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
- Live results
America’s Caeleb Dressel made history at the 2017 edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships when the former Florida Gator earned a total of 7 gold medals in Budapest. That feat tied icon Michael Phelps as the only men in history to have won 7 gold medals in a single World Championships meet.
Flash forward to 2019, and it’s Australia’s Emma McKeon who has a chance to take on the same type of accomplishment with her Gwangju program possibly consisting of 8 events in all.
Per the unofficial entry lists for the World Championships, the 25-year-old Griffith University star is entered in the 100m free, 200m free and 100m fly in terms of individual events. We know the star will be a part of the women’s 4x100m free, 4x200m free and 4x100m medley relays, but there’s a very good chance McKeon will also be called up on to contest the mixed relays as well, which could bring her total number of events to 8 in all.
Whether or not McKeon will take part in both mixed relays is the question, as she was not a member of the Aussie mixed free relay at the 2017 edition of the World Championships. Even if that were to be the case here in Gwangju, she would still be targeting 7 events, a big haul nonetheless.
And McKeon isn’t simply entered in the events, she carries medal-favorite status in all 3 individual races. The multi-Olympic medalist is currently ranked #2 in the world in the 100m free in 52.41, #2 in the 200m free in 1:54.55 and #2 in the 100m fly in 56.85.
Plus, the women’s 4x100m women’s free relay is tipped in the Aussies’ favor based on the nation’s World Trials performances of the top women, even despite Shayna Jack‘s sudden withdrawal. Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, McKeon, Madi Wilson, Brianna Throssell, and Leah Neale will all be poised to upgrade from silver in 2017, with 6 Australians currently ranked among the top 25 100m freestylers in the world right now.
If McKeon is successful in making it to through the rounds, her 7 or 8 event entry isn’t actually too terribly taxing from a daily perspective. On Wednesday McKeon would take on 2 finals in the evening with the women’s 200m free and mixed 4x100m medley, while on Sunday and Thursday she would face 1 semi-final and 1 final apiece, doable for a world-class sprinter that has medaled at the Olympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
McKeon will no doubt face fierce competition from 100m fly favorite Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden and America’s Katie Ledecky who is gunning for 200m free greatness, not to mention her own domestic rivals of Cate Campbell in the 100m free and Titmus in the 200m free. However, McKeon has said she is stronger than ever and she has proven her ability to rise to the occasion in the past.
Sunday, 07/21, AM: 100 fly, 4×100 free relay
Sunday, 07/21, PM: 100 fly SF, 4×100 free relay FINAL
Monday, 07/22, AM: OFF
Monday, 07/22, PM: 100 fly FINAL
Tuesday, 07/23, AM: 200 free
Tuesday, 07/23, PM: 200 free SF
Wednesday, 07/24, AM: 4×100 mixed medley relay
Wednesday, 07/24, PM: 200 free FINAL, 4×100 mixed medley relay FINAL
Thursday, 07/25, AM: 100 free, 4×200 free relay
Thursday, 07/25 PM: 100 free SF, 4×200 free relay FINAL
Friday, 07/26, AM: OFF
Friday, 07/26, PM: 100 free FINAL
Saturday, 07/27, AM: 4×100 mixed free relay
Saturday, 07/27, PM: 4×100 mixed free relay FINAL
Sunday, 07/28, AM: 4×100 medley relay
Sunday, 07/28, PM: 4×100 medley relay FINAL
mixed 400 medley is no good. I have better ideas for events, and mixed events that would better test the mettle of country at hand.
Swimming should show who is the best overall swimming country by truly testing mentality/toughness of athletes and not the talent.
200 fly- good
50 fly- dumb
Cool event possibilities are probably not fit for television but would be badass to consider
– ultra endurance relay- 6 athlete team swims for 24 hours trying to go longest distance
– Steamboat tug- Swimming strongman competition- Take 10 men/ 10 women from swimming/water polo delegation from major countries (China, Japan, USA, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Hungary etc.) and see how fast they can… Read more »
I mean… we all understand that this isn’t actually in the cards, right?
