Currently leading the Arena Pro Swim Series points, Elizabeth Beisel will scratch the 200 free tonight to focus on her other two events.
Beisel was seeded second in the 200 free after going 2:00.48 this morning, but she’s got a brutal day 2 schedule that featured the 400 IM, 200 free and 200 back in back-to-back-to-back races. The tough combo probably had some effect on her times this morning, but didn’t exclude her from any championship finals, as she qualified 3rd in the IM and 5th in the backstroke. The compressed finals timeline, however, would have stuck all three races into a roughly 50-minute window.
The former Florida Gator should have at least an outside shot to win both of her remaining events, while the 200 free looks like it’s already pretty well in Katie Ledecky‘s pocket.
The other major scratch came in the men’s 200 free, where third-seed Joseph Schooling will not contest the final. The Texas freshman is also swimming the 50 free tonight, which comes at the end of the session, so scratching the 200 will allow him to swim the 50 fresh. He was 23.19 in the 50 this morning after going 1:50.21 in the 200.
You can find the full heat sheets for tonight here.
Those were the only two scratches out of “A” finals. Below is a quick list of the other scratches out of the top 20 in tonight’s events:
- Leah Stevens, women’s 200 free, 14th
- Kathleen Baker, women’s 200 free, 17th
- Connor Jaeger, men’s 200 free, 14th
- Ryan Murphy, men’s 50 free, 17th
Wise choice to eliminate the middle event, especially where she had no chance – even fresh – to win it. Ledecky will likely improve to at least a 1:56+ which is out of reach for the rest of the field. I think Beisel will move up to 2nd in the 400 IM, but won’t catch Hosszu who has much better first half speed. Hosszu maybe 4:38, Beisel 4:40. As for the back, I can’t see her winning but maybe moving up to second or third with a 2:10-ish swim.