Coach’s Watch Shows 1:58 in 200 IM from Shebat in Saturday Morning Warmups

2019 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES/SUMMER UNIVERSIADE – SWIMMING

  • July 4th-9th, 2019
  • Napoli, Italy
  • LCM (50m)
  • Live Stream: Olympic Channel (in US), Rai Sport (in Italy)
  • Entry Lists & Live Results

After being disqualified in prelims of the 200 IM on Friday at the 2019 World University Games, Texas postgrad John Shebat reportedly swam a new (unofficial) lifetime best in warmups on Saturday, according to his coach Wyatt Collins.

Collins posted an Instagram photo with Shebat and a photo of his stopwatch, showing that Shebat had swum a 1:58.28. No video of the swim was posted to allow for independent verification of that time.

Shebat clocked a 2:01.1 in prelims en route to the disqualification. Both American entrants in the race, including he and fellow Longhorn Sam Stewart, were disqualified in prelims. Shebat’s official best time in the event is 1:59.45: the swim at Summer Nationals last year that qualified him for this meet. The 200 IM was his only individual entry at the meet. If we’re presuming authenticity of the 1:58.2, that swim would have been the fastest in Friday evening’s semi-final ahead of Great Britain’s Joe Litchfield (1:59.85). Litchfield’s lifetime best is 1:59.36. The top seed coming into the meet, Mark Szaranek, missed the final.

The original DQ of Shebat was called for a one-handed turn on breaststroke to freestyle. Collins referred to the call as “questionable” in his post.

Shebat would have to swim at US Nationals to earn his spot on the US National team, which becomes more crucial now that he is a postgrad/professional swimmer.

In This Story

56
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

56 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Thomas Bullock
4 years ago

Sad they can’t recognize fast turns

Wirotomo
4 years ago

I think that 1:58.20 still done with an one-handed touch breaststroke turn, so he is still disqualified, if this was in the real competition. 😀

MTK
4 years ago

So based on 1:28.1 to the 150, I’d have to guess that Shebat was something like 25.0-28high-34low on fl-bk-br.

Splits in his official best time (1:59.45) are 25.3-29.6-35.3-29.1.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  MTK
4 years ago

And here starts the “yeah, but he would’ve won” argument. That’s what PVDH (rightfully) was railing about. There’s the official race and nothing else. Bring it then or go home.

BallsBlazing
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
4 years ago

Hmmm… thanks for contributing your insightful comment to the world of competition..

Horninco
4 years ago

The Texas hate is strong in this thread.

The kid didn’t get to show his stuff on full taper. It will be hard to be as fast in three weeks at Nats. Nothing wrong with the post. We are in a social media bragging age. It’s what you do.

If Wyatt was a little generous with the watch you still have a general idea of his speed. While he had no pressure and clean water, he also had no competition to pace him, no crowd to adrenalize him.

Good swim by John. He will get his shot next July

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Horninco
4 years ago

agreed on that too

MTK
Reply to  Horninco
4 years ago

That’s how I see it too – I’d be absolutely pissed it I got DQ’d in my only event at a taper meet, without having been able to fully show how fast I could go.

Doing a warmup time trial makes a lot of sense, because a great result could be massive for the swimmer’s confidence after what I assume would’ve been a tough day when he got DQ’d.

mm77
Reply to  Horninco
4 years ago

I agree with this- it is really impressive to do this without the racing atmosphere. I’ve always struggled to perform my best in a “time trial” or warmup type atmosphere.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Horninco
4 years ago

I’ve never heard Eddie brag about anything. If anything, he would’ve made some deprecating joke about “now do it in a real meet.”

anonymous
4 years ago

I was hoping he could do a time trial

Woods
4 years ago

30.1 on free? Must have been on WR pace at the 100

thezwimmer
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

1:58.2 to 2:37 is 39 seconds though…

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  thezwimmer
4 years ago

Mind blown.

PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

The watch shows it’s on the 4th lap though, not the 5th, so it would have to be the last 50.

Right Dude Here
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Shebat goes 1:58 to his feet confirmed.

Ol’ Longhorn
Reply to  Right Dude Here
4 years ago

The Brooke Ford of the men’s world.

Swimmer
Reply to  Right Dude Here
4 years ago

Did he swim it legally this time ??

Onehandtouch
Reply to  Woods
4 years ago

Stopwatches have a recall button in the middle, which he probably pressed to show the final split (1:58) and the 30.1.

Great swim for John and way to bounce back. 200 will be fun at trials with a few names in the mix, Licon, Seli, Dressel, Kalisz, Andrew, Prenot, Devine, Bentz, and Lochte? Nolan? Not sure what’s up with those two.

Ecoach
Reply to  Woods
4 years ago

30.1 last 50 is very slow for a 1:58 IM. Must have gone out like a rocket.

CT Swim Fan
Reply to  Ecoach
4 years ago

I don’t have any idea what his breast is like but let’s assume 33 if he’s really fast + 30 seconds for the free, which leaves 55 seconds plus for the fly and back. Is that even feasible for him?

BallsBlazing
Reply to  CT Swim Fan
4 years ago

Looks like it is feasible and real

Really
Reply to  Ecoach
4 years ago

Tell that to MA….

Markster
4 years ago

Trains all season long then gets DQed in his only event. Dont blame him for making the unnoficial time public. Anyone know what he was dqed for?

Pvdh
Reply to  Markster
4 years ago

He’s still got Nats

IM FAN
Reply to  Pvdh
4 years ago

Aren’t they rebranding nats this year since it doesn’t really count for anything?

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  IM FAN
4 years ago

Tell that to Luca.

Jim
4 years ago

Good for John I guess. Kind of a weird thing to brag about on social media

Swimfan
Reply to  Jim
4 years ago

Wyatt Collins is very passionate about his swimmers. He knows their work ethic and I would imagine wanted to prove to JOHN ( not us!) what he was capable of doing. I think it’d be amazing to have a coach who was that fired up about an unofficial swim. John looks inspired. You may be annoyed but I’d say coach’s mission was accomplished.

Pvdh
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

Bragging about a hand timed, no pressure swim isn’t fair to the other swimmers actually in the final.

TXSWIMDAD
Reply to  Pvdh
4 years ago

This is to me a bizarre take. The swimmers in the final get to be in the final and get all the credit that comes with that. I hope they swim well and achieve their goals! If they are bothered by a post like this there’s something seriously wrong.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  TXSWIMDAD
4 years ago

Not sure about that. It certainly can be interpreted as a “Yeah, but he would’ve won” to the winner, his family, teammates, and friends. WTF brag at all? Seriously doubt that’s what Eddie would’ve done.

Spectatorn
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

Kind of wired explanation…he wasn’t having a bad swim so not getting to semi. How did a fast practice swim help with the turn that was called for his dq?
Maybe coach just want him to practice the process of getting ready for fast swim in a meet setting like this?

Swimfan
Reply to  Spectatorn
4 years ago

Are you serious? I don’t think it was the 2 hand touch they were “working on.” Lol It was about trying to achieve a best time which is what they’ve been training for.

Spectatorn
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

No, I did not say or think they are practicing the turn.

As a discussion, I was thinking what is the learning for swimmer and how a coach to help the swimmer after being dq in one of the target meet.

That asides, I assumed he did the warm up etc as he prep for a real race, the outcome was very exciting (best time) so the coach share.

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

anybody can see the passion of his coach on the picture ….

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

Errr….if it was just to prove to John what he was capable of, he could have just shown John the time. Are we now “IG official” like when dating got to be “FB official”?

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »