2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Provisional Entry List
- Entries Book
- Meet Schedule
- Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00 am ET
- U.S. Live Stream (Finals – First Three Days)
- U.S. Live Stream (Prelims, Finals Last 3 Days)
- FINA TV Livestream (All Sessions)
- Live Results (Omega)
It wasn’t a scratch, but rather a non-scratch, that was the biggest revelation of start lists for Tuesday’s (day 1) preliminary session at the 2018 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships. Australia’s Emily Seebohm, a world-class IMer but best-known as a backstroker, has held on to her entry in the women’s 50 breaststroke for her first swim of the meet. There she’s the 6th seed behind a list of breaststroke specialists, especially the top two seeds Alia Atkinson of Jamaica and Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania. They are the World Record holder and Championship Record holder, respectively, in the event.
Unless she scratches between now and then, that leaves Seebohm with a probable 2 swims on Tuesday (Australia’s women aren’t swimming the 400 free relay).
Other Noteworthy Scratches (or non-scratches):
- Christopher Rothbauer, Austria’s National Record holder (set a month ago at 57.69) has dropped the men’s 100 breast, where he was the 15th seed
- Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands, the would-be 3rd seed in the 100 back, is out, but we already knew that she’s scratching the whole meet.
- Georgia Davies of the Great Britain, part of a small 3-swimmer roster sent by the UK without much fanfare, has had her seed time upgraded. She’s now the 9th seed and will swim in the final heat out of lane 3.
- Brazil has scratched the women’s 400 free relay, leaving that race with just 11 entries now. They didn’t have a seed time, but were likely to final.
- 3 countries have scratched the men’s 400 free relay: Sweden, South Africa, and Poland. That cuts out the first chance to get a peek at Pawe Juraszek, who only has 1 individual entry in the meet – the 50 free, where he’s seeded 3rd behind Vlad Morozov and Ben Proud. Juraszek, at 24, has had a breakthrough season.
- Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu has held on to her double in the 400 IM (#1 seed) and 100 back (#3 seed). That’s part of 8 events she’s scheduled to race this week in Hangzhou. Her pattern historically has been to scratch after prelims at big meets, especially with a ‘limited’ (by her standard) 8 event schedule.