The 2019 World University Games opened on Thursday with the first prelims session from Naples, Italy.
The first day opened with heats of the men’s 400 free, women’s 50 fly, men’s 100 back, women’s 400 IM, men’s 100 breast, women’s 200 back, men’s 50 fly and the 4×100 free relays.
Order of events
Men’s 400 Free
Women’s 50 Fly
Men’s 100 Back
Women’s 400 IM
Men’s 100 Breast
Women’s 200 Back
Men’s 50 Fly
Women’s 4×100 Free
Men’s 4×100 Free
Men’s 400 Free
Russia’s Anton Nikitin and Sweden’s Victor Johansson tied for the top seed in the 400 free to open the meet on Thursday. Both swimmers finished their prelim heat in 3:49.40.
American Robert Freeman III finished with the third seed in 3:50.23 to make the finals ahead of Japan’s Keisuke Yoshida (3:50.36).
Italy’s Matteo Ciampi took the fifth seed in 3:50.99, followed by American Zachary Yeadon (3:51.18), Italy’s Mattia Zuin (3:51.56).
Poland’s Filip Zaborowski and Sweden’s Adam Paulsson tied for the eighth seed in 3:51.47 and will have a swim-off to determine the last finalist in the event.
Women’s 50 Fly
Russia’s Tayla Lovemore (26.51) took the top seed in the women’s 50 fly.
Korea’s Soeun Jeong (26.70) finished with the second seed as the top 16 qualified for the semifinals.
Japan’s Ai Soma (26.73) was third, followed by Czech Republic’s Lucie Svecena (26.96), Japan’s Mayuka Yamamoto (26.76), Kinge Zandringa (26.79) of the Netherlands, Italy’s Federica Greco (27.10), Germany’s Lisa Hopnik (27.10), Chinese Taipei’s Mei-Chien Huang (27.20), American Veronica Burchill (27.20) and Britain’s Emily Barclay (27.27).
Men’s 100 Back
American Justin Ress took the top seed in the 100 back as the only swimmer to break 54 seconds in the 100 back. He finished in 53.88.
Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich finished in 54.28.
Russia’s Mark Kivolaev qualified for the semifinals with a swim of 54.55, followed by France’s Yohann N’Doye-Brouard (54.56), American Bryce Mefford (54.57), Brazil’s Gabriel Fantoni (54.71). South Africa’s Zane Waddell (54.72) and Australia’s Cameron Tysoe (54.95).
Other semifinalists included: Korea’s Juho Lee (55.12), Canada’s Rob Hill (55.18), Hungary’s Benedek Kovacs (55.23), Brazil’s Guilherme Basseto (55.26), France’s Stanislas Huilele (55.30), Australia’s William Yang (55.31), Poland’s Kacper Stokowski (55.36).
Women’s 400 IM
American swimmer Makayala Sargent took the top seed in the 400 IM, finishing in 4:41.28.
Britain’s Abbie Wood took the second seed in 4:42.28, followed by Japan’s Sayaka Kashiwazaki (4:42.86), American Genevieve Pfeifer (4:43.25), Catalina Corro Lorente of Spain (4:43.50), Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato (4:45.21), Australia’s Sophie Caldwell (4:45.85) and Hungary’s Reka Gyorgy (4:47.62).
Men’s 100 Breast
Britain’s Craig Benson took the top seed in the 100 breast, finishing in 1:00.07, nearly breaking a minute.
Japan’s Yuya Hinomoto took the second seed in 1:00.16, followed by Italy’s Federico Poggio (1:00.31), Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas (1:00.32), South Africa’s Michael Houlie (1:00.38), Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (1:00.53), France’s Theo Busier (1:00.65) and American Ian Finnerty (1:00.78).
Women’s 200 Back
American Lisa Bratton took the top seed in the 200 back, finishing in 2:09.09, holding off compatriot Asia Seidt (2:09.90).
Britain’s Chloe Golding took the third seed in 2:10.67, followed by Germany’s Sonnele Ozturk (2:11.12), Britain’s Kathryn Greenslade (2:11.81), South Africa’s Nathan Van Niekerk (2:12.77) and Canada’s Kennedy Goss (2:13.34).
Men’s 50 Fly
Poland’s Pawel Sendyk took the top seed in the 50 fly, clocking a 23.78.
Australia’s William Yang took the second seed in (23.81), followed by Italy’s Daniele D’Angelo (23.87) and Lorenzo Gargani (23.87), to tied for the third seed.
Russia’s Aleksandr Sadovinokov (23.90) took the fifth spot, followed by Brazil’s Alberto Lozano Mateos (23.93) and Brazil’s Guilherme Rosolen (23.93) and Japan’s Yuya Tanaka (23.96).
