2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The ladies’s dash occasions are lacking fairly a couple of of the big-name athletes at this 12 months’s World Championships identical to many of the different disciplines.
There are a mixture of the explanation why athletes aren’t competing at Quick Course Worlds from retirement, Emma McKeon, to a post-Olympics break, Mollie O’Callaghan, Ariarne Titmus, and Sarah Sjostrom, to withdrawing from the meet, Torri Huske.
Regardless of lacking big-name expertise, the ladies’s dash occasions will nonetheless be thrilling to observe with People Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh highlighting the sphere within the 50 and 100 free, whereas World Document holder, Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong is defending her title within the 200 free and combating for the gold within the 100.
WOMEN’S 50 FREE PREVIEW
The ladies’s 50 freestyle is trying like a really totally different race than the 2022 ultimate, with solely two of the finalists returning to compete at this 12 months’s championships.
In 2022, the occasion went to Australia’s Emma McKeon, who not too long ago retired from the game. Kasia Wasick from Poland took silver and is without doubt one of the two returning athletes. The third third place spot went to Nice Britain’s Anna Hopkins who is not going to be attending this 12 months. Meg Harris, who positioned sixth, is the one different swimmer from the ultimate who’s competing this 12 months.
It’s a very related story when contemplating the Olympic ultimate from earlier this 12 months. Solely the silver medalist, Harris, and two extra finals swimmers will probably be on the meet, Gretchen Walsh (4th) and Wasick (fifth). Olympic Champion and LCM world document holder Sarah Sjostrom, and bronze medalist Zhang Yufei are noticeably absent.
With the reigning Quick Course World’s champion, and the Olympic champion out of the meet, the highest 4 spots within the girls’s 50 freestyle are shaping as much as be a photograph end. Walsh, Wasick, Harris, and Kate Douglass (who didn’t swim the occasion on the Olympics) are separated by simply over a tenth when evaluating their lengthy course occasions.
It’s tougher to check SCM occasions, as solely Wasick and Walsh have latest swims. Their private bests are precisely the identical at 23.10. Walsh swam this time earlier this season on the Virginia vs Florida twin meet in October. Wasick’s time is older and he or she hasn’t been this quick since she set it on the Indianapolis leg of the Fina World Cup in 2022. Her season finest is 23.23 from the Singapore leg of this 12 months’s World Cup.
Harris additionally has a finest time from 2022, however she hasn’t swam the occasion since. On the 2022 World Championships, she clocked 23.73 within the occasion for sixth. The identical 12 months she went a finest time of 24.32 within the 50 LCM in July. At this 12 months’s Olympics, Harris went 23.97 to win the silver, nearly 4 tenths quicker than her 2022 time.
Douglass has by no means swam the occasion at a world meet, and her present listed finest time of 24.39 comes from the primary 50 of her 100 on the World Cup in Singapore. She has the quickest LCM finest time of 23.91, and he or she is the one one of many 4 to not swim the occasion on the Olympic Video games.
Walsh has been over a tenth second quicker than anybody else this season, giving her the sting over Wasick for the gold. She can also be coming in because the quickest swimmer ever briefly course yards at 20.37, leaving the world document doubtlessly in play. She is lower than two tenths off the present document of twenty-two.93 from 2017.
Wasick received the triple crown for the 50 freestyle occasions on the World Cup collection, however Walsh didn’t compete attributable to her NCAA season and neither did Harris. Douglass did compete, however she didn’t swim the 50 freestyle. This constant racing expertise is finally what offers her the silver prediction over Douglass and Harris who’re 2+ years since racing the occasion.
It’s onerous to foretell the place Douglass will find yourself, as she didn’t swim this occasion on the Video games, and in addition has by no means swam it quick course meters, however her holding the quickest 50 free time lengthy course led to the selection of her at bronze. This places Harris at 4th.
Australian Alexandria Perkins and Italy’s Sara Curtis are additionally potential high 4 contenders, with Perkins going 23.77 to win the occasion at Australia’s Nationwide Championships, and Curtis breaking Italy’s nationwide document to additionally go 23.77 at Italy’s Nationals.
Danielle Hill (24.00) of Eire and Shuhan Liu (24.06) from China spherical out the highest 8 seeds within the occasion.
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WOMEN’S 100 FREE PREVIEW
Much like the 50 frees, the 100 free is missing a number of the star energy that has highlighted the occasion in previous years. Solely two swimmers from the 2022 Quick Course Worlds ultimate will probably be swimming within the meet this 12 months, silver medalist Siobhan Haughey and seventh place finisher Beryl Gastaldello. The gold went to Emma McKeon, who additionally received the 50, however she is not going to be defending her title.
The Olympic champion, Sarah Sjostrom, may also not be competing. Additionally absent is silver medalist Torri Huske who pulled out of the meet. The bronze went to Haughey, and the one different returning swimmer from the ultimate is eighth place swimmer Gretchen Walsh.
