Hosszu Misses 2Free Final, Larkin DQ’d On Day 2 Prelims In Beijing

2018 FINA WORLD CUP – BEIJING

• Friday, November 2nd – Sunday, November 4th
• Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Water Cube
• Heats at 10am local/Finals at 7pm local
• SCM
• Entry List
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Day 1 Prelims
• Day 2 Finals
• Results

Host nation of China wasted no time getting out ahead of the competition on day 2 of prelims of the World Cup stop in Beijing. The newly-minted national record holder in the men’s 200m back from last night, Xu Jiayu, led the 50m back field this morning with a solid 23.46.

That time ranked ahead of America’s Michael Andrew, who touched in 23.69 for 2nd seed, while Russian speedster Vlad Morozov rounded out the top 3 in 23.86. Australia’s 200m back runner-up from last night, Mitch Larkin, is very much in the mix for tonight’s final as the 4th seed in 24.10.

In a surprising turn of events, Hungary’s Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu found herself out of the women’s 200m free final tonight after capturing two golds on night 1. Clocking a morning effort of 1:58.33, Hosszu fell to 12th place after heats, which sits her out of the top 8 for this evening’s event.

Finishing over 3 seconds faster to claim the top seed was Sweden’s Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom. Sjostrom notched 1:54.87 to represent the only racer of the field under 1:55. Last night’s gold medalist in the 400m free, Li Bingjie of China earned runner-up status to flank Sjostrom, collecting a morning time of 1:55.39.

Dutch mainstay Femke Heemskerk will also be in tonight’s final after her 3rd-seeded 1:55.80.

Another twist on the morning came in the form of Mitch Larkin‘s DQ in the men’s 200m IM. Already having been a threat over the course of the World Cup Series thus far in this event, Larkin sits as the 2nd fastest swimmer in the world with his time of 1:52.96 from last month.

Based on the splits revealed on the results, it appears Larkin was most likely disqualified on the transition from back to breast, but we will know more details post-publishing.

In his stead, Japanese swimmer Keita Sunama got the job done to lead the field, stopping the clock in 1:56.49. Feilian Mao found himself touching the wall right behind in 1:56.85, while Yu Cong notched 1:57.22 for the 3rd seed.

Two IM powerhouses lurk in the 4th and 5th seeded spots, however, as China’s Wang Shun and Japan’s Hiromasa Fujimori earned morning swims of 1:57.27 and 1:57.53, respectively.

Additional Top Seeds:

• Australian Olympian Emily Seebohm tops a foursome of sub-58 second 100m back swimmers for the women, notching 57.63 to land the pole position for the final. Teammate Minna Atherton scored 57.73 to also make her presence known, while Hosszu bounced back from her 200m free with a 3rd seeded swim of 57.78 in this 100m back. Dutch racer Kira Toussaint finished in 57.99 for 4th seed.
• Slovenia’s Peter John Stevens nabbed the top seed in the men’s 50m breast ahead of Michael Andrew, earning a morning mark of 26.26 to the American’s 26.30.
• Another close battle is brewing between Dutch Olympian Ranomi Kromowidjojo and the aforementioned Sjostrom of Sweden. Last night Kromo got the leg up on the Swede in the women’s 50m free and she looks quite capable of doing so again this evening in the 50m fly event. Kromo touched just .01 ahead of Sjostrom, with the rivals clocking respective efforts of 25.60 and 25.61.
• Russia’s Vlad Morozov looks like he’s heading for more gold after his 100m IM/50m free double from last night. He leads the charge in the men’s 100m free, earning a morning time of 46.79.
• Hosszu was back in the water, contesting the women’s 100m breaststroke. She nailed the 8th seed in 1:08.72, while the leaders were much quicker, including Alia Atkinson‘s 1:05.70. Russians Vitalina Simonova and Yuliya Efimova are right behind in 1:06.34 and 1:06.59.
• China’s Li Zhuhao looks primed to take his 2nd fly victory, sitting as the top seed in the 200m distance after his morning effort of 1:56.34.