2025 World University Games: Day 6 Prelims Live Recap

2025 World University Games

• July 17th-23rd, 2025
  • Prelims: 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. EST)
  • Finals: 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST)
• Berlin, Germany
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Meet Central
• Entries List
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Prelims Preview

It is the second-to-last day of the World University Games, which means this is the last prelims session that will have events shorter than 400 meters, and we are getting the shortest of the short this morning with both the men’s and women’s 50 freestyles.

A pair of Americans lead the men’s and women’s 50 freestyle. Maxine Parker will be hoping to improve her third place finish in the 100 freestyle and the first step in that is a strong swim this morning.

Matt King is the top seed in the men’s event, having won the 100 freestyle earlier this week, and he is the only swimmer in the field with a seed time under 22 seconds.

Before the 50 freestyles, we will have the men’s 200 backstroke led by American Daniel Diehl, the top seed by more than half-a-second.

There will be two women’s events in a row next, the 50 backstroke and the 100 breaststroke. Both are again, headlined by American swimmers.

Tess Howley is the top seed in the 200 fly, followed closely by Lindsay Looney, also an American. The two sit more than a second ahead of the 3rd seed, and are very safe bets for tonight’s semifinal.

Emma Weber will be looking to qualify for the 100 breast semifinal, the first step in securing her 2nd win of the meet, she already has gold in the 50.

The final event will be the prelims of the men’s 800 freestyle relay, again led by the United States, who will be trying to complete a clean sweep of all the relay events.

Men’s 200 Backstroke– Prelims

• World Record: 1:51.92- Aaron Piersol (USA), 2009
• Junior World Record: 1:55.14- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2017
• World University Games Record: 1:54.13- Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 2009

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. David King (USA)- 1:58.33
2. Aleksei Tkachev (AIN)- 1:58.90
3. Daniel Diehl (USA)- 1:58.92
4. Mathys Chouchaoui (FRA)- 1:59.50
5. Primoz Senica Pavletic (SLO)- 1:59.65
6. Benjamin Loewen (CAN)- 1:59.82
7. Ricardo Matias Santos (POR)- 1:59.93
8. Stuart Swinburn (AUS)- 2:00.02
9. Alexandru Constantinescu (ROU)- 2:00.03
10. Diego Mira Albaladejo (ESP)/Alexandre Desangles (FRA)- 2:00.42
11. —
12. Yusuke Sato (JPN)- 2:00.64
13. Filip Kosinski (POL)- 2:00.82
14. Pietro Uberatlli (ITA)- 2:00.94
15. Nicolas Garcia Saiz (ESP)- 2:01.00
16. Kim Seongju (KOR)- 2:01.17

David King led the men’s semifinal out of heat four, leading from start to finish. He started off in 56.54 and came home in 1:01.99 to grab the top seed in prelims by a little over half-a-second.

Aleksei Tkachev took the first circle-seeded heat in 1:58.90 to earn the 2nd qualifying spot, just two-hundredths ahead of American and top seed Daniel Diehl who came in at 1:58.92.

They were the only athletes under 1:59 in the event, but the whole top seven was under two minutes, with the 8th qualifier, Stuart Swinburn, touching three-hundredths over that threshold in 2:00.02.

The semifinal could end up being very close tonight with spots 4-8 separated by just over half-a-second, and seeds 8-15 all falling within one second.

Women’s 50 Freestyle– Prelims

• World Record: 23.61- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2023
• Junior World Record: 24.17- Claire Curzan (USA), 2021
• World University Games Record: 24.29- Zhang Yufei (CHN), 2023

