both made it to the final comfortably.

Men’s 200 backstroke

  • World Record: 1:45.63 — Mitch Larkin, AUS (2015)
  • World Junior Record: 1:48.02 — Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2017)
  • Championship Record: 1:46.68 — Ryan Lochte, USA (2010)
  • 2022 Champion: Ryan Murphy, USA — 1:47.41

Top 8

  1. Hubert Kos (HUN) — 1:48.02  
  2. Mewen Tomac (FRA) — 1:50.34  
  3. Jan Cejka (CZE) — 1:50.36  
  4. Daiki Yanagawa (JPN) — 1:50.45  
  5. Lorenzo Mora (ITA) — 1:50.97  
  6. Guannan Tao (CHN) — 1:51.03  
  7. Dmitrii Savenko (NAB) — 1:51.20  
  8. Jack Aikins (USA) — 1:51.28 

Hubert Kos established himself as a pretty solid favorite to win the final individual event of the meet. The Hungarian Olympic gold medalist cut four and a half seconds from his best time to clock a 1:48.02, earning him the top seed by over two seconds.

Kos’ Olympic podium mates from this summer, Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov and Greece’s Apostolos Siskos, both missed the final.

Podium contenders for tonight include Mewen Tomac, Lorenzo Mora, Daiki Cejka, and Daiki Yanagawa, all of whom swam 1:50s. For Yanagawa, this was a new personal best, dropping from 1:50.94 to 1:50.45.

Women’s 4×100 medley relay

  • World Record: 3:44.35 — United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) (2022)
  • Championship Record: 3:44.35 — United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) (2022)
  • 2022 Champion: United States (C. Curzan, L. King, T. Huske, K. Douglass) — 3:44.35

Top 8

  1. United States (Katharine Berkoff, Emma Weber, Alex Shackell, Alex Walsh) — 3:48.56
  2.  China (Xinan Qian, Qianting Tang, Luying Chen, Shuhan Liu) — 3:49.10
  3.  Sweden (Hanna Rosvall, Olivia Klint Ipsa, Louise Hansson, Sara Junevik) — 3:49.79
  4.  Great Britain (Abbie Wood, Angharad Evans, Eva Okaro, Freya Anderson) — 3:50.20
  5.  Italy (Sara Curtis, Benedetta Pilato, Elena Capretta, Sofia Morini) — 3:50.80
  6.  Neutral Russia (Elizaveta Agapitova, Yuliya Efimova, Arina Surkova, Daria Trofimova) — 3:51.81
  7.  Hungary (Lora Fanni Komoroczy, Henrietta Fangli, Panna Ugrai, Petra Senanszky) — 3:51.92
  8.  Japan (Aimi Nagaoka, Kotomi Kato, Mizuki Hirai, Yume Jinno) — 3:52.25

Today’s relay portion got off to a pretty dramatic start with two powerhouse countries missing the final.

Canada was disqualified. There was a -.18 reaction time between butterflier Ingrid Wilm and freestyler Penny Oleksiak.

Australia, meanwhile, finished 10th this morning. The team of Iona Anderson, Tara Kinder, Lily Price, and Milla Jansen combined for a 3:53.82, about 1.5 seconds outside of the top 8.

The United States earned the top spot of the morning with a 3:48.56. They have several stars such as Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, Lilly King, and Gretchen Walsh in the vault to potentially swim tonight. 

While the Americans are the favorites for tonight, Canada and Australia have made the race to the podium a lot more open. In the middle lanes on either side of the United States tonight will be the Asian and European record-holding countries: China and Sweden. Only three seconds separate #2 through #8.

Men’s 4×100 medley relay

  • World Record: 3:18.98 — Australia (I. Coopers, J. Yong, M. Temple, K. Chalmers) / United States (R. Murphy, N. Fink, T. Julian, K. Smith) (2022)
  • Championship Record: 3:18.98 — Australia (I. Coopers, J. Yong, M. Temple, K. Chalmers) / United States (R. Murphy, N. Fink, T. Julian, K. Smith) (2022) 
  • 2022 Champion: Tie – Australia (I. Coopers, J. Yong, M. Temple, K. Chalmers) / United States (R. Murphy, N. Fink, T. Julian, K. Smith) — 3:18.98

Top 8

1 Poland (Kacper Stokowski, Jan Kalusowski, Jakub Majerski, Ksawery Masiuk) — 3:21.70
2 Russia (Pavel Samusenko, Aleksandr Zhigalov, Andrei Minakov, Dmitrii Zhavoronkov) — 3:22.08
3 Canada (Blake Tierney, Finlay Knox, Ilya Kharun, Yuri Kisil) — 3:22.66
4 United States (Shaine Casas, Aj Pouch, Zach Harting, Chris Guiliano) — 3:22.83
5 Australia (Isaac Cooper, Joshua Yong, Matthew Temple, Harrison Turner) — 3:23.45
6 Italy (Christian Bacico, Simone Cerasuolo, Simone Stefani, Alessandro Miresi) — 3:23.53
7 Japan (Masaki Yura, Taku Taniguchi, Takaya Yasue, Kaiya Seki) — 3:23.67
8 France (Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Roman Fuchs, Clement Secchi, Maxime Grousset) — 3:23.88

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Miss M
5 minutes ago

Sommerville missing the final by 0.03 after going in ranked #1 is surely worth even a passing mention in the men’s 200 write up!

Will be very interested to see whether Pallister has more in her for the final – it’s was a good heat swim from her.

Troyy
Reply to  Miss M
3 minutes ago

Did you see Leny Grigor’s 400 IM at QLD Champs?

nonrevhoofan
20 minutes ago

Is there a problem with the Men’s race? Why hasn’t it been posted above or in Omega timing?

Swimz
31 minutes ago

If Guliano also went 46 mid split, still somewhat decent, the USA would not have a lane for finale..bravo for that 44.9

Sakip dabi
40 minutes ago

Men’s 400 medley relay Will be fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I think everyone have a chance to win medal

Swimz
41 minutes ago

Guliano with a monstor split..44.99

EXCALIBUR
Reply to  Swimz
39 minutes ago

Wow , with Alexi tonight , he will have to outsplit the best relay split ever for the win i feel !

Swimz
Reply to  EXCALIBUR
28 minutes ago

Of course..we would see alexy going 44.3 around to come from behind to touch the wall first in WR passion

Swimz
Reply to  Swimz
36 minutes ago

Casas need to throw down a 49 low to help USA to night

EXCALIBUR
42 minutes ago

3.21.70 for Poland !!! they are the guys to beat for Team Usa ….tall task nontheless without Fink & Murphy

Last edited 38 minutes ago by EXCALIBUR
snailSpace
Reply to  EXCALIBUR
34 minutes ago

They have the same weak legs as the US. Plus the ones to beat will be the netrual Bs, if they make the final.

Swimz
Reply to  EXCALIBUR
29 minutes ago

Fink’s void is hard to fill, one of the best breaststroke in history

Sakip dabi
42 minutes ago

W9w what a swim that was from Poland!

Sakip dabi
47 minutes ago

Canada First and USA second in third heat, Japanese third