World Championships, Day Two Prelims (Women): Ruta Meilutyte Fails to Advance in 100 Breaststroke
It will be a busy Day Two of the World Championships for American Claire Curzan. Before racing the final of the 100-meter butterfly at night, Curzan will compete in the preliminaries of the 100 backstroke, where she is the top seed. The 100 backstroke is one of three women’s prelims on the Monday morning slate in Doha, joining the 100 breaststroke and 1500 freestyle.
Curzan enjoyed a solid first day at Worlds, which is being held in an Olympic year for the first time. She went 57-low in the semifinals of the 100 butterfly and will try to better Germany’s Angelina Kohler in the final. Kohler set a German record of 56.11 en route to the No. 1 seed.
Here is a look at women’s prelims action from Day Two in Doha.
100 Backstroke
Only three women cracked the minute barrier, headlined by the United States’ Claire Curzan. Ahead of racing in the final of the 100 butterfly during the evening session, Curzan clocked a swim of 59.72 for the 100 backstroke. That outing was ahead of the 59.82 of Canadian Ingrid Wilm. The only other performance under one minute belonged to Australian Iona Anderson, who touched the wall in 59.88.
100 Breaststroke
One day after Tunisian Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui failed to advance out of the prelims of the 400 freestyle, reigning world champ Ruta Meilutyte was 17th in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke. Barring a scratch, the Lithuanian and 2012 Olympic champ will be locked out of the semifinals, having touched the wall in 1:07.79. That effort was .04 outside of 16th place.
Grabbing the top seed for the semifinals was China’s Tang Qianting, who covered her two laps in 1:06.16, which was three tenths quicker than the 1:06.46 of Dutchwoman Tes Schouten. Finishing third during the morning session was Ireland’s Mona McSharry, who went 1:06.49.
1500 Freestyle
Katie Ledecky has won all bar one of the six last world titles stretching back to Barcelona 2013. Simona Quadarella won gold at Gwangju 2019 after illness forced Ledecky to withdraw from the longest race in the pool. The Italian is a consistent distance performer on the global stage with Olympic and world medals. Going in the third and final prelim, Quadarella went stroke for stroke with Germany’s Isabel Gose before edging ahead and pulling away by the 600m mark. The Fukuoka silver medallist stopped the clock at 16:02.96 to book lane four for Tuesday’s final with Gose alongside her in 16:10.60. Li Bingjie – silver medallist in Doha over 400m – was third through in 16:13.61. Kristel Kobrich claimed the eighth and last place in the final, going 16:16.32 at the age of 38.
