2015 FINA World Championships: Day 8 Finals Preview

2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Pool swimming: Sunday, August 2nd – Sunday, August 9th
• Prelims 9:30AM/Finals 5:30PM (Local Time)
• Kazan Arena Stadium
• Kazan, Russia (UTC+3 hours)
• Full Coverage
• All Sport Medal Tables
• Live Stream (Universal Sports)
• Schedule and Results

Men’s 50m Backstroke Final

Defending champion Camille Lacourt will have lane 4 for the final after qualifying 1st in the semi-finals going 24.27. Lacourt posted the fastest time in the semi-finals by 0.32, so he would have to be considered the heavy favorite coming into the final. 2nd seed Matt Grevers won silver two years ago and will look to win another medal in the event this year. He qualified in 24.59. 2009 and 2011 World Champion and world record holder Liam Tancock will have lane 2 in the final after qualifying 5th in 24.75. 100 and 200m backstroke champion Mitchell Larkin of Australia will be looking to win all three backstroke titles, but will be in tough against this field. He qualified 4th in 24.65. Also swimming in the final will be David Plummer (USA), Ben Treffers (AUS), Vladimir Morozov (RUS) and Lavrans Solli (NOR). Missing the final were 2013 silver medalist Jeremy Stravius of France and Pavel Sankovich of Belarus.

Women’s 50m Breastroke Final

Ruta Meilutyte will be in search of her first gold medal of these championships in the women’s 50 breast final. Meilutyte qualified 1st overall in 29.98, the only woman under 30 seconds in the semi-finals. She will have a second shot at rival Yuliya Efimova who defeated Meilutyte in the 100 breast earlier in the week, as well as the 50 breast final two years ago. 100m bronze medalist Alia Atkinson will have a good shot at a second medal tonight, after posting a 6th ranked 30.78. Also qualifying for the final was Jessica Hardy (USA), Jennie Johansson (SWE), Mariia Liver (UKR), Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir (ISL) and Moniek Nijhuis (NED).

Men’s 400m IM Final

In his first and only event of the meet, American Chase Kalisz comes into the final of the men’s 400 IM with the top seed after swimming a time of 4:11.83 in the heats. Kalisz will look to improve upon the silver medal he won in this event two years ago. After disappointing performances in the 200 fly and 200 IM, defending champion Daiya Seto comes into the final seeded 3rd overall after swimming a time of 4:12.17 in the heats. Two-time World Championship medalist in this event Tyler Clary also had a solid prelim swim, qualifying 4th for the final in 4:12.22. David Verraszto of Hungary came into this event with the 3rd ranked time in the world for the year of 4:11.28, and he swam another solid 4:11.99 to qualify 2nd overall. Dan Wallace of Great Britain qualified 5th in 4:13.07 after finishing 4th in the 200 IM a few days ago. Also qualifying for the final was Jacob Heidtmann (GER), Roberto Pavoni (GBR) and Yang Zhixian (CHN). Among those missing the final were Federico Turrini (ITA), Thomas Fraser-Holmes (AUS) and Huang Chaosheng (CHN) who was well off his 6th ranked 4:12.89 from earlier this year in 4:19.11.

Women’s 50m Freestyle

Cate Campbell of Australia will look for her first individual gold medal of the championships after coming up short in the 100 free. She qualified 1st overall in the semi-finals in 24.22. Her sister Bronte Campbell will also swim in the final, coming off her victory in the 100. She qualified 4th in 24.32. 100m fly champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden qualified 3rd in 24.31, while defending champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo qualified 2nd to Campbell in 24.22. Also swimming in the final will be Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (BAH), Simone Manuel (USA), Fran Halsall (GBR) and Chantal Van Landeghem (CAN). This field is loaded with talent and is going to be a great race. Missing the final were Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) and Dorothea Brandt (GER).

