2024 SC World Championships: Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

2024 Short Course World Championships

It’s time for another early morning… or mid-afternoon or normal morning, depending on where you are reading from. Day 3 Prelims of the 2024 Short Course World Championships are upon us, and it is going to be a star-studded morning.

Regan Smith is the top seed in two events. The women’s 50 backstroke and the women’s 200 butterfly. As long as she makes it through in both, the backstroke event will have a semi-final this evening, and the butterfly has the finals tonight. It is going to be a busy day for the American swimmer.

We will also see fellow Americans Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh will also be swimming prelims this morning, with both of them competing in the women’s 100 IM.

On the men’s side, World Junior Record Holder Isaac Cooper of Australia will be swimming the 50 backstroke prelims as the top seed by a little over two tenths of a second.

Canadian Ilya Kharun is swiming the men’s 200 fly, and if his 50 fly on the mixed relay was any judge of what we can expect to see today, it’s going to be fast.

World Record holder in the 50 fly, Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, will be competing in the men’s 100 IM, where Leon Marchand’s withdrawal makes him the top seed.

The final individual event will be the prelims of the men’s 400 freestyle will star American Kieran Smith as the top seed.

The last event of the morning is the women’s 4×200 free relay.

Women’s 50 Backstroke

• World Record: 25.25 – Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 2022
• World Junior Record: 26.08 – Sara Curtis (ITA), 2024
• World Championship Record: 25.25 – Maggie MacNeil (CAN), 2022
• 2022 World Champion: Maggie MacNeil (CAN) – 25.25

Men’s 50 Backstroke

• World Record: 22.11 – Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2022
• World Junior Record: 22.52 – Isaac Cooper (AUS), 2022
• World Championship Record: 22.22 – Florent Manaudou (FRA), 2014
• 2022 World Champion: Ryan Murphy (USA)- 22.64

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Miron Lifintsev (NAB)- 22.87
2. Kacper Stokowski (POL)- 22.89
3. Shane Ryan (IRL)- 22.98
4. Isaac Cooper (AUS)- 23.01
5. Pavel Samusenko (NAB)- 23.02
6. Hubert Kos (HUN)- 23.05
7. Ralf Tribuntsov (EST)- 23.06
8. Guilherme Basetto (BRA)- 23.11
9. Miroslav Knedla (CZE)- 23.13
10. Marius Kush (GER)- 23.28
11. Thierry Bollin (SUI) / Ruard Van Renen (RSA)- 23.29
12. —
13. Mewen Tomac (FRA)- 23.22
14. Ole Braunschweig (GER)- 23.33
15. Finlay Knox (CAN)- 23.35
16. Mantas Kauspedas (LTU) / Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA)- 23.37 **Swim-Off Required**

Miron Lifintsev, a Russian Neutral Athlete, qualified with the top seed out of the prelims of the men’s 50 back from the second circle seeded heat, heat 5. Lifintsev was only two-one-hundredths ahead of 2nd place Qualifier Kacper Stokowski from Poland who won heat 6.

The first circle-seeded heat went to Pavel Samusenko, also a Russian Neutral Athlete in 23.02.

Unlike the women’s event, the men’s event had a few qualifiers outside of the final 3 heats. Finlay Knox of Canada, who qualified 15th, came out of heat 2, which he won with his 23.35. Hubert Kos, the 6th seed out of Hungary, was also from an early heat. He won heat 3 in 23.05 to qualify for tonight’s semi-final.

Two swimmers Mantas Kauspedas and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard tied at 16th, meaning there will need to be a swim-off for the spot in the semi-finals.

Michael Andrew was the only American entered in the event, and he scratched the event this morning

Women’s 200 Butterfly

• World Record: 1:59.61 – Mireia Belmonte Garcia (ESP), 2014
• World Junior Record: 2:02.52 – Luying Chen (CHN), 2024
• World Championship Record: 1:59.61 – Mireia Belmonte Garcia (ESP), 2014
• 2022 World Champion: Dakota Luther (USA) – 2:03.37

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Summer McIntosh (CAN)- 2:01.96 **New World Junior Record**
2. Alex Shackell (USA)- 2:02.79
3. Laura Lahtinen (FIN)- 2:03.55
4. Regan Smith (USA)- 2:04.11
5. Elizabeth Dekkers (AUS)- 2:04.34
6. Helena Rosendahl Back (DEN)- 2:04.71
7. Luying Chen (CHN)- 2:05.23
8. Bella Grant (AUS)- 2:05.53

Summer McIntosh just set a new World Junior Record in the 200 fly prelims, with the former World Junior Record holder waiting to swim in the next heat. McIntosh went a blistering 2:01.96 to break the previous record of 2:02.52 by a little over half a second. This was the top time of the morning by almost a second, qualifying McIntosh for lane 4 in tonight’s final. Fellow teenager American Alex Shackell was also in the heat, and she went 2:02.79 to qualify 2nd.

