This week on the SwimSwam Breakdown, we bring you a comprehensive preview of the most exciting events at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.
See full list of topics below:
- 0:00 Worlds Preview Intro
- 1:40 How much do these World Champs count?
- 7:00 Men’s 400 Free/Medley Relays
- 12:56 Women’s Sprint Free
- 20:45 Men’s Sprint Free
- 31:00 Men’s Distance Free
- 35:27 Women’s Breaststroke
SINK or SWIM
- 41:48 Will Kate Douglass Win a Medal in the 50 Fly?
- 44:47 Will Michael Andrew Medal in All Four 50s?
- 46:56 Will Shaine Casas Win an Individual LCM World Title?
- 49:37 Over/Under – 1.5 World Records Get Set in Doha
- 53:45 BONUS: YanYan Schools us on Caitlin Clark Going Pro Because Why Not
Totally here for all the Sjostrom praise – even though she’s widely celebrated I think we still don’t quite appreciate her enough. She and Ledecky have been so consistently brilliant for so long, we have to remind ourselves how amazing it is.
Anyone else notice YY says “the a hundred” a lot? As in “Kate Douglas should swim the a hundred breast.”
Draft kings is taking numbers on this? Has anyone looked at what they got wrong? Can we go clean up there?
Haven’t seen it on DK, but Caesars is in some states – https://swimswam.com/caesars-will-offer-betting-on-swimming-at-2024-world-championships/
A truly stacked podcast and I’m going to tell Kate that.
Casas’ problem isn’t necessarily big meets. It’s his self destructive and immature behavior the worst of which tends to occur right before big meets. He posts his partying on SM. Not a good look if you want to won Olympic gold. His track kind of reminds me another former A&M star, Johnny Football. I hope he can pull him self together.
What’s SM?
Oh that means social media, huh? I thought it was referring to a specific app.
Curiously, Sink or Swims discussed by Coleman & Yinyan did not line-up with those listed above
Apropos of nothing, my thoughts:
Coleman and Yanyan, over/under 4.5 medals for Claire Curzan?
Under—I think she’s a lock in the 100/200 back and the 100 fly, and I don’t think she’ll medal in the 50 free because it’s a competitive field behind Sjostrom and Curzan just hasn’t been the same in that event since 2021.
I think she’ll sneak in for a minor medal either in the 50 fly or 50 back, but not both events.
I’m joining YanYan in the under – If Curzan walks away with 4 medals, that would be phenomenal. but it’s hard to predict 5+ individual medals for a LCM worlds
Thanks for responding! You guys do a great job with the breakdown. I think the U.S. women will scratch the free relays but swim the medley, so that’s possibly one more for Curzan.
Edit: Also, who knows if they swim the mixed relays. I kinda doubt they will, but if they do she’ll be in the mix for even more medals.
They should swim the mixed relays. Armstrong-Fink-Curzan-Douglass for the mixed medley, is a better shot for gold for the US than everything but maybe 5 other events.
The main thing that makes me hesitant to pick USA relays in the pick ‘em is didn’t Douglass say a while ago that she didn’t expect to swim any relays?
Yes, she did. Which would lead me to believe that Curzan will also not swim on relays. Which is the assumption under which my over/under pick was informed
Does this devaluation also count for 1980 or the 1984 Olympics? It cheapens any medallist. Medals are won. those who show up.
I think the reality is that it devalues medals in the short term, but then history forgets or washes over the context.
On the spectrum I tend towards agreeing – Everyone has the same Olympic target this year, so credit to those who show up in Doha and win medals. I do wish they would have reframed this meet as something other than a World Championship, but with the same prize money and grandeur. Some races will be better than others too – whoever wins the men’s 50 fly, for example, will have won a dynamite race that could easily have been the World Championship final last year.