When what swimmers have achieved within the 100 freestyle this season, American Kate Douglass appears to be the favourite. She solely swam the occasion at one leg of the Quick Course World Cup, however she received, and no one has been quicker this season. On the final cease of the tour in Singapore, she broke the American document along with her 50.82 to turn into the primary American girl beneath 51, and the fifth quickest performer in historical past. The 4th quickest performer is Siobhan Haughey.
Haughey of Hong Kong has a quicker recorded time than Douglass at 50.79 from 2021, and he or she received the primary two legs of the World Cup, however she was second the one time Douglass swam it in Singapore, going her season-best 51.56. She does have the quickest 100 freestyle lengthy course, coming in over half a second quicker than Douglass, however, with regards to the quick course race, Douglass will get the sting.
Deciding on the bronze medalist was tough. American Gretchen Walsh has by no means swam the occasion, however has the third quickest lengthy course time, and we all know she has loads of quick course expertise, simply in yards. She might additionally make a case for the gold medal given her yards occasions in comparison with Haughey’s and Douglass’s. The rostrum will doubtless be these three in some order, and none of them could be surprising.
France’s Beryl Gastaldello has swam the 100 free this season, although not on the World Cup, and he or she is coming in with the 2nd quickest time at 51.48. She additionally has a recorded finest time of 51.16 from December of 2020, however hasn’t been quicker than her 51.48 since. Gastaldello is a brief course specialist, and isn’t out of podium rivalry, however she hasn’t been as constant as the opposite three.
Douglass, Gastaldello, and Haughey are the one swimmers who’ve been beneath the 52-second mark throughout the qualifying interval. Daria Klepikova and Kasia Wasick are different potential medalists, coming in at 52.03 and 52.04 respectively.
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WOMEN’S 200 FREE PREVIEW
The 200 free is the one girls’s dash freestyle occasion with the reigning world champion coming again to defend her title. Siobhan Haughey received the occasion in 1:51.65 two years in the past, a time she has already bested this season throughout the World Cup. Additionally returning is sixth place finisher, Australian Leah Neale.
Three Olympic finalists are additionally competing, Haughey took the bronze and is the one medalist on the meet. Mary-Sophie Harvey from Canada took 4th, and is seeking to decide up a medal this time, and American Claire Weinstein took eighth and he or she may also be competing.
In the case of predicting the gold medal, Haughey comes away because the clear favourite. Not solely is she nearly a second quicker than anybody else within the subject and the reigning world champ, she can also be the World Document Holder within the occasion at 1:50.31 from her win on the 2021 World Championships. She additionally received the triple crown within the occasion at this 12 months’s World Cup, along with her Incheon swim coming in at her high time this season at 1:51.02. It’s price noting, that even her slowest World Cup swim, 1:51.80 in Singapore, was nonetheless nearly a second forward of the following quickest competitor on the World Championships.
The silver medal prediction goes to Australian standout Lani Pallister coming in with a private finest, and season-best time of 1:52.73. Pallister has had a really quick season up to now with only one meet, successful the 200, 400, and 800 freestyle occasions on the Australian Quick Course Championships. She has made a reputation for herself as a distance swimmer, inserting sixth within the 800 freestyle on the 2024 Olympic Video games, however this will probably be her first 200 freestyle individually at any senior stage Worlds or Olympics.
Nice Britain’s Freya Anderson might additionally problem for the silver. Her finest time is 1:51.87 from November of 2020, however she hasn’t been beneath 1:52 since. She went 1:52.16 in December of final 12 months, which earned her the second seed within the occasion, however she has been coping with sickness on and off since then, and withdrew from the British Championships earlier this 12 months attributable to coaching struggles in consequence. She nonetheless competed on the Olympic Video games as a relay swimmer, however her relay performances within the occasion have been off her finest time additionally from 2023.
Mary-Sophie Harvey is a medal contender along with her private and season better of 1:53.36. Harvey swam the occasion at two of the World Cup stops, in Shanghai and Incheon. Shanghai is the place she set her new private finest in pursuit of her second-place end. She dropped the ultimate of the occasion in Incheon after incomes the highest seed out of prelims.
Leah Neale of Australia is one other potential medalist. Neale is a veteran within the 200 free, being the one different finalist from 2022 within the subject. Her finest time of 1:52.84 got here from these world championships, however she has struggled to get again beneath 1:53 since that swim. She most not too long ago swam the occasion on the Australian Quick Course Championships the place she was second in 1:53.60. She is coming off a disappointing summer season within the occasion after failing to make the semi-finals on the Olympic Trials, however she has been third quickest within the subject.
Nikolett Padar from Hungary is entered at 1:53.51 from December of 2023 to be the fifth seed within the occasion, and will additionally throw a wrench within the podium.
There are eight entries that fall inside four-tenths of a second from 1:54.20 to 1:54.62 that will probably be battling it out for the finals positions together with Olympic finalist Claire Weinstein.
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