Chalmers & Sates 200 Free Rematch Set For Budapest’s Final Night

2021 FINA WORLD CUP STOP #2 – BUDAPEST

Day 3 Prelims Highlights

The stage is set for a potentially historic men’s 200m freestyle tonight in Budapest, as we’re expecting to see a rematch between 23-year-old Aussie ace Kyle Chalmers and young gun Matt Sates, the 18-year-old from South Africa.

Last week in Berlin we saw Chalmers and Sates battle to the wall, with Sates ultimately getting the win in a new lifetime best and World Junior Record of 1:40.65. Chalmers was right behind, posting the first sub-1:41 outing of his own prolific career in 1:40.82, a time only .02 off of the Australian national record.

This morning here in Budapest, Chalmers led the field in 1:43.62 while Sates was next in line in the heats with a result of 1:44.54. Lithuanian Olympian Danas Rapsys claimed the 3rd seed in 1:44.74 while Austrian national record holder Felix Auboeck was among the top speedsters in 1;44.85.

Of note, American Blake Pieroni finished well out of the top 8, ranked 23rd out of prelims with a time of 1:49.59.

Fresh off his 50m back win from yesterday, Kristof Milak will also be adding some drama to this men’s 200m free final tonight, holding steady as the 6th seed in 1:45.62. He also took on the 50m fly earlier in the session, posting 22.91 to coast into the 3rd seed behind leader Szebasztian Szabo (22.54) and Tom Shields (22.59).

As for the women, Aussie multi-Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo Emma McKeon claimed two top seeds to finish this 2nd FINA World Cup stop in style.

The versatile superstar first touched in 57.39 to land lane 4 in the 100m fly before doubling up as the swimmer to beat in the 100m free with a morning swim of 52.65.

Among those chasing her in the fly tonight will be 25-year-old American Linnea Mack who hit 57.83 while Madi Wilson will try to make it a 1-2 Aussie finishing the 1free. Wilson was the only other swimmer under 53 seconds this morning with a result of 52.76.

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About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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