The former record holder, Luying Chen of China set the record just a few months ago in September of this year, and she also qualified for the final in 7th at 2:05.23. Chen was 2nd in her heat to Laura Lahtinen of Finland who qualified 3rd in 2:03.55.

The final went to Regan Smith in 2:04.11, which was good enough to qualify her 4th for this evening’s final. Smith qualified for the 50 backstroke around 30 minutes prior to this 200 fly swim.

Men’s 200 Butterfly

• World Record: 1:46.85 – Tomoru Honda (JPN), 2022
• World Junior Record: 1:49.61 – Junder Chen (CHN), 2018
•  World Championship Record: 1:48.24 – Daiya Seto (JPN), 2018
• 2022 World Champion: Chad le Clos (RSA) – 1:48.27

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Alberto Razzetti (ITA)- 1:49.44
2. Ilya Kharun (CAN)-1:50.11
3. Krzysztof Chmielewski (POL) / Kregor Zirk (EST) – 1:50.39
4. —
5. Trenton Julian (USA)- 1:50.58
6. Andrei Minakov (NAB)- 1:50.62
7. Nicolas Albiero (BRA)- 1:50.83
8. Richard Marton (HUN)- 1:51.79

Alberto Razzetti made a statement in his 200 fly this morning as the only swimmer under 1:50. He went 1:49.44 in heat 5 from the final heat to qualify for a middle lane in tonight’s final, over 6 tenths of a second faster than 2nd place qualifier Ilya Kharun at 1:50.11.

Kharun swam in heat 3, beating Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski’s time of 1:50.39 by almost three tenths. Also in the heat was American Trenton Julian who placed 3rd at 1:50.58, which qualified him in 5th for the final.

Heat 4 only sent one swimmer to the final, Kregor Zirk from Estonia. Zirk won the heat by a second and a half, going 1:50.39 to beat the reigning World Champion Chad Le Clos’s 1:51.89. Le Clos did not make tonight’s final meaning he will not be defending his title.

Dare Rose was the other American swimmer in the event, and he also swam in heat 4, placing 5th in 1:52.78.

Women’s 100 IM

• World Record: 55.98 — Gretchen Walsh (USA), 2024
• World Junior Record: 57.59 – Anastasiya Shkurdai (BLR)- 2020
• World Championship Record: 56.70 — Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2014
• 2022 World Champion:  Marrit Steenbergen (NED)— 57.53

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Gretchen Walsh (USA)- 56.06 **New Championship Record**
2. Kate Douglass (USA)- 56.98
3. Tessa Giele (NED)- 57.87
4. Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN)- 58.21
5. Rebecca Meder (RSA)- 58.44
6. Beryl Gastaldello (FRA)- 58.58
7. Diana Petkova (BUL)- 58.79
8. Ellen Walshe (IRL)- 58.85
9. Sydney Pickrem (CAN)- 58.92
10. Tamara Potocka (SVK)- 58.95
11. Louise Hansson (SWE)- 59.02
12. Helena Gasson (NZL)- 59.14
13. Barbora Janickova (CZE)- 59.25
14. Huiyu Zheng (CHN)- 59.58
15. Fernanda Gomes Celidonio (BRA)- 59.78
16. Anastasiya Kuliashova (NAA)- 59.82

American swimmer Gretchen Walsh swam in the last heat of the 200 IM, and continued her reign of dominance this meet by earning the top spot in the women’s 100 IM prelims by almost a second. Her 56.06 final time was also a new championship record, breaking Katinka Hosszu’s 10-year-old record of 56.70. She was also less than a tenth off her own world record of 55.98 from October.

Fellow American Kate Douglass took the 2nd to last heat in the 2nd fastest time of the prelims in 56.98. This was also almost a second faster than the next qualifier.

