Swimming

2024 World Championships: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

By

on

By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The swimming portion of Doha 2024 commences in less than an hour, and today’s prelim session will feature a total of 8 events, 6 of them being individual ones. Action will kick off with the women’s 200 IM, followed by the men’s 400 free, women’s 100 fly, men’s 50 fly, women’s 400 free, and men’s 100 breast. The session will conclude with the 4×100 freestyle relay for both men and women.

The first event of the morning, the women’s 200 IM, will feature defending World Champion Kate Douglass. She won the world title in Fukuoka with a swift 2:07.17 effort, and owns a best time of 2:07.09 in the event. Douglass owns a season best time of 2:07.89, which she recorded at the Knoxville Pro Swim Series during a morning time trial. China’s Yu Yiting is another name to watch for in the event, as the defending bronze medalist posted a best time of 2:07.75 in September.

The men’s 400 free will be one of the most loaded fields of the entire meet, with defending silver medalist (and 2023 800 & 1500 World Champion) Ahmed Hafnaoui entered as the top seed. The 2022 World Champion, Elijah Winnington, will also feature in the field after a 7th place performance in Fukuoka. Winnington was 3:44.26 in last year’s final, but his best time from 2022 (3:41.22) puts him in the conversation for gold. Lukas Märtens of Germany is another name slated to compete in this stacked field, having earned silver at 2022 Worlds (3:42.85) and bronze (3:42.20) last year. He owns a best time of 3:41.60 in the event.

The women’s 100 and men’s 50 butterfly events will occur next, highlighted by top seeds Claire Curzan (USA) and Diogo Ribiero (POR). The 100 fly is the event where Curzan broke onto the scene as a junior athlete, ultimately qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team for the event in 2021. She still holds the world junior record in the event from prior to the Tokyo Olympics (56.43, with an unratified 56.20), and it still stands as her best time. Ribiero is the world junior record holder in the 50 fly, and won silver in this event last year in Fukuoka.

The women’s 400 free is missing many of the top contenders, including world record holder Ariarne Titmus, world junior record holder Summer McIntosh, and American superstar Katie Ledecky. However, Erika Fairweather of New Zealand, who scored bronze in her first ever sub-4:00 performance in Fukuoka, is entered and in a great position to fight for gold. Chinese freestyle ace, Li Bingjie, will also be in the hunt with her 4:01.08 best time.

The men’s 100 breast is another deep field, with 2023 medalists Arno Kamminga and Nicolo Martinenghi featuring in today’s heats. Additionally, world record holder Adam Peaty made the trip to Doha, and will be one to look out for after skipping the previous two World Championships. Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands is another name to watch for, recently making the move from Eddie Reese and Texas to train under Mark Faber. Faber also trains Kamminga and Tes Schouten, both swimmers who have seen significant success in breaststroke over the past three years.

One important thing to note is the absence of the men’s 400 IM in today’s session. For the last two World Championships (2022 & 2023), it featured on the first day of the competition. Here in Doha, it will return to its usual spot on the final day.

WOMEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – HEATS

  • World Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
  • World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:06.89 (2023)
  • Championship Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
  • 2023 World Champion: Kate Douglass, USA – 2:07.17

Top 16 Qualifiers:

MEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – HEATS

  • World Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
  • World Junior Record: Petar Mitsin, Bulgaria – 3:44.31 (2023)
  • Championship Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
  • 2023 World Champion: Sam Short, Australia – 3:40.68

Top 8 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

  • World Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 55.48 (2016)
  • World Junior Record: Claire Curzan, USA – 56.43 (2021)
  • Championship Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 55.53 (2017)
  • 2023 World Champion: Zhang Yufei, China – 56.12

Top 16 Qualifiers:

MEN’S 50 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

  • World Record: Andrii Govorov, Ukraine – 22.27 (2018)
  • World Junior Record: Diogo Ribeiro, Portugal – 22.96 (2022)
  • Championship Record: Caeleb Dressel, USA – 22.35 (2019)
  • 2023 World Champion: Thomas Ceccon, Italy – 22.68

Top 16 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 400 FREESTYLE – HEATS

Top 8 Qualifiers:

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – HEATS

  • World Record: Adam Peaty, Great Britain – 56.88 (2019)
  • World Junior Record: Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy – 59.01 (2017)
  • Championship Record: Adam Peaty, Great Britain – 56.88 (2019)
  • 2023 World Champion: Qin Haiyang, China – 57.69

Top 16 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY – HEATS

  • World Record: Australia – 3:27.96 (2023)
  • Championship Record: Australia – 3:27.96 (2023)
  • 2023 World Champion: Australia – 3:27.96

Top 8 Qualifiers:

MEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY – HEATS

  • World Record: USA – 3:08.24
  • Championship Record: USA – 3:09.06
  • 2023 World Champion: Australia – 3:10.16

Top 8 Qualifiers:

SwimSwam: 2024 World Championships: Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

Related Items

You must be logged in to post a comment Login