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Julia Dennis (USA)- 24.88
2. Maxine Parker (USA)- 24.96
3. Lison Nowaczyk (FRA)/Viola Scotto Di Carlo (ITA)-25.30
4. —
5. Agata Ambler (ITA)- 25.33
6. Olivia Nel (RSA)-25.39
7. Beatrix Tanko (HUN)/Britta Koehorst (NED)-25.48
8. —
9. Julia Maik (POL)- 25.54
10. Kalia Antoniou (CYP)- 25.58
11. Liu Shuhan (CHN)- 25.59
12. Chiu Yi-chen (TPE)- 25.66
13. Adrianna Szwabinska (POL)- 25.68
14. Ayu Mizoguchi (JPN)- 25.70
15. Josephine Crimmins (AUS)- 25.74
16. Michaela de Villiers (RSA)- 25.82

The Americans led the way in the women’s 50 freestyle, grabbing the two top qualifying spots as the only swimmers under 25 seconds.

Julia Dennis will have the center lane in the 2nd semifinal tonight, after swimming the fastest time from heat six.

Maxine Parker won heat seven, and she will also have a middle lane in semifinal number one.

Lison Nowaczyk, France, and Viola Scotto Di Carlo, Italy, tied for 3rd, rounding out the top three in this morning’s prelims session.

Italy and Poland also got both of their athletes through with Agata Ambler coming in just behind Scotto Di Carlo to grab the 5th seed for Italy.

Poland has the 9th seed Julia Maik and the 13th seed Adrianna Szwabinska.

Men’s 50 Freestyle– Prelims

• World Record: 20.91- Cesar Cielo (BRA), 2009
• Junior World Record: 21.75- Michael Andrew (USA), 2017
• World University Games Record: 21.67 Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 2013

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Matt King (USA)- 22.16
2. Jokubas Keblys (LTU)- 22.22
3. Andrea Candela (UKR)- 22.26
4. Illia Linnyk (UKR)_ 22.30
5. Daniel Baltes (USA)- 22.31
6. Giovanni Guatti (ITA)- 22.33
7. Elias Funch Persson (SWE)- 22.36
8. Ole Mats Eidam (GER)- 22.38
9. Robin Yeboah (SUI)- 22.42
10. Patrick-Sebastian Dinu (ROU)- 22.49
11. Lucas Costa Miexoto (BRA)- 22.64
12. Takaki Hara (JPN)/Yuya Ichimura (JPN)- 22.65
13. —
14. Moritz Schaller (GER)/Aleksandr Shchegolev (AIN)- 22.68
15. —
16. Leon Opatril (AUT)- 22.72

The men’s 50 freestyle did not see any sub-22 swims this morning. Matt King had the fastest prelims swims, clocking 22.16 to earn the top seed for tonight’s semi final.

Lithuania’s Jokubas Keblys was 2nd in 22.22, just six-hundredths behind King.

After Keblys, the rest of the field is very close together, as you would expect in a 50 free, and the 3rd-8th finishers this morning had less than a tenth of a second between them. Among those athletes was the other American Daniel Baltes.

Italy, Germany, and Japan were the other countries to get both of their athletes through to the semifinal.

Women’s 200 Butterfly– Prelims

• World Record: 2:01.81- Zige Liu (CHN), 2009
• Junior World Record: 2:03.03- Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2024
• World University Games Record: 2:05.83- Audrey Lacroix (CAN), 2007

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Tess Howley (USA)- 2:06.75
2. Lindsay Looney (USA)- 2:09.36
3. Ciara Schlosshan (GBR)- 2:10.44
4. Paola Borrelli (ITA)- 2:11.19
5. Yu Liyan (CHN)- 2:11.59
6. Sarah Dumont (BEL)- 2:12.43
7. Julia Rusinol (ESP)- 2:12.46
8. Laura Ilyes (HUN)- 2:12.48
9. Ayami Suzuki (JPN)_ 2:13.07
10. Antonella Crispino (ITA)- 2:13.10
11. Deniz Ertan (TUR)- 2:13.82
12. Poppy stephen (AUS)- 2:13.95
13. Hong Jung Hwa (KOR)- 2:14.39
14. Uran Noda (JPN)- 2:14.39
15. Gwinn Applejean Virginia (TPE)- 2:14.58
16. Mariana Cunha (POR)- 2:16.04

Tess Howley ran away with the women’s 200 fly prelims, coming in more than a second-and-a-half ahead of the 2nd place finisher, fellow American Lindsay Looney, and almost four seconds ahead of the next non-American athlete.