Men’s 1500m Freestyle

Sun Yang will look for his 3rd straight World Championship title in the men’s 1500 free, and his 3rd gold and 4th medal of the meet on the final night of the championships. Sun qualified 3rd in the heats posting a 14:55.11. Gregorio Paltrinieri qualified 1st in 14:51.04, and will be dangerous and challenge Sun. He is coming off a silver medal performance in the 800 free. Other top medal threats are American Connor Jaeger (2nd, 14:53.34) and Canadian Ryan Cochrane (6th, 14:55.96). Cochrane has won a medal in this event at 5 consecutive Olympics/World Championships and will look to continue the streak here. Also qualifying for the final was Stephen Milne (GBR), Akram Ahmed (EGY), Michael McBroom (USA) and Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR). Among those missing the final were Pal Joensen (FAR), Damien Joly (FRA) and Mack Horton (AUS).

Women’s 400m IM

After winning the gold and breaking the world record in the women’s 200 IM earlier in the meet, Katinka Hosszu comes into her last race of the meet with the top seed in the women’s 400 IM. Hosszu qualified 1st overall in 4:32.78, almost 3 seconds clear of her closest competitor. She shouldn’t be challenged for gold tonight and will chase Ye Shiwen’s world record from the 2012 Olympics of 4:28.43. Barbora Zavadova (CZE) and Emily Overholt (CAN) both had very good prelim swims, qualifying 2nd and 3rd respectively, in 4:35.60 and 4:35.86. Both will be in contention for their first World Championship medal tonight. Following them was Hannah Miley (GBR) and Maya DiRado (USA) who qualified in a tie for 4th overall in 4:36.11. Both will also be in strong medal contention tonight. Also qualifying for the final was Sakiko Shimizu (JPN), Aimee Willmott (GBR) and Lara Grangeon (FRA). Among those missing the final were 2011 World Champion Elizabeth Beisel (USA), 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ye Shiwen (CHN) and 200 IM finalist Sydney Pickrem (CAN).

Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay

The American men come into the final with the top seed in the medley relay after posting a 3:31.06 this morning. The team consisted of Matt Grevers, Cody Miller, Tim Phillips and Ryan Lochte. The Americans will sub in Kevin Cordes, Tom Shields and Nathan Adrian for the final, along with most likely Ryan Murphy after his 52.18 100 back in the heats of the mixed medley relay. The Americans have a strong history in this event, but also have a recent history of disqualifications. They have won this event 4 times since 2000 at the World Championships, but have been disqualified at the other 3 championships (2001, 2007, 2013). Qualifying 2nd was the Australian quartet of Mitchell Larkin, Jake Packard, David Morgan and Kyle Chalmers in 3:31.86. They will keep the same front half of their squad for the final and sub in Jayden Hadler and Cameron McEvoy on the back half. Defending champions France were 3rd overall in the heats at 3:32.51, and Japan was 4th in 3:32.82. Mehdy Metella had a particularly fast fly leg for France, splitting 50.88, the only man under 51 seconds for butterfly this morning. Also qualifying for the final was Germany, Great Britain, Poland and Russia. Great Britain will use Adam Peaty in the final, which immediately makes them a top contender. Russia will also sub in Vladimir Morozov for the final, most likely on freestyle (maybe backstroke). Among those missing the final were Italy, Brazil, Canada and China. Hungary was disqualified.

Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay

The final event of the championships will be the women’s 4x100m medley relay. The Chinese women qualified 1st overall in the heats, finishing in a time of 3:57.04. The Chinese women have 4 strong legs and will look to sub in 100m fly bronze medalist Lu Ying tonight. They were followed closely by the Americans in 3:57.12, Sweden in 3:57.29 and the Australians in 3:57.95. The Americans swam Kathleen Baker, Micah Lawrence, Kendyl Stewart and Margo Geer in the prelims, but will most likely swim a completely different team tonight. The only who could stay is Stewart, who threw down a massive 56.86 fly split. Swimming in the final will be Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy and Simone Manuel, and either Stewart or Katie McLaughlin on fly. Sweden had strong legs from Jennie Johansson (1:06.20) and Sarah Sjostrom (56.10) this morning. The Australians will have 100m back champion Emily Seebohm swimming for them in the final, with most likely 100m free champion Bronte Campbell on freestyle. I figured Australia would use Cate Campbell in the prelims, but they went with Melanie Wright. 2014 European Champions Denmark qualified 5th in 3:58.38, and will look to challenge for a medal tonight. Also qualifying for the final was Canada, Great Britain and Japan. Missing the final were Italy, Russia, Germany and France.