Tessa Giele went 57.87 from the 2nd heat to qualify 3rd for the semi-final tonight. There is a pretty large discrepancy between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, and the difference from Walsh in 1st to Giele in 3rd, 1.81 seconds is very similar to the difference between Giele’s 3rd and Anastasiya Kuliashova‘s 16th at 1.95 seconds.

Men’s 100 IM

• World Record: 49.28 — Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2020
• World Junior Record: 50.63 — Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2018
• World Championship Record: 50.63 — Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 2018
• 2022 World Champion: Thomas Ceccon, (ITA) — 50.97

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Nikola Miljenic (CRO)- 51.32
2. Noe Ponti (SUI)- 51.67
3. Carles Coll Marti (ESP)- 51.70
4. Bernhard Reitshammer (AUT)- 51.78
5. Caio Pumputis (BRA)- 51.81
6. Emre Sakci (TUR)- 52.10
7. Berke Saka (TUR)- 52.23
8. Jihun Kim (KOR)- 52.24
9. Heiko Gigler (AUT)- 52.26
10. Michael Andrew (USA)- 52.33
11. Leonardo Coelho Santos (BRA)- 52.43
12. Miroslav Knedla (CZE)- 52.56
13. Ronny Brannkarr (FIN)- 52..91
14. Vadym Naumenko (UKR) / Dmitrii Savenko (NAB)- 53.07
15. —
16. Benedek Andor (HUN)- 53.67

Nikola Miljenic from Croatia took the men’s top seed in 51.32 from the 2nd heat. He came in a little over 4 tenths faster than the 2nd place swimmer in his heat, Bernhard Reitshammer, from Austria, who went 51.78 to qualify 4th.

The 3rd heat of the event was not as fast as the 2nd or 4th heats. Emre Sacki won in 52.10 to qualify 6th, just ahead of Berke Saka who came in at 52.23 for 7th.

Heat 4 went to Noe Ponti‘s 51.67 by just three one-hundredths over Carles Coll Marti‘s 51.70. The two qualified 2nd and 3rd respectively for the semi-final tonight. Also in their heat was 5th place qualifier Caio Pumputis who went 51.81.

Michael Andrew from the United States qualified for his first semi-final of the meet, placing 10th in 52.33 from heat 3.

Men’s 400 Freestyle

• World Record: 3:32.25, Yannick Agnel (FRA), 2012
• World Junior Record: 3:37.92 – Matthew Sates (RSA), 2021
• World Championship Record: 55.70 – 3:34.01, Danas Rapsys (LTU), 2018
• 2022 World Champion: Kieran Smith (USA), 3:34.38

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Elijah Winnington (AUS)- 3:37.22
2. Carson Foster (USA)- 3:37.86
3. Lucas Henveaux (BEL)- 3:37.87
4. Zalan Sarkany (HUN)- 3:38.43
5. Roman Fuchs (FRA)- 3:38.51
6. Ahmed Jaouadi (TUN)- 3:38.57
7. Petar Mitsin (BUL)- 3:38.94
8. Kieran Smith (USA)- 3:39.14

Australia’s Elijah Winnington set the top time in the men’s 400 freestyle prelims in 3:37.22. He won the 2nd to last heat, beating Lucas Henveaux from Belarus by just over half-a-second.

Carson Foster snagged the 2nd seed from a non-circle seeded heat, going 3:37.86 from heat 4. He won his heat by almost 2 and a half seconds. He is 6 tenths back of Winnington’s top time, and just one one-hundredth ahead of Henveaux’s 3rd place time.

Winnington, Henveaux, and Foster were the only swimmers in the 3:37 range, everyone else was 3:38 or slower. Zalan Sarkany from Hungary won the final heat of the 400 freestyle prelims in 3:38.43, qualifying him 4th for tonight’s final.

Reigning world champion Kieran Smith was also in the final heat as the top seed, and he just barely squeaked into the final going 3:39.14 to beat 9th place finisher Danas Rapsys‘ time of 3:39.60 by by about half a second.

Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay

• World Record: 7:30.87, Australia – 2022
• World Championship Record: 7:30.87, Australia – 2022
• 2022 World Champion: Australia, 7:30.87

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. United States- 7:40.04
2. Neutral Athletes B- 7:41.36
3. Italy- 7:41.46
4. Germany- 7:41.65
5. Australia- 7:41.76
6. Hungary- 7:43.60
7. China- 7:46.28
8. Brazil- 7:47.97