Her chance at 8 medals is pretty good (if she swims in mixed relays that is), but probably more like 3gold (200free best chance individually, 4x100fr and 4x100mixed free) with 5 silver/bronze combo in remaining events (100free/100fly/4x100mixed medley/4×100 medley/4×200).
100free in particular is DEEP though, contending with Campbell, Sjostrom, Manuel, Ruck, Blume etc, so far from a safe bet. Sjostrom is the only one that I think is a lock for a medal there.
C1 is a lock for a medal.
AS long as she doesn’t mistakenly think it is the olympics anyways.
The chances of Ledecky swimming a 1:53.29 in the 200 free are a lot better than the chances of McKeon winning 8 gold medals.
Sarah Sjostrom has entered the chat
Given her 8-event schedule and “stronger than ever” comments, it seems unusual that McKeon appears to have had a quite extended five-month or more time period without a FINA-WADA-ITA drug test (from Dec. ’18 to April ’19, last month of FINA testing stats posted). Is there an explanation for this or was an exception made–her teammates/competitors all seem to have been tested once or more during that timeframe. FINA statistics are at http://www.fina.org/content/statistics-2019 and even Sun Yang is listed as having been tested in Feb and April of 2019.
Athletes with past positive tests are often targeted for more.
Keep in mind that FINA is just one of many testing authorities that have the right to test elite swimmers. Unlike the US Anti-Doping Agency, Australia’s Anti-Doping Agency doesn’t post public lists of who’ve they have tested, so we don’t know for sure, but it’s highly-likely that she’s been tested by them in that time period.
I agree with Bianco that lack of international (vs domestic) testing of McKeon is a concern. First, you still have the sudden, unexplained withdrawal of AUS swimmer Shayna Jack from the meet for “personal reasons” (AUS media reports that even team members are “still in the dark” on that one). Second, a general requirement even for swimmers coming out of retirement is that you have to be in the drug testing pool for at least six months prior to swimming in a sanctioned meet, so how can the extremely active McKeon not be tested internationally for at least a 5-month (or more) stretch leading up to Aussie Champs and Trials whilst all her competitors are being internationally tested during that… Read more »
The data is cherry picked a little. She was tested in both September and November.
It seems like Australia is being tested in bursts by FINA. They had very few (3 each month) for many months, then in March and April there were suddenly tons of tests. FINA doesn’t publicize their selection methodology, so hard to explain why that happens that way.
It seems to this reader that “hard to explain” is exactly the problem. Especially when there is a 6-month testing pool requirement. And does it seem fair that a swimmer like Madisyn Cox can get bounced by FINA on a six-month suspension for a milligram technicality that was not her fault, and an extremely busy swimmer at World Champs (McKeon, who is more successful than Cox) is not even tested by FINA for half a year, esp now that a teammate has mysteriously dropped out of the meet? Yes, all very “hard to explain”.
Braden already explained that she was most likely tested domestically. Not Emma’s fault if FINA does not turn up for 4 months ( not five). What’s all the hate on McKeon for ?
When McKeon is touting eight meet entries with her coach and she is encouraging comparison in Australian media to Michael Phelps when she has yet to win a single individual race at Worlds or Olympics, it is probably going to annoy some people, even Australians. See Yahoo news Aus AP article–“McKeon Has Swim Great Phelps In Sights”
Yeah, McKeon’s not touting anything at all. That whole article appears to be her coach mouthing off and the media amplifying it even more.
Thanks Troy for bringing some common sense
Yeah, sounds like her coach was just saying he liked how Phelps was strategic in prelims and he wants McKeon to go for that.
Mornings ., not full days
So this comment thread is all good with Dressel earning relay medals , but not McKeon ? Ummmmmm…ok…
I don’t think people would take greater issue with McKeon getting medals via relays . It’s just that the headline is a huge stretch given that McKeon hasn’t won an individual international gold medal yet. It’s technically true, but at the same time, the last seeded entry in an event can be said to also be ‘chasing a gold medal’.