Former World Champion James Guy Leads Stacked 200 Free Field into Semifinals; Xu, King, Masse Advance in Respective Events

by Andy Ross

21 July 2019, 05:48pm

FINA World Swimming Championships:

Gwangju 2019

Day 2 Heats

The second morning of swimming from the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships from Gwangju, South Korea had five preliminary events with four of them qualifying for semifinals tonight. The women’s 1500’s top eight swimmers will compete in the final on Tuesday night.

Canada’s Kylie Masse, China’s Xu Jiayu, USA’s Lilly King and Great Britain’s James Guy are the top seeds heading into semifinals.

USA’s Katie Ledecky cruised to the top spot in the women’s 1500 after suffering her first loss over 400 meters at an international competition last night.

Swimming World’s team of Andy Ross, Craig Lord, John Lohn, Liz Byrnes, David Rieder and Becca Wyant are providing photos, quotes and analysis.

China’s Sun Yang is one of the favorites to win the 200 free as he is the second seed from this morning. He won the 400 free last night for the fourth time in his career.

Sources in the Australian camp have told Swimming World that Swimming Australia has a contingency plan to hit back should FINA attempt to discipline Mack Horton after his silent protest last night, when he refused to share the podium with Sun in the 400 free medal ceremony. Horton asked Gabriele Detti to join him in that protest but the Italian told his national media that while he sympathized entirely with Horton, he told the Australian that he had “worked too hard to get here not to stand up on the podium.”

Former ASADA boss Richard Ings took to Twitter in the wake of the incident to declare Yang was “innocent until proven guilty” and that not standing alongside him on the podium, “should attract a hefty penalty.”

Tonight’s finals will feature four finals with the likes of Adam Peaty gunning for his world record again. He was a 56.88 last night in the semifinals to become the first man to break 57 seconds in the event.

Peaty has worked with coach Mel Marshall since he walked through the door at the City of Derby club when he was 14. Theirs is a relationship with mutual trust and respect as cornerstones and one that has seen them steer their way from the junior ranks right through the time warp.

Marshall, who is a two-time Olympian with a haul of world, European and Commonwealth medals, told Swimming World: “On the year of 50 years of landing on the moon, tonight we went into orbit but tomorrow we must land on the big one and complete the mission.”

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Women’s 1500 Free

USA’s Katie Ledecky cruised through the women’s 1500 free heats on Monday morning at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships in Gwangju. Ledecky swam a 15:48.90, which is well off her best time and world record of 15:20.48. There was intrigued around how Ledecky was swimming this morning after taking an uncharacteristic silver in the 400 free last night. Ledecky is aiming for a fourth straight World title in the 1500 free as the final will take place on Tuesday night in Gwangju.

Italy’s Simona Quadarella (15:51.59) is the second seed as she made her debut in the pool this week. She did not swim the 400 free on Sunday to presumably conserve energy for the 1500. Now that the women’s 1500 is an Olympic event, distance swimmers will likely drop the 400 from their program to focus on the 800 and 1500. Germany’s Sarah Kohler (15:54.08) placed third in the heats as she also dropped the 400 from her program.

Hungary’s Ajna Kesely, who had a great race in the 400 last night just missing out on a medal, is fourth at 15:54.48. The successful junior swimmer has translated that junior success to the senior level and could be in line to win a medal tomorrow night in the 1500.

USA’s Ashley Twichell, who secured a spot on the US Olympic Team next summer in the 10K, is the fifth seed at 15:56.22. Twichell was sixth in the 10K earlier in the competition as she has stayed to swim the pool 1500 this week.

Australia’s Kiah Melverton (15:59.92) was the sixth swimmer to break 16:00 in the heats as China’s Wang Jianjiahe (16:00.17) and Australia’s Maddy Gough (16:02.75) also got into the final.

1		LEDECKY	Katie	USA	15:48.90
2		QUADARELLA	Simona	ITA	15:51.59
3		KOHLER	Sarah	GER	15:54.08
4		KESELY	Ajna	HUN	15:54.48
5		TWICHELL	Ashley	USA	15:56.22
6		MELVERTON	Kiah	AUS	15:59.92
7		WANG	Jianjiahe	CHN	16:00.17
8		GOUGH	Maddy	AUS	16:02.75

Men’s 200 Free

Great Britain’s James Guy posted the top time in the heats with a 1:46.18 in the 200 free on Monday morning at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships. Guy eased off on the final 50 as he has the top time into the semifinals ahead of China’s Sun Yang (1:46.22) and Russia’s Martin Malyutin (1:46.29). Guy was the 2015 World Champion and is looking to get his title back from Sun, who won it in 2017.

