2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Duna Arena
- LCM (50-meter format)
- Full Aquatics Schedule
- How To Watch
- Psych Sheets
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Day 4 Finals Heat Sheets
Illness has plagued this World Championship meet, taking out several of the top athletes. Two-time 100 free world champion Caeleb Dressel withdrew from the event due to a medical issue. Matt Sates had a respiratory infection before the meet started, and was well off his best times in both the 200 free and 400 IM. Zac Incerti had an illness prior to Worlds, and struggled to make it out of the heats in both the 100 and 200 free. The majority of Chinese swimmers, who had their training severely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions within the country and their trials meet canceled, are completely underperforming. Duncan Scott and Pieter Coetze got COVID-19 before the meet even started and withdrew completely.
An athlete who hasn’t been torn down by the effects of COVID-19 is New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt. Despite illness forcing him out of the pool in his last week of heavy training prior to Worlds, Clareburt has still be performing very well relative to expectations. He started off his meet strong, finishing fourth in the 400 IM a time of 4:10.98. Not only was this a season-best time for the Kiwi, but it also was faster than the 4:11.22 he swam at in Olympic final of the event a year before to finish seventh (when he didn’t have COVID prior to the meet). Next, he went onto make the final of the 200 IM, swimming a time of 1:57.63 to finish seventh in the semifinals. He was also just a few tenths off his best time of 1:57.27 in that event.
In a meet where many athletes couldn’t be at their best due to COVID-19 and ilnesses, the fact that Clareburt is still able to maintain peak form despite being sick prior to the meet is extremely impressive.
Other Day 4 Highlights:
- In the women’s 200 free final, Mollie O’Callaghan picked up another medal for the Aussies, taking second in a time of 1:55.22. Her teammate Madi Wilson placed fifth with a time of 1:56.85. Both swimmers added from their trials times of 1:54.94 and 1:55.86 respectivley.
- Australia took yet another relay silver medal, as Kaylee McKeown, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Matt Temple, and Shayna Jack finished second in the mixed medley relay. However, there were still some concerns over the splits of McKeown and Jack that were both underwhelming compared to their best times.
- McKeown also advances to the 50 back semifinals as the sixth seed in a time of 27.58.
- 18-year-old Elizabeth Dekkers of Australia placed sixth in the 200 fly semifinals to advance to the finals, while her teammate, twelfth-place finisher Abbey Connor, just misses out.
Medal Table:
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
| Australia | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
And us kiwis are very proud of him 🙂
Lewis Clarebut – and – Gary Hollywood – a great swimmer/coach partnership.
According to her Insta story Madi Wilson had a second bout of Covid 3 weeks ago as well. Seems like a few Aussies got sick immediately after trials.
Madi swam faster in semis though, could’ve gotten bronze with that time.
It’s tough to compare swimmers in terms of how an athlete reacts to covid 19. By all accounts Lewis was not affected much by covid besides having to isolate. Some swimmers have lingering effects, some don’t. Don’t need to throw shade at other swimmers like Incerti and Dressel. I hope Sates and Scott get well soon because the top 4-5 at Comms could be great in the 400 IM and push Lewis and Brendon towards Chase/Carson.
I’m not nessecarily using this article to throw shade at anyone who’s been negatively impacted by illness at worlds. Just listing examples because it’s been a recurring theme at this meet, and to underperform or withdraw because of it is totally understandable. I’m just pointing out that Clareburt just happens to be one out of not many athletes who got sick but weren’t negatively affected by it as much. It’s impressive for him to do well even under his circumstances, but it’s not a jab at other swimmers who just happen to be a bit more unlucky.
To be affected by an illness more than others doesn’t make someone worse of a swimmer
Was Clareburt actually sick with Covid or asymptomatic?
He was sick.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/05/17/top-kiwi-swimmer-upbeat-despite-catching-covid-on-eve-of-world-champs/
Great effort by MOC to get a silver. Would have been nice for her to get a gold, and I think she was probably capable of it, but to be fair the winning time was better than her PB. An individual silver in her first individual event on the international stage ever is a pretty great achievement.
The mixed medley was an extremely weak field outside of USA. Australia didn’t perform well at all but somehow still pulled a silver so pretty happy with that. Out of the 3 relays so far, the womens 100 free was pretty safe, but I wasn’t even expecting a medal in the other two and we have two silvers. Pretty good!
Good for Kaylee… Read more »
I would almost say Australia is doing better than expected. MOC in the 200 free was always a toss up, and people only became confident when the Chinese looked bad in the heats. 2 golds and 8 medals missing our best swimmers is fantastic
wait who else got bronze from Oceania aside from Lani Pallister?? I count only 2-4-1 = 7 medals
It’s seven medals, not eight. Sorry, I miscounted.
It is what it is…im just waiting for what Zac SC can do and then I am happy regardless.
AUS is, basically, performing round where I expected them to given the team that was selected. There are always the quota of pleasant surprises which are inevitably off-set by the disappointments.
MOC collecting silver at 200 should certainly be seen as a pass mark. Whilst older than McIntosh, she hasn’t her actual experience of racing individually at this level. Lessons will hopefully be learned. 100 is the better chance especially with the weakened field but medal would still be a pass grade for what is still in many ways a debut.
McKeown’s backstroke looked off at Trials and its been borne out here. It has to be acknowledged that we are grading her against her 2021 level which was stellar.… Read more »
I think McKeown and Brendon Smith are having average 2022 performances.. maybe theyre still adjusting to their new training dynamics as well
I think that is clearly in play with Smith. Whilst coaching change may well be a factor with McKeown, I think what we are seeing with her backstroke may be a by-product of the increased emphasis on IM.
yeah but also quite evident is that Walsh had a faster backstroke split than McKeown in that IM final so if she cant even maximise her specialty stroke then its a tough task to surpass Walsh for gold
Would agree that an overall rethink is probably needed. The progress of both McIntosh (400) and Walsh (200) does seemingly close off both IMs as gold medal options at this level.
Then again, backstroke was never a done deal either. She was just in the best form last year and even then 100 was tight. Even had she swam 100back here, a medal was far from guaranteed. 200 is probably a safer medal bet but I’m a tad bearish regarding gold.
Does she revert to being a backstroker who may swim off events at lower tier competitions ? Does she look at reuniting with Mooney ?
Hope she doesn’t end up like Mitch Larkin .. he’s lost his mojo either way
Shots thrown at Dressel
They probably didn’t fully taper for Worlds with Comm Games only a month away ..