2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships: Day 2 Preview

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
• Meet site
• FinaTV Live Stream
• Entry Lists
• Results
• Day-by-Day Timeline

Day 2 Prelims heat sheet.

Of the five events contested this morning, only one, the women’s 1500 freestyle, will advance directly to the finals featuring the 8 fastest swimmers. Given the duration and intensity of the race, the final will take place Tuesday evening and not later today (Monday).

Preliminary rounds of the men’s 200 freestyle, men’s 100 backstroke, women’s 100 backstroke, and women’s 100 breaststroke, will take place today, advancing the top 16 swimmers to the semifinals tonight (tomorrow morning for U.S. viewers). Each race will go on to feature a semifinal of two heats–16 swimmers total–in the evening session.

Day 2 of the 2019 FINA World Championships features some of swimming’s most hyped-up rematches of 2019: Ryan Murphy, Xu Jiayu, and Matt Grevers in the men’s 100 backstroke; Kathleen Baker and Kylie Masse in the women’s 100 backstroke; Lilly King and Yulia Efimova in the women’s 100 breaststroke; and Sun Yang versus the world in the men’s 200 freestyle.

Day 2 Morning Events:

• Men’s 200 Freestyle – Prelims
• Men’s 100 Backstroke – Prelims
• Women’s 1500 Freestyle – Prelims (Final Tuesday night)
• Women’s 100 Backstroke – Prelims
• Women’s 100 Breaststroke – Prelims

Like in day 1, all but one of the races on day 2 will feature the World Record holder in that event, with the exception being a Paul Biederman-less men’s 200 freestyle, where Biederman’s record of 1:42.00 is likely safe. The others include Lilly King in the women’s 100 breaststroke, Ryan Murphy in the men’s 100 backstroke, Kathleen Baker in the women’s 100 backstroke, and Katie Ledecky in the women’s 1500 freestyle.

Day 2 Morning Session’s Top Storylines to Follow:

• Lilly King will begin her quest for a 1:03 in the 100 breaststroke. King set the World Record at the 2017 World Championships in 1:04.13 and has been vocal about her goal to be the first woman under 1:04. Russian Yulia Efimova will challenge King in the 100, though whenever Efimova is in the pool she tends to bring the best out of King.
• Fresh off a gold medal and South African Record at the World University Games, Tatjana Shoenmaker stands to become the first woman in the history of the continent to break 1:06 in the 100 breaststroke, if she carries through with her recent momentum. She swam a 1:06.32 in Italy a couple of weeks ago.
• The two fastest men in the history of the 100 backstroke, Ryan Murphy and Xu Jiayu, begin their gold medal campaign today. 2017 silver medalist Matt Grevers will also vie for a spot in the semifinals, a feat that should be no problem for any of the three. Murphy and Jiayu are two of only three men who have ever broken the 52-second barrier in swimming and together represent the fastest and second-fastest performers all-time, respectively, in the race, with PRs of 51.85 and 51.86, respectively.
• Andrew Seliskar hits the pool for his first-ever World Championships event, the 200 freestyle. Seliskar exploded onto the international scene last summer with a victory in the 200 freestyle at the 2018 U.S. Summer National Championships. At Pan Pacs, Townley Haas got the better of Seliskar, but the Americans still went 1-2. With the rest of the world in the mix, they’ll have to fight a lot harder.
• Kylie Masse will initiate her efforts to defend her 2017 World Championship and reclaim her 100 backstroke World Record from American Kathleen Baker. Baker withdrew from the FINA Champions Series in Budapest citing a broken rib from coughing, and ceded her chance to swim the 200 IM at these Championships to Ella Eastin. She hasn’t raced in months, and so there’s a lot of unknowns for her coming into her signature event.
• Fresh off a shocking loss in the 400 freestyle, Katie Ledecky will look for redemption in the women’s 1500 freestyle. Though she probably won’t take it too hard in prelims, her final Tuesday evening will definitely be one to watch.
• Italian Simona Quadarella, who was a favorite to at least final in the women’s 400 freestyle, withdrew from the event to focus on longer races, specifically the 800 and 1500. Quadarella gets her first chance to see if the bet to sit out the 400 paid off with the prelims of the 1500 today.
• Spain’s Mireia Belmonte failed to make it out of the heats in either of her first two events, the 200 IM and 400 freestyle. After missing major competitions in 2018 due to injury, Belmonte appears not to have regained her top form just yet.
• Controversial distance king Sun Yang hits the pool again to defend his 2017 title in the men’s 200 freestyle. Sun won the 400 on day 1 for the fourth-consecutive occasion of the World Championships. His presence at these championships has caused some controversy given his alleged behavior with anti-doping officials. Though he has a hearing with the Court of Arbitration of Sport in September, every additional medal Sun wins will salt the wounds of those that do not believe he is “clean.”