Photo Credit: Xinhua/Ding Xu
NANJING, China, August 20. ROZALIYA Nasretdinova, Yu Hexin, Matheus Paulo de Santana, Liliana Szilagyi and Nikola Obrovac posted the fastest times of the day in their respective individual events during the preliminary session on day five of the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
Scheduled Events
- Women’s 50 Free
- Men’s 100 Free
- Women’s 100 Fly
- Men’s 50 Breast
- Women’s 400 Free Relay
- Men’s 800 Free
Women’s 50 Free
Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova has continued her strong meet with a dominant performance in prelims of the women’s 50 free. Nasretdinova touched a full half second in front of her nearest competitor, claiming the top seed for semi-finals with a 25.00. Australia’s Ami Matsuo finished second in 25.50, with China’s Qiu Yuhan right behind in 25.57. Daria Ustinova of Russia, who at one point had the top seed time, ended up fourth overall in 25.80. Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (25.87), Luxembourg’s Julie Meynen (26.01), New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’Amausili (26.12) and Slovenia’s Nastja Govejsek (26.18) made up the rest of the top eight finishers.
Slovakia’s Barbora Misendova (26.25), Singapore’s Nur Marina Shi Min Chan (26.29), Austria’s Lena Kreundl (26.31), The Netherlands’ Kim Busch (26.32), Slovenia’s Tjasa Pintar (26.33), Turkey’s Ilknur Nihan Cakici (26.37), the United States’ Clara Smiddy (26.42) and Italy’s Rachele Ceracchi (26.46) will also compete in the semi-finals.
Men’s 100 Free
China’s Yu Hexin and Brazil’s Matheus Paulo de Santana posted matching 50.15s in back-to-back heats to top qualifying in the men’s 100 free heats. Italy’s Alessandro Bori will be the third seed after touching in 50.35, just ahead of Canada’s Javier Acevedo (50.40), Russia’s Filipp Shopin (50.44) and The Netherlands’ Kyle Stolk (50.52). Duncan Scott of Great Britain (50.60) and Jan Krzysztof Holub of Poland (50.61) made up the remaining top eight qualifiers.
Germany’s Damian Wierling (50.65), Lithuania’s Povilas Strazdas (50.69), Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (50.73), Italy’s Nicolangelo di Fabio (50.83), Sri Lanka’s Matthew Abeysinghe (50.87), Romania’s Robert Glinta (50.98), Belgium’s Alexis Borisavljevic (51.38) and Great Britain’s Miles Munro (51.40) will also compete for spots in the championship final.
Top Seed Splits:
Yu Hexin
24.71
25.44 (50.15)
Matheus Paulo de Santana
24.33
25.82 (50.15)
Women’s 100 Fly
Liliana Szilagyi of Hungary topped the women’s 100 fly prelims in one of only two sub-1:00 swims of the day. Szilagyi touched in 58.91, two tenths in front of China’s Zhang Yufei (59.13). Claudia Tarzia of Italy nearly cracked 1:00 in her morning swim but came up just shy with a 1:00.08. Brianna Throssell of Australia qualified fourth in 1:00.54, followed by Norway’s Elise Olsen in 1:00.63 and Great Britain’s Charlotte Atkinson in 1:00.72. Jinyoung Park of Korea (1:00.80) and Svenja Stoffel of Switzerland (1:01.03) also finished in the top eight.
Lucie Svecena of the Czech Republic (1:01.11), Jurina Shiga of Japan (1:01.19), Nida Eliz Ustundag of Turkey (1:01.33), Meghan Small of the United States (1:01.39), Danielle Hanus of Canada (1:01.44), Giovanna Tomanik Diamante of Brazil (1:01.63), Danika Huizinga of Canada (1:01.75) and Claudia Hufnagl of Austria (1:02.04) comprised the rest of the semi-finalists.
Top Seed Splits:
27.98
30.93 (58.91)
Men’s 50 Breast
Croatia’s Nikola Obrovac posted the only sub-28 swim of the day to lead the 16 semi-final qualifiers in the men’s 50 breast with a 27.97. Carlos Claverie of Venezuela stopped the clock in 28.19 for the second seed, while Anton Chupkov of Russia (28.51) and Jarred Crous of South Africa (28.66) qualified third and fourth. Mohamed Khalaf of Egypt swam a 28.71 for the fifth seed, while China’s Zhang Zhihao and Belarus’ Stanislau Pazdzeyeu posted matching 28.75s for the sixth seed. Ippei Watanabe of Japan finished eighth in 28.83.
The ninth through 16th-place finishers in the event were separated by only .15 seconds, which should make for two very close semi-finals. Korea’s Jaeyoun Kim led the way in 28.89, with Uzbekistan’s Andrey Pravdivtsev only .01 back in 28.90. Belarus’ Yauhen Kavaliou touched 11th in 28.92, followed by Australia’s Grayson Bell (28.96) and Hungary’s David Horvath (28.97). Josue Dominguez Ramos of the Dominican Republic (28.99), Maximilian Pilger of Germany (29.01) and Jordy Groters of Aruba (29.03) will also race for a spot in the top eight.
Women’s 400 Free Relay
Russia’s foursome of Rozaliya Nasretdinova, Daria Ustinova, Irina Prikhodko and Daria Mullakaeva posted the fastest time of the morning in the women’s 400 free relay, completing the race in 3:46.96 to earn a sizable cushion over Australia’s Ami Matsuo, Brianna Throssell, Ella Bond and Amy Forrester(3:48.72) in the final. China qualified third in 3:49.50, with Qiu Yuhan, Shen Duo, He Yun and Zhang Yufei. The Netherlands (3:49.98), Brazil (3:51.40), Canada (3:53.08), Germany (3:53.22) and the United States (3:53.43) will also swim for gold in the championship final.
Top Seed Splits:
27.71, 56.59
27.10, 55.92 (1:52.51)
28.14, 57.57 (2:50.08)
26.44, 56.88 (3:46.96)
Men’s 800 Free
The first three heats of the men’s 800 free were held this morning, with the fastest heat scheduled to compete in the finals session. El Salvador’s Marcelo Acosta recorded the top time of the three heats as he stopped the clock at 8:02.69. Patrick Ransford of the United States had the second-best time of the morning at 8:04.46, from the same heat as Acosta. Fourteen-year-old Alexei Sancov of the Republic of Moldova had the third-fastest swim of the day at 8:06.54. Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak is the top seed in the fastest heat at 7:58.45.
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