2023 World Cup Athens Day 3 Prelims: Sjostrom & Andrew Cruise In Multiple Events

2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – ATHENS

• Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th
• Athens, Greece
• LCM (50m)
• Prelims 9:00am (EEST)/ 2:oo am (EDT)
• Finals 6:00 pm (EEST)/ 11:00 am (EDT)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Live Results
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Finals Live Recap

We entered the final day of competition at the second stop of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup and athletes in Athens show no signs of slowing down.

Last night multi-Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden powered her way to victory in the 50m fly and now she sits as the top seed in the 100m fly.

Sjostrom put down a marker of 58.30 to be situated in lane 4 and tonight will be flanked by teammate Louise Hansson who notched the 2nd seed in 58.45 while Maggie MacNeil will be on the other side. Canada’s MacNeil, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in this event, cruised to a morning outing of 58.63.

On-fire Chinese Asian Games MVP Zhang Yufei is in the mix with her AM swim of 58.66 while American Torri Huske also threw her hat in the ring with a prelims result of 58.98.

Sjostrom doubled up on events, also taking on the 100m free. She clocked a time of 54.91 to rake in the 4th seed out of the heats.

Taking the top spot was Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, registering a time of 54.38. Aussie Cate Campbell nabbed the 2nd seed in 54.49 and Hong Kong’s Olympic silver medalist Siobhan Haughey rounded out the top 3 in 54.52.

Haughey is carrying momentum from her victory in this event last week in Berlin where she notched a new World Cup Record of 52.02, a new lifetime best and national record.

Steenbergen also contested the women’s 200m IM in the session. The 23-year-old positioned herself 4th in that event with a time of 2:14.91, with Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (2:14.19), Japan’s Waka Kobori (2:14.38) and USA’s Torri Huske (2:14.66) all tightly-packed ahead of her.

Steenbergen’s performance is already well ahead of the 2:17.44 she put up in Berlin to settle for 7th place. She’s been as fast as 2:09.16 in her career, a time she hit this past April to score a new Dutch national record

American Michael Andrew was another multi-event racer this morning and began his day 3 campaign with a top seed in the men’s 50m fly. Andrew clocked a time of 23.42 to clear the field.

The 24-year-old settled for silver in this event last week in Berlin, tying Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter in 23.17 behind winner Ben Armbruster of Australia who topped the podium in 23.08.

Both Carter and Armbruster made tonight’s final once again, with the former hitting 23.48 as the 2nd seed while the latter nabbed the 6th seed in 23.74.

South African Chad Le Clos slipped to 12th in 24.07 and will watch tonight’s final on the sidelines. Aussie Cody Simpson also fell short, producing a morning swim of 24.13 to settle for 14th place.

Andrew will also appear in the men’s 100m back final during this evening’s session, claiming the 6th seed in a time of 55.09.

Capturing the pole position, however, was Italy’s World Record holder Thomas Ceccon. 22-year-old Ceccon notched 54.43 to lead the pack, but Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou is right there as the 2nd seed in 54.47.

Japan’s mainstay Ryosuke Irie earned silver behind Ceccon in Berlin and will also be among the contestants, posting 54.72 as the 3rd-fastest swimmer.

Additional Top Seeds

• The women’s 200m back saw the United States’ Katie Grimes deliver a swim of 2:11.32 to lead the field. However, Australian powerhouse Kaylee McKeown is ready to pounce, sitting just over half a second behind in 2:11.83. Last week the pair finished 1-2, with McKeown unleashing a new World Cup Record of 2:06.47. Grimes snagged silver in 2:08.08 as the only other swimmer in that final to get under 2:10.
• Ruta Meilutyte made her presence known in the women’s 50m breast, producing a solid heats swim of 30.92. She’ll be hunted by the likes of Sophie Hansson of Sweden (31.02) and versatile Haughey (31.34) among others. Last week in Berlin Meilutyte posted a new World Cup Record of 29.56 and already claimed the 100m breast gold last night in Athens.
• The men’s 200m breaststroke competitors all played it cool during this morning’s prelim, with no racer getting under 2:11. Dutchman and former Texas Longhorn Caspar Corbeau produced a time of 2:11.28 and Olympic silver medalist Arno Kamminga, also of the Netherlands, was 3rd in 2:13.46. Splitting the pair was Chinese Asian Games MVP Qin Haiyang who logged 2:12.53. However, Qin is coming off a powerful performance in Berlin where he established a new World Cup Record of 2:07.45.
• Maximillian Giuliani of Australia took the #1 seed in the men’s 200m free. He landed lane 4 in a result of 1:48.66 to hold off the field. Danas Rapsys of Lithuania, last week’s gold medalist, lurks as the 4th seed in 1:49.78. We reported how Giuliani’s silver medal-worthy time of 1:46.18 last week represented the 20-year-old’s career quickest.