World Championships, Day 4 Prelims (Women): Canada’s Ingrid Wilm Tops Qualifiers in 50m back
Canadian Ingrid Wilm – bronze on night three in the 100m backstroke tops the qualifiers into the semi-finals of the 50m backstroke on night four in Doha.
The 25-year-old stopped the clock in 27.81 to win heat four with heat five winner, sprint specialist, Lauren Cox (Great Britain) next in 27.89.
But lurking in the shadows is US is three-time World Championship gold medallist, Claire Curzan (27.99) who won gold in the 100 backstroke here on Night Three and silver medallist, Australia’s Iona Anderson (28.02), the 2023 World Junior champion.
Just 0.78 seconds separates the top five qualifiers into the women’s 200m butterfly semi-finals with Denmark’s 23-year-old Helena Bach (2:09.21) setting the target in heat one with Britain’s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Laura Stephens taking heat two in 2:09.31 followed by the youngest swimmer in the field, China’s Ma Yonghui (2:09.50) at just 17.
They will also have to contend with evergreen Hungarian – 2019 world champion from Gwangju and Rio Olympic bronze medallist over 800m freestyle, Boglarka Kapas – who is the oldest in the field at 30 years of age – the fifth fastest qualifier in 2:09.99.