Australia’s Kyle Chalmers had a tremendous finish in his heat swim as he is fourth for the semifinals at 1:46.36. He is one of the favorites to win the gold medal in this event that is really wide open. Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, who had the top time last year, is seeded fifth for semis at 1:46.45. Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer (1:46.46), Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:46.51) and Hungary’s Dominik Kozma (1:46.55) also finished in the top eight.

The entire 16 semifinalists were separated by less than a second as Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys (1:46.60) came roaring home in his heat to grab ninth.

USA’s Andrew Seliskar (1:46.74) and Townley Haas (1:46.85) also qualified for the semis in 12th and 13th.

1		GUY	James	GBR	1:46.18
2		SUN	Yang	CHN	1:46.22
3		MALYUTIN	Martin	RUS	1:46.29
4		CHALMERS	Kyle	AUS	1:46.36
5		SCOTT	Duncan	GBR	1:46.45
6		SCHEFFER	Fernando	BRA	1:46.46
7		MATSUMOTO	Katsuhiro	JPN	1:46.51
8		KOZMA	Dominik	HUN	1:46.55
9		RAPSYS	Danas	LTU	1:46.60
10		JI	Xinjie	CHN	1:46.62
11		DOVGALYUK	Mikhail	RUS	1:46.72
12		SELISKAR	Andrew	USA	1:46.74
13		HAAS	Townley	USA	1:46.85
14		LEWIS	Clyde	AUS	1:46.93
15		MEGLI	Filippo	ITA	1:46.95
16		BRZOSKOWSKI	Maarten	NED	1:47.06

Women’s 100 Breast

USA’s Lilly King eased through the heats in the women’s 100 breast on Monday morning at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships in Gwangju with a 1:06.31. The time is nothing spectacular as she will be aiming to break her own world record of 1:04.13 from the 2017 Worlds. She will be expected to compete alongside Russia’s Yulia Efimova in the final as the two bitter rivals will be vying for the gold medal on Tuesday night.

Efimova is the second seed at 1:06.58 as she is also capable of a 1:04. She is the third fastest performer all-time in this event.

Italy’s Martina Carraro is the third seed with a 1:06.62 while South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker is fourth at 1:06.76. Schoenmaker is going for South Africa’s first medal in women’s swimming at the World Swimming Championships.

Japan’s Reona Aoki is the fifth seed at 1:06.81 while China’s Yu Jingyao is sixth at 1:06.91. Only six women broke 1:07 in the heats.

Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni (1:07.09) and Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson (1:07.25) rounded out the top eight.

Notably, Australia’s Jess Hansen (1:07.38), Great Britain’s Molly Renshaw (1:07.43), Russia’s Anna Belousova (1:07.56) and USA’s Micah Sumrall (1:07.81) qualified for the semifinals.

1		KING	Lilly	USA	1:06.31
2		EFIMOVA	Yuliya	RUS	1:06.58
3		CARRARO	Martina	ITA	1:06.62
4		SCHOENMAKER	Tatjana	RSA	1:06.76
5		AOKI	Reona	JPN	1:06.81
6		YU	Jingyao	CHN	1:06.91
7		CASTIGLIONI	Arianna	ITA	1:07.09
8		ATKINSON	Alia	JAM	1:07.25
9		LECLUYSE	Fanny	BEL	1:07.27
10		MAMIE	Lisa	SUI	1:07.30
11		VALL MONTERO	Jessica	ESP	1:07.32
12		HANSEN	Jessica	AUS	1:07.38
13		RENSHAW	Molly	GBR	1:07.43
14		BELOUSOVA	Anna	RUS	1:07.56
15		ZMUSHKA	Alina	BLR	1:07.69
16		SUMRALL	Micah	USA	1:07.81

Men’s 100 Back

Historical firepower was the theme, as the last three world champions qualified among the top-four finishers. China’s Xu Jiayu, the reigning gold medalist from Budapest, led the field into the semifinals with one of two sub-53 clockings. Xu touched the wall in his heat in 52.85, which was clear of the 52.95 produced by Brazil’s Guilherme Guido. Going through in the third and fourth positions were Australia’s Mitch Larkin (53.12) and American Matt Grevers (53.22), the 2015 and 2013 world champions, respectively.

