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
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
Australian backstroke and IM star Mitch Larkin finished 20th in the prelims of the men’s 50 backstroke in Gwangju this morning. Larkin clocked a 25.33 in this morning’s 50 back prelims, just .07 off what it took to make it back for semifinals. For reference, Larkin was out in 25.59 in the 100 back final, where he earned the Bronze medal a few nights ago. He has a personal best of 24.65, which he swam back during the 2015 edition of the World Championships. Larkin was the only 100 back finalist who swam the 50 back this morning and didn’t qualify for semifinals (Matt Grevers and Ryosuke Irie did not compete in the 50 back).
TOP 16- SEMIFINALS QUALIFIERS
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS)- 24.61
- Michael Andrew (USA)- 24.70
- Jeremy Stravius (FRA)- 24.78
- Zane Waddell (RSA)- 24.84
- Xu Jiayu (CHN)- 24.87
- Ryan Murphy (USA)- 24.93
- Mohamed Samy (EGY)- 24.95
- Guilherme Guido (BRA)- 24.98
- Robert Glinta (ROU) // Apostolos Christou (GRE)- 25.00
- –
- Shane Ryan (IRL)- 25.10
- Jonatan Kopelev (ISR) // Mikita Tsmyh (BLR)- 25.11
- –
- Richard Bohus (HUN)- 25.12
- Evgeny Rylov (RUS)- 25.16
- Michael Laitarovsky (ISR)- 25.26
Since earning Bronze in the 100 back, Larkin hasn’t looked quite the same in his other races. After the 100 back, Larkin scratched the 200 back, which he was slated as a strong contender for a medal in. He dropped the 200 back to focus on the 200 IM, where he finished 7th in finals, and his mixed medley relay lead-off split of 53.47 was significantly off his 52.77 from the 100 back final.
Larkin hasn’t won a Worlds medal in the 50 back before, but he has earned both Gold and Silver at the Commonwealth Games in the event.
OMG – big story. After finishing 3rd at Aussies, he shouldn’t have even bothered with this event. But AUS won’t enter swimmers who only finish 1st or 2nd at non-Olympic events unless they qualify in a ‘real’ event.
The mixed medley time was straight after his 200 IM
I was expecting a faster time in the 200 IM final considering he already dropped his Olympic silver medal winning event to swim it
Predictable
Larkin appears to be having a subpar meet time-wise compared to his Trials times last month.. must be a taper issue
He Sebombed.
Well deserved.