A number of high-profile scratches will shake up the heat sheets for Saturday night finals of the Arena Pro Swim Series at Austin, including two of the top four qualifiers in the women’s 200 IM.
Maybe not so surprising a scratch is Katie Ledecky, who qualified second in the 200 IM this morning (2:16.04), but is clearly more focused on the 800 free, which will swim just 20 minutes after the IM race. In the same boat is Texas A&M All-American Sarah Henry, who was fourth in the IM. Ledecky and Henry are seeded 1-2 in the 800.
Two pro swimmers nearly in money-making position will not swim their events in the final. Former Texas Longhorn breaststroker Eric Friedland is a scratch in the men’s 100 breast after qualifying 5th. Meanwhile Megan Romano, the Georgia grad who trains in Austin, is out of the 100 back after placing 4th this morning.
And in another Texas-related scratch, Longhorn sophomore Jack Conger will not contest the 100 back tonight. Conger was 6th in the morning with a 55.75, but really does seem to be moving more into the butterfly races this season. Conger no longer has any events scheduled for tonight.
Also of note: Zimbabwe’s highly-decorated Olympian Kirsty Coventry will apparently choice tonight – after swimming the 100 back/200 IM double in the morning, Coventry will drop the backstroke and swim just the IM tonight. The 100 back is where Coventry broke the World Record in 2008, but she’s also a decorated IMer internationally. Coventry was sitting 6th in the back.
The last scratch out of an A final is Andrew Gemmell, who drops the 200 fly to focus on his 1500 free. Gemmell was 8th in the fly, but sits 4th in the 1500.
Other scratches from the A and B finals heading into tonight:
- Caitlin Leverenz, 200 fly (9th)
- Ryan Harty, 200 fly (14th)
- Conor Dwyer, 100 breast (10th)
- Lisa Bratton, 100 back (10th)
- Kaylin Burchell, 200 IM (9th)
Don’t understand the Conger scratch. Would have liked to see what he could have done in a finals setting. Also, If he is focusing on fly, why not swim the 200? It’s pretty wide open compared to the other events he swims
Last year Katie made the double 200 IM/800 free on day 3. And she swam “only” 8.26.
I think she wants a fast time this year. Around 8.16/8.18.
And is Jack Conger’s scratch another sign that he gives up progressively backstroke, at least in long course, to focus more on the 100 fly and perhaps the 100 free? Don’t forget that his best performance of last summer was a promising 49.28. After what he showed in the 100 fly this week, I don’t see why he couldn’t swim 48 low in the 100 free next year.
I think what Ledecky wants in the 800 is a WR. Look at it this way. Ledecky’s 400 was more than 2.5s faster than anyone else swam the 400 last year. 5s faster than Carlin swam the 800 last year would break the record
Good prediction.