Douglass Drops 50 Fly, Curzan Out of 50 Free on Updated 2024 Worlds Start Lists

By Nick Pecoraro on SwimSwam

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 11th – February 18th (pool swimming)
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Official Entry Lists (Updated 2/9)

American Kate Douglass has withdrawn from the women’s 50 fly one day out from the start of the 2024 World Championships in Doha. At the same time, teammate Claire Curzan has scratched out of the women’s 50 free. Both Americans were set to accompany each other in both events, but have favored their stronger event to battle on their own.

Douglass was seeded 21st in the 50 fly at 26.27, leaving No. 6 seed Curzan (25.74) the lone American in the event. Swedish sprint queen Sarah Sjostrom is the only sub-25 entrant at 24.74. Meanwhile, Curzan was seeded 17th in the 50 free with a sub-25 entry of 24.92, leaving Douglass on her own. Douglass currently ranks 4th in the 50 free at 24.38, two-tenths off No. 3 seed Kasia Wasick of Poland (24.18) and another 0.17s off Australia’s Shayna Jack (24.01). Sweden’s Sjostrom is once again the top seed, entered at 23.61.

This leaves Curzan with 3 top seeds of now 5 individual events, and Douglass with 2 top seeds from 4 solo entries. Here’s a breakdown of their current events and psych sheet seeds:

Current Seeds – Kate Douglass		Current Seeds – Claire Curzan
1	200 Breast (2:21.22)	1	100 Fly (56.61)
1	200 IM (2:07.09)	1	100 Back (58.35)
4	50 Free (24.38)	1	200 Back (2:06.35)
4	100 Free (52.57)	6	50 Fly (25.74)
		13	50 Back (28.14)

Another multi-top seeded swimmer that dropped an event to hone in on their stronger events is Italy’s Simona Quadarella. The Italian scratched her No. 5 seed in the 400 free to focus on a potential double gold with her top seeds in both the 800 and 1500 free.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar was originally slated to swim both the 100 and 200 fly, yet has opted not to battle her No. 2 seed in the 100 fly. Instead, Pudar will go all in on her top-seeded 200 fly time of 2:06.26, with Great Britain’s Laura Stephens (2:06.62) as the only other sub-2:07 entrant.Other entrants focusing on stronger events include:

• Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga: #2 100 BR/#4 200 BR, scratched #9 50 breast
• Great Britain’s Abbie Wood: #6 200 IM, scratched #11 200 free
• Hungary’s Ajna Kesely: #6 800 free/#18 1500 free, scratched #10 400 free

On a different note, Egyptian teammates Abdelrahman Sameh and Marwan El Kamash have completely withdrawn all of their respective individual events from Doha. Sameh was seeded 5th in the 50 fly and 34th in the 50 free. Sameh told SwimSwam it was a decision he made with his NCAA coaches.

“I didn’t get much information but I trust the guy (head coach Chris Lindauer) with my life so I decided to be coachable and just listen,” El Kamash said.

He was entered in the three distance free events, with a #10 seed in the 800 free, #12 seed in the 1500 free, and #12 seed in the 400 free. Other notable withdrawn swimmers include:

• Hungary’s Benedek Kovacs: #4 200 back, #14 100 back
• Belgium’s Florine Gaspard: #8 50 free

Peaking at the current relay entries, Australian has scratched both their men’s 400 and 800 free relays, as well as the USA scratching the women’s 400 free relay. All relay events except both men’s and women’s 400 medley relays saw notable team scratches.

Notable Withdrawn Relays – Update 2/9
Seed	Country	Relay
1	Australia	Men’s 400 FR Relay
4	Australia	Men’s 800 FR Relay
5	Brazil	Mixed 400 FR Relay
9	Korea	Mixed 400 FR Relay
11	Korea	Mixed 400 Medley Relay
10	Singapore	Men’s 800 FR Relay
12	Singapore	Mixed 400 FR Relay
10	South Africa	Women’s 400 FR Relay
16	South Africa	Women’s 800 FR Relay
2	USA	Women’s 400 FR Relay

SwimSwam: Douglass Drops 50 Fly, Curzan Out of 50 Free on Updated 2024 Worlds Start Lists