Posting the fifth-fastest time of the morning was Japanese veteran Ryosuke Irie (53.38), who was followed by Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (53.45), the reigning world champion in the 200 backstroke. Rylov looked strong on the anchor leg of Russia’s 4×100 freestyle relay on the opening night of action, an effort that bodes well for his prime events. Rounding out the top eight were Romanians Robert Glinta (53.64) and Daniel Martin (53.65).

Olympic champion Ryan Murphy of the United States was ninth in prelims, as the world-record holder cruised to a time of 53.69, pushing only hard enough to advance to the next round. Murphy’s approach is reminiscent of backstroke legend Aaron Peirsol, who had an uncanny ability to do just enough in the early rounds before turning in his best showing in finals.

Italian Simone Sabbioni qualified for the semifinals in 13th, going 63.85. But his path to an additional swim was hardly normal, as Sabbioni had significant trouble with the starting wedge attached to his block. The wedge initially slipped during the last heat, forcing Sabbioni to stop his swim and be awarded a solo time trial. On his first attempt at the time trial, the wedge again slipped, causing another reset.

Dylan Carter of Trinidad and Tobago was also granted a re-swim after a backstroke wedge issue in his heat. He was originally 30th with a 55.33 but moved up to 16th at 54.03, bumping out Italy’s Thomas Ceccon (54.04) from the semifinals.

1		XU	Jiayu	CHN	52.85
2		GUIDO	Guilherme	BRA	52.95
3		LARKIN	Mitchell	AUS	53.12
4		GREVERS	Matt	USA	53.22
5		IRIE	Ryosuke	JPN	53.38
6		RYLOV	Evgeny	RUS	53.45
7		GLINTA	Robert	ROU	53.64
8		MARTIN	Daniel	ROU	53.65
9		MURPHY	Ryan	USA	53.69
10		THORMEYER	Markus	CAN	53.77
11		TSMYH	Mikita	BLR	53.81
12		CHRISTOU	Apostolos	GRE	53.82
13		SABBIONI	Simone	ITA	53.85
14		KOLESNIKOV	Kliment	RUS	53.89
15		GREENBANK	Luke	GBR	53.95
16		CARTER	Dylan	TTO	54.03

Women’s 100 Back

Canada’s Kylie Masse had the top swim in the heats in the women’s 100 back with a 58.91 to lead the qualifiers into the semifinals. She was the only swimmer to break 59 seconds in the heats and finished ahead of the Australian duo of Minna Atherton (59.22) and Kaylee McKeown (59.25), as they appeared to feed off the momentum from Australia winning both women’s events last night.

The USA’s Kathleen Baker (59.31) and Olivia Smoliga (59.55) are the fourth and fifth seeds following solid morning swims. They were in the same heat with a Korean athlete and the crowd noise was hindering the starter. Regardless, they qualified for the semifinals in a good position, which was especially a good sign for Baker, who has dealt with her share of illness and injury this year.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck swam her first individual event of the World Championships and posted a 59.82 to get sixth in the heats. Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (59.84) and the Czech Republic’s Simona Kubova (59.99) rounded out the top eight qualifiers.

Italy’s Margherita Panziera, who will be dangerous later in the week in the 200 back, is the ninth seed at 59.99. The semifinals will be highly competitive as it could take a 59-mid to make the final tonight.

Notably, Katinka Hosszu scratched out of the heats this morning to focus on her 200 IM final tonight. Hosszu did the same thing at the last three World Championships, scratching the 100 back at some point to focus on the 200 IM. Hosszu is the top seed for that event and is going for a fourth straight world title.

1		MASSE	Kylie	CAN	58.91
2		ATHERTON	Minna	AUS	59.22
3		MCKEOWN	Kaylee	AUS	59.25
4		BAKER	Kathleen	USA	59.31
5		SMOLIGA	Olivia	USA	59.55
6		RUCK	Taylor	CAN	59.82
7		DAVIES	Georgia	GBR	59.84
8		KUBOVA	Simona	CZE	59.95
9		PANZIERA	Margherita	ITA	59.99
10		SAKAI	Natsumi	JPN	1:00.05
11		RIEDEMANN	Laura	GER	1:00.15
12		TOUSSAINT	Kira	NED	1:00.27
13		FESIKOVA	Anastasiia	RUS	1:00.38
14		LOYNING	Ingeborg	NOR	1:00.47
15		CHEN	Jie	CHN	1:00.64
16		VASKINA	Daria	RUS	1:00.66

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