2015 World University Games: Weitzeil and Vreeland go 1-2 in 100 free at day 2 prelims

2015 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

• July 4th-July 11th, 2015 (Saturday-Saturday)
• Gwangju, South Korea
• Prelims 8:30AM/Finals 7PM (local time)
• Prelims 7:30PM (day before)/Finals 6AM (U.S. Eastern Time)
• Full meet preview
• The official FISU feed (finals only): http://www.livefisu.tv
• In the United States: ESPN3.com
• Results

Day two of the 2015 World University Games is upon us. After a Fourth of July USA sweep of the gold medals on day 1, the rest of the world will look to catch up in the medal count on a day 2 featuring finals of last night’s semifinal events, plus a new slate of prelim, final and semifinal races.

We’ll have event-by-event updates of all the morning heats here, so keep refreshing this page to stay up to date. You can also check out our @SwimSwamLive Twitter handle for up-to-the-second results.

Men’s 200 Free – Prelims

Saturday night was a great one for the Americans, and that energy kept flowing right on into Sunday morning. USC Trojan Reed Malone was 1:48.31 to run away with the top qualifying spot in heats of the men’s 200 free.

Malone finished about a half second ahead of Switzerland’s Alexandre Holdemann (1:48.80) in his heat, and those two would stand up as the top two seeds.

Japan’s Naito Ehara won the heat prior in 1:49.34 and finished third overall. From there, things got incredibly tight – American Clay Youngquist was just .02 back of Ehara at 1:49.36, and two more swimmers were hot on his heels. They were Italy’s Marco Belotti (1:49.41) and Australia’s Jacob Hansford, who won an early heat with a 1:49.50.

Women’s 100 breast – Prelims

While we saw the British men continue their breaststroke dominance at all levels in the men’s 100 last night, the women’s race saw Japan take the top seed, following a great breaststroke tradition of their own. Mina Matsushima took the top qualifying spot, waiting for the very final heat to become the first woman under 1:08 with a 1:07.95.

But there’s a whole host of swimmers right on the other side of that barrier heading into the semifinals. Russia’s Natalia Ivaneeva is the closest at 1:08.05, but Irish swimmer Fiona Doyle (1:08.07) is just a tick behind her.

It’s a diverse top of the qualifying order, with 7 different countries represented in the top 8 spots. That started with Italy’s Ilaria Scarcella taking fourth in 1:08.27 and Australia’s Jessica Hansen next in 1:08.32. The top American is Lilly King at 1:08.44, before the second Japanese swimmer – Miku Kanasashi – finished in 1:08.63.

Men’s 200 IM – Prelims

Make it two in a row for Japan, with Keita Sunama leading the men’s 200 IM qualifying. Swimming out of the final heat, Sunama went 2:00.53 and leads by almost a full second.

American Josh Prenot won the first of the circle-seeded heats, going 2:01.37, and he sits second. Sunama and Prenot will lead the two semifinals tonight.

Great Britain will be represented in the final by Max Litchfield, who was 2:01.49. A pair of Australians were close behind him. Travis Mahoney took fourth in 2:01.52 and Justin James sixth in 2:01.89. In between was the second American, team captain Kyle Whitaker at 2:01.82.

Women’s 100 Free – Prelims

The American women went 1-2 in qualifying for the 100 free, led by recently-graduated high school senior Abbey Weitzeil.

The Cal signee went 54.97 out of prelims, the only qualifier under 55. And her teammate Shannon Vreeland, a former Olympian, was 55.36 for second.

The closest challenger out of prelims was Slovakia’s Katarina Listopadova, who went 55.75. A tenth back is Japanese sprinter Yui Yamane (55.85) and Austria’s Birgit Koschischuk (55.87) was just behind her.

The last swimmer under 56 was Australia’s top threat, Ami Matsuo at 55.94.

Women’s 1500 free – Prelims

Italy’s Martina Caramignoli won the second of three heats in the women’s 1500, with her time topping all challengers for the top seed into tomorrow night’s final. Caramignoli was 16:21.17, four and a half seconds up on the next-best qualifier.

That top challenger is American Lindsey Vrooman, who was second in her heat to Caramignoli. Third in that heat also held up for third overall – that was Kiah Melverton out of Australia in 16:29.62.

The winner of the final heat was China’s Li Xuanxu, the top seed coming into the meet. Xuanxu was 16:32.02 and now sits fourth into the final.

Japan got two swimmers into the final, with Yuna Kikuchi fifth in 16:32.89 and Asari Wada seventh in 16:39.79. Slotted in between them is American Katy Campbell, the UCLA Bruin who went 16:37.34.

Rounding out the A finalists is Czech swimmer Martina Elhenicka at 16:42.71. The final will go off tomorrow night, giving the milers a chance to rest up before taking on the event again.