Day 3 psych start lists have been posted on the official Shenzhen 2011 World University Games website.
Click here for full day 3 psych sheets.
The men’s 100 free is going to be a great battle that will likely come down to the USA’s Jimmy Feigen and Brazil’s Nicolas Oliveira. If Feigen can break the 49-second barrier (around a 48.8 or so would be a very nice time), he would take a strong inside-position for a bid at the London 2012 Olympics. Oliveira could also be swimming for an Olympic spot over the next year, as the very deep Brazilians will be a highly-competitve battle for their 400 free relay. Though that Brazilian relay failed to final at Worlds, they were missing both World Record holder Cesar Cielo (who sat out the prelims) and Nicholas dos Santos (who lost his roster spot after his positive furosemide test). With those two added back on, along with continued development from young swimmers like Oliveira and Bruno Fratus, these Brazilians could be a medalist at the Olympics. Furthermore, keep an eye on the 3rd-seed Marcelo Chierighini, because if he can flat-start a 48-high as well, that might give the brazilians the luxury of resting Cielo again in prelims, and not missing the final the next-time around.
The men’s 100 breaststroke, though absent of a real American medal contender, will also be a great battle. In the men’s 200 breaststroke on day 1, New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders and Lithuania’s Giedrus Titenis both showed that they are swimming very well, as they tied for the gold medal. Snyder, however, is the only swimmer in the field to have broken the minute-barrier this year, and given that he’s already done a best time in the 200 at this meet, he’s going to be hard to bear. The only swimmer that I see as having a chance is Japan’s Ryo Tateishi. He was the victim of the great Japanese breaststroke depth, which caused him to miss the World Championship roster in the 200. He swam a 59.84 in 2010 in textile, however, and he wasn’t at his best in Shanghai, so he too very well could be under a minute.
The other highlight race will be the women’s 200 free. This race will feature a group of swimmers who have been performing very well so far at this meet, including China’s Yi Tang, Spain’s Melania Costa-Schmid, and New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle. For the USA, this will be our first individual taste of Texas Longhorn Karlee Bispo, who has put in some great long course work in the past year-plus to cement herself as part of the US National scene in the freestyles. Also keep an eye on Margaux Farrell, an Indiana Hoosier and French-U.S. dual citizen who looked very good in the 100, as this 200 is her best event. We can’t look past the top-seed Qianwei Zhu of China, either, who is the defending Asian Champion but hasn’t been anywhere close to that form in 2011.
The men’s 50 back will see a pair of 50m specialists (Guy Barnea of Israel and Juan Miguel Rando of Spain) face off against the two best all-around backstrokers in the field – Ryosuke Irie of Japan and Gareth Kean of New Zealand. The Americans so went medal-less in the 100 backstroke backstrokes, and it’s unlikely that either Cory Chitwood or Rex Tullius will break that trend in this race.
The USA’s Maya DiRado is a heavy favorite in the women’s 400 IM, with South African star Kathryn Meaklim, Austria’s Joerdis Steinegger, and DiRado’s Stanford teammate Andie Taylor as the most likely contenders for silver.
Full event list for day 3:
- Men’s 50 back
- Women’s 400 IM
- Men’s 100 free
- Men’s 100 breast
- Women’s 200 breast
- Women’s 200 free
- Men’s 800 free relay
Feigen is a clear favorite.If Nicolas break 49 barrier, will be a textile best for him.He is a great relay guy, sometimes blasting a time 1.2s faster than his individual events.
you say americans are medal-less in backstroke, but Rex won a silver in 200
I don’t think Tateishi would focus on this meet, since he got to swim both shorter breaststrokes at World’s and he was a medal contender.
Right you are…was thinking Suenaga, but then realized his was the fake time.