Day 5 Relay Lineups: Seliskar, Apple on U.S. 4×200, Lewis, Chalmers off for AUS

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

2018 U.S. National Champion Andrew Seliskar and 4×100 freestyle relay gold medalist Zach Apple have gotten the nod in prelims for Team USA for the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay.  The duo will be joined by Jack LeVant and 2016 Olympian Jack Conger.  

Speculation remains for where the Team USA staff will go tonight, with Blake Pieroni, Caeleb Dressel, and Townley Haas waiting in the wings.  In terms of lifetime bests, Haas is by far the fastest active American swimmer at this meet, at 1:45.03.  However, he (along with Seliskar) was well of that time in the individual event, with Haas finishing 14th in 1:46.37 and Seliskar finishing 15th in 1:46.83.

Levant skipped NCAAs and the World University Games and has raced lightly after dealing with mental health issues, so there’s a lot of anticipation about what he can do.

Australia also chose to save its two fastest swimmers for an anticipated finals appearance, leaving Clyde Lewis and Kyle Chalmers off of this morning’s relay.  Lewis raised eyebrows earlier this week when he dropped a 1:44.90 swim in the semifinals of the individual 200, placing himself in the top 10 performers in history.  Chalmers, a 100 specialist who does better extending to 200 than dropping to the 50, clocked a 1:45.56 at the Commonwealth Games last summer, making him the second-fastest Aussie in the event during this Olympiad.  However, with a stable full of 200 freestylers with bests in the 1:45-high to 1:46-low range, Australia has plenty of finals options should the coaching staff go in a different direction.  For prelims, Australia will roll out the foursome of Alexander Graham, Jack McLoughlin, Thomas Fraser-Holmesand Mack HortonExpect the best 2 of those 4 to swim in finals.

The Brits will use Thomas DeanCalum JarvisMax Litchfield, and Cameron Kurle in prelims. They have individual bronze medalist Duncan Scott and James Guy to add to their finals relay; Dean is the leg that most will be looking at from this prelims group. The 19-year old is the 3rd-fastest Brit this year in 1:46.86, and he’ll be a key leg if the Brits have a hope at gold in the finals.

China will use 200 and 400 free champion Sun Yang on their prelims relay, as well as Xu Jiayu, who dropped out of the men’s 200 back semi-finals at the last minute, ostensibly to focus on this relay.

Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay Preliminaries: Notable lineups

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sven
4 years ago

Predicting they put Dressel on the finals relay. 1:43.mid split, -0.05 RT.

Thank$$$
4 years ago

Splits for prelims?

Swimfan
Reply to  Thank$$$
4 years ago

Seliskar 1:45.71
Conger 1:47.99
LeVant 1:47.57
Apple 1:45.59

Wheel Snipe Seli
Reply to  Swimfan
4 years ago

Seli, Apple, Haas, Pieroni (no particular order) sounds real solid to me.

Kewmon
4 years ago

Egypt pulls out of the mens 4×200 relay. Mmmmm oh yeah they where in the same heat as Israel. Any chance that FINA steps up and sanctions Egypt for not demonstrating the code of sportsmanship?

Swimmer
Reply to  Kewmon
4 years ago

Not sure it is the real reason why there were no show but it has happened so many times in the past and they always say it is a “medical reason”. Not just in swimming, but in any sport

Kewmon
Reply to  Swimmer
4 years ago

Top 12 gets an automatic Olympic berth, nah you don’t pull out of a freebie. It’s the same nonsense. You don’t have to invite me over for Christmas dinner but you gotta show up and do your best on the field of play. That’s what you signed up for, it’s called sportsmanship.The sad thing is nobody is going to pick up on this

Swimmer
Reply to  Kewmon
4 years ago

I agree with you. When I saw they were no show, I immediately thought the same thing

Iain
4 years ago

Bit nervy about GB

Tofu
4 years ago

Here comes my boy Levant!

Wondering
4 years ago

It’s Zapple time

Bob1235
4 years ago

Ideal final line up is Dressel Apple Pieroni Haas. Unlikely to happen though, Dressel probably replaced by Seliskar unless Conger surprises. He looked pretty good in the fly although it wasn’t the fastest.

Lpman
Reply to  Bob1235
4 years ago

No way. No reason why a guy that goes a 46.9 100 free can’t go at least a 1:45. Dressel WILL get the nod for finals. I think Apple gets the final spot from prelims when he is the only one to split 1:45

My vote for the order is
Peroni 1:45.75
Dressel 1:43.75
Apple 1:45.75
Haas 1:45.00

7:00.25

Coach Mike
Reply to  Lpman
4 years ago

Would love to see Dressel swim the 4×200 but do you think they’ll put him through that? It would be three races tonight and then the finals of the 50 free and 100 fly the next night (if I’m figuring correctly?) Pretty grueling.

Lpman
Reply to  Coach Mike
4 years ago

Absolutely. A good 200 free not only helps the relay, but may give Dressel another event to perhaps focus.

Sun Ying Yang Twins
Reply to  Coach Mike
4 years ago

Dressel trains grueling. If he is not able to do a fast 200 a 100 and a 50 in one session, then Gregg Troy isn’t doing his job. And he is doing his job. He will make the finals easily in the 50 fr and 100 fly.

Sun Ying Yang Twins
Reply to  Sun Ying Yang Twins
4 years ago

Why Dressel should be on the relay

To put it in perspective:

Richmond Grand Prix April 2019 / vs. / Korea WC 2019:

100 Fly (52.08) // (49.33r – 50.28 prelims)
200 Free (1:47.31 w flat start) // (? – 1:44.8 minimum rolling start)

swimmerTX
Reply to  Lpman
4 years ago

It’s probably some order of Seli, Zapple Jacks, Pepperoni, and Haas

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A Stanford University and Birmingham, Michigan native, Morgan Priestley started writing for SwimSwam in February 2013 on a whim, and is loving that his tendency to follow and over-analyze swim results can finally be put to good use. Morgan swam competitively for 15+ years, primarily excelling in the mid-distance freestyles. While …

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