2015 FINA World Cup Doha Prelims Recap: Yannick Agnel Makes His Return

2015 FINA WORLD CUP: DOHA

• Monday, November 2nd and Tuesday, November 3rd
• Prelims – 10 am local (3 am EST)  Finals – 6 pm local (11 am EST)
• Hamad Aquatic Center
• Full Schedule/Meet Information
• Start Lists/Live Results
• FINA Live Stream
• Point Standings After Tokyo
• Meet Preview

The big players present in Doha didn’t disappoint, as several battle lines were drawn during the morning prelims at the Hamad Aquatic Center.  With new blood entering this edition of the World Cup from Britain, France and Italy, as well as from the American junior set, there are some plot twists brewing in Doha on the 2nd to the final stop in the 2015 Series.

Women’s Highlights

Katinka Hosszu was all over the pool, as is the routine for the Hungarian, and came out on top of the standings in the 200 freestyle.  Her time of 1:58.61 was the only sub-1:59 on the morning, with Kiwi ace Lauren Boyle and Italian freestyler Federica Pellegrini just behind in 1:59.39 and 1:59.61, respectively.

American utility swimmer Felicia Lee scored the top seed in the 100 fly, cranking out a 59.44 for her efforts. Young Cassidy Bayer also swam her way to a final spot, finishing in 4th with a time of 59.90.  Bayer has dipped beneath the minute mark for the 9th time this year with her swim this morning and the 15-year-old has been as fast as 58.87 at Junior Worlds.

On-fire Aussie backstroker Emily Seebohm leads the 50 back field with a 28.02, but is followed closely by key rivals Natalie Coughlin (28.48) and Hosszu (28.93). American youngster Erin Voss clocked a 29.80, just missing the finals with her 9th place finish.

Men’s Highlights

Frenchman Yannick Agnel indeed returned to the pool in his first swim since the Golden Tour – Nancy earlier this summer.  Pulling out of the 2015 FINA World Championships due to illness, Agnel managed to make 1 of 2 finals on the day, registering a 50.12 time in the 100 freestyle to take the 5th seed overall.  The top spot in the race went to his teammate, Jeremy Stravius, who dipped beneath 50-seconds with his mark of 49.33, while American rocket Maxime Rooney posted a 49.63 to be right beside Stravius in the final. University of Stirling rising star and European Games gold medalist Duncan Scott sneaked into the final as well, clocking a 50.17 for 7th place.

South African Chad Le Clos played it safe this morning, smoothly cruising to a 3rd seed in the 200 fly with a time of 1:59.66. Danish swimmer Viktor Bromer will be in lane 4 for the final after touching in 1:58.41 this morning. In the 400 freestyle, breakout British bullet James Guy leads the pack with his time of 3:51.58, where Agnel missed the final, finishing 11th in 3:54.12. American Zane Grothe comes in as the 8th seed with his time of 3:53.25.

And finally, the men’s 200m breaststroke is living up to the hype, as American Kevin Cordes will gun for the World Cup win tonight (2:13.48), flanked by Stirling stand-out and 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Ross Murdoch (2:14.15) along with Russian Oleg Kostin (2:13.70). British talent Craig Benson (2:14.90) and Hungarian weapon Daniel Gyurta (2:14.53) will also be lurking in tonight’s final.