Howley’s final time of 2:06.75 won the final heat this morning by four-and-a-half seconds over Italy’s Paola Borrelli, who finished 2nd in her heat and qualified 4th overall.

She was out fast, turning more than a second-and-a-half ahead of Borrelli at the 100, splitting 1:00.23 and coming home in 1:06.52.

Looney won heat three by just over a second ahead of 3rd place qualifier Ciara Schlosshan from Great Britain. She was out in 1:01.76 and came home in 1:07.60.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke– Prelims

• World Record: 1:04.13- Lilly King (USA), 2017
• Junior World Record: 1:04.35- Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2013
• World University Games Record: 1:05.48- Yulia Efimova (RUS), 2013

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Emma Weber (USA)- 1:07.65
2. Simone Moll (RSA)- 1:07.87
3. Shona Branton (CAN)- 1:08.58
4. Barbara Mazurkiewicz (POL)- 1:08.80
5. Lara van Niekerk (RSA)- 1:08.92
6. Yuyumi Obatake (JPN)- 1:08.94
7. Moa Bergdahl (SWE)- 1:09.05
8. Anna Morgan (GBR)- 1:09.41
9. Francesca Zucca (ITA)- 1:09.48
10. Anniina Murto (FIN)- 1:09.63
11. Jenna Pulkkinen (FIN)- 1;09.66
12. Sara Bozso (HUN)-1:09.66
13. Chiara Della Corte (ITA)- 1:09.97
14. Aliz Kalmar (HUN)- 1:10.13
15. Yumeno Kusuda (JPN)- 1:10.23
16. Kyla Brown (AUS)- 1:10.32

American Emma Weber came in just ahead of South African Simone Moll in the final heat of the women’s 100 breaststroke prelims to earn the top spot in tonight’s semifinal.

She touching in 1:07.65, a little over two-tenths ahead of Molls, who came in at 1:07.87. They were the only two swimmers under 1:08 this morning.

Shona Branton, from Canada, won the second-to-last heat of the event this morning, coming in at 1:08.58 to qualify 3rd and finish a second ahead of Finland’s Jenna Pulkkinen who touched in 1:09.66 to qualify 11th.

Piper Enge, the other American in the event finished 18th overall in 1:11.03, missing the semifinal by seven-tenths-of-a-second. At U.S. Nationals in June, they swam 1:07.61 to qualify for the WUGs team.

Men’s 800 Free Relay– Prelims

• World Record: 6:58.55- United States, 2009
• Junior World Record: 3:15.49- United States, 2019
• World University Games Record: 7:05.49- Russia, 2013

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. United States- 7:07.45
2. Individual Neutral Athletes- 7:16.71
3. Brazil- 7:16.90
4. Italy- 7:19.13
5. Malaysia- 7:19.81
6. Japan- 7:20.87
7. Switzerland- 7:25.28
8. Australia- 7:26.63

The United States men proved why they are sitting on top of the medal table in the men’s 800 freestyle relay, touching almost nine-and-a-half seconds ahead of the 2nd place Neutral Athletes team in 7:07.45.

They swam this time without their two fastest 200 freestylers, Jake Mitchell and Baylor Nelson, who will presumably be joining the team in the final, extending their lead even further.

Mitchell Schott led off in 1:46.23, handing the lead off to Jack Dahlgren who swam 1:46.11 in 2nd. Ryan Erisman went 3rd, touching in 1:47.08, and Owen McDonald anchored the team in 1:48.03.

The 2nd place team, AIN, had their fastest 200 freestyler on the relay this morning. Nikolai Kolesnikov, who finished 2nd in the 200, led the team off in 1:48.03, a little over a second off his time of 1:46.77 from the 200 free final.