2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 11th – February 18th
- Doha, Qatar
- LCM (50m)
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- Live Results (Omega)
Sunday morning at the first session of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships gave some answers about the level of preparation for this meet from one of the world’s best men’s distance training groups.
American David Johnston finished 12th in the heats of the men’s 400 free in 3:46.99 while 2023 World Championship silver medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui finished 17th, with both missing out on the finals in Doha.
Both swimmers skipped the NCAA season to go train with Mark Schubert at The Swim Team in Southern California. While their teammate Will Gallant was a late withdrawal for the meet, Johnston and Hafnaoui did decide to race.
Johnston, previously of the University of Texas, finished 12th in prelims in 3:46.99, about a second shy of his best time of 3:45.75. Hafnaoui, previously of Indiana University, was 17th in 3:48.05, off his 3:40.70 from last year’s World Championships that missed gold by .01 seconds.
It’s important to note that Hafnaoui has been back in Tunisia training for the last three weeks while updating his American visa, saying that he’s been using the plans of his Tunisian coaches and not Schubert during that time.
Other day 1 observations that gives us some indication of where top swimmers are in their tapers:
- Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski, who is competing for the USC varsity this season, was 19th in the 400 free in 3:48.71. That improves his best time of 3:49.3 by six-tenths, indicating that he’s ready-to-roll and remains the favorite in the 200 fly later in the meet.
- Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen was 3:45.52 in heats of the 400 free. That’s about 1.2 seconds off his best, but he was also safely into the final, so maybe we’ll get more information in the evening. With Hafnaoui’s form, Wiffen is probably the favorite in the 800 and 1500 even if he’s not at his best.
- Americans Carson Foster and Luke Hobson look in great form, both splitting 47-seconds on the American 400 free relay. Hobson was 47.70 and Foster anchored in 47.83. Great Britain’s Matthew Richards was 47.76, possibly making him the favorite in the men’s 100 free, while China’s Pan Zhanle was only 48.26 – enough to get China into the final, but not necessarily enough to spook anyone in the 100 free final.
- Michael Andrew looked good in prelims of the men’s 50 fly with a 23.03 as he chases four gold medals in four 50s. So too did Cam McEvoy in 23.19, right on his best, and making him a favorite for something special in the 50 free later in the meet. Isaac Cooper might be one of the only Australians who’s fully-firing at this meet.
- Kate Douglass didn’t show her hand too much in prelims of the 200 IM in 2:10.01, but she always seems to be able to siwm fast – rested or not.
I’m curious as to what kind of Visa he is applying for here in the US? Do we know of any other international swimmers here in the US who are on a visa that is not a student visa?
Sure, Indiana may not be traditionally known as a distance powerhouse, but they’ve made huge strides lately, especially on the women’s side with Gan Ching Hwee and Mariah Denigan. They’re bringing in more distance recruits and showing improved results in distance events.
Friendly reminder, Hafnoui’s successes at LC world’s last year came while training at Indiana.
I’m sure there are a lot of things that contributed to Hafnoui leaving Indiana that haven’t surfaced yet, but so far, with limited results to go off of, it’s not working out.
Wish the kid nothing but the best, but, HOOSIERS FOREVER.
If Hafnaoui just sucked it up and did his 2 hours of sport management work a week at IU, we would still be seeing 3:40s…
Let’s not bury him just yet. He is usually slow in season plus he still has the 800 and 1500 left.
hope he doesn’t fall off the blocks in those races.
Oofanoui
Hopefully he get things sorted out quickly. I wanna see him at his peak in Paris. Men’s 400-800-1500 were the most entertaining men’s events in Fukuoka.
Leaving Looze will help him in the long run dont worry guys he’ll be fine
he’s been in Tunisia awaiting a Visa .. it’s too bad that Schubert didn’t send a workout plan for him until he can go back to California.
What’s Johnston’s excuse? He had no training disruption with Schubert
I mean his best time was 3:45.7 at the 2023 Nationals, this 3:46.9 is the second-best time in his career. Without knowing how much the Schubert group is tapering/preparing for this meet, I don’t think it is that bad. Much better than his Fukuoka time (3:48.6) at least.
Yeah Hafnaoui’s swim was pretty bad. But Johnston’s was just kind of “a nice swim.” Maybe an underestimate of what it would take for the final. Not bad enough I think to draw any big picture conclusions of the training change.
he almost fell off the blocks at the start … something isn’t right here. Painful to watch .. but glad Peacock is streaming it live
but the TST “pro group” not faring well overall in Doha.
It would be stupid for Johnston to go all the way to Doha to the World Championships and not be tapered.
Agree. Johnstons swim was off. I’ve no experience in this at all but my understanding is that some of these big international meets are emotional letdowns. You get more excitement at a college duel meet. I’m not offering this as an excuse for Johnston, but if that did happen to him hopefully he’ll be more prepared next time.
He should’ve thought about the new visa before he left Indiana.
A really great immigration lawyer advertises on this site. Maybe he should’ve given him a call before he made a move.
makes you question how he can live independently …
He was training with Cory Chitwood at IU!
Does seem like Chitwood is the distance coach based on Open Water, Looze I assume is breaststroke/mid distance? Would love to see a write up of each college and who coaches what, could be interesting