2017 FINA World Championships: Day 3 Prelims Preview

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Full Competition Schedule
• Meet Info
• Psych Sheets
• Omega Results
• Pick ’em Contest
• Event-by-Event Previews

The third prelim session from Budapest ties Sunday as the shortest, with just four events on tap.

Leading us off will be the men’s 50 breaststroke, where we’ll finally get a glimpse of South African Cameron van der Burgh after he scratched the 100, the event in which he won the Olympic silver medal just last year. van der Burgh has medalled in this event at five consecutive World Championships, winning in 2009 and 2013.

He’ll swim in heat 8, alongside Brazilian Joao Gomes Junior, who’s ranked 2nd in the world this year at 26.83. The first circle-seeded heat, heat 7, will feature 100 breast silver and bronze medalists Kevin Cordes and Kirill Prigoda, along with junior world record holder Nicolo Martinenghi.

World record holder and defending world champion Adam Peaty will headline heat 9, coming off a gold medal in the 100 breast on day 2. Peaty’s first 50 split (26.50) in the 100m final was just 0.08 off the 50 world record of 26.42. That world record will be on watch, and could go down as early as these prelims. Peaty will be joined by Belarusian Ilya Shymanovich and the other Brazilian, Felipe Lima.

Next up will be the women’s 200 free, where we’ll see Olympic champion Katie Ledecky back in action.

Ledecky, already two gold medals deep here in Budapest and poised for another tomorrow night in the 1500, centers the 6th and final heat alongside Sweden’s Michelle Coleman. Coleman showed she was on good form on day 1, splitting 52.68 on the 400 free relay.

In heat 5 we’ll see Italian Federica Pellegrini, who has won a medal in this event in six consecutive World Championships, including a pair of titles in 2009 and 2011. The world record holder will be joined by hometown star Katinka Hosszu, who is fresh off a gold medal performance on day 2 in the 200 IM.

Emma McKeon and Leah Smith, both already individual medalists here in Budapest, highlight heat 4.

Like we saw van der Burgh scratch the 100 breast, his countryman Chad Le Clos also scratched the event in which he was the Olympic silver medalist, the 200 freestyle. That move was presumably to focus on the 200 fly, as he placed 4th in Rio shortly after three run-and-gun rounds of 200 free.

Le Clos will swim alongside defending champion Laszlo Cseh in heat 5. Cseh, now 31, was the fastest man in the world last year, only he didn’t do it at the Olympics. After going 1:52.91 at the European Championships, Cseh died coming home in the Olympic final and finished 7th.

Olympic silver medalist Masato Sakai and his Japanese teammate Daiya Seto will take heat 4, while Rio bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi will swim in heat 3 alongside American Jack Conger.

The final event of the morning will be the men’s 800 free, where the top-8 qualifiers will advance to the final on day 4.

In the first of two circle-seeded heats 1500 Olympic champ Gregorio Paltrinieri will hit the water for the first time, flanked by European young guns Wojciech Wojdak and Henrik Christiansen. Also swimming in the heat will be NCAA stars Clark Smith and Felix Auboeck. Auboeck had a breakout performance in the 400 free, qualifying 1st for the final in a quick 3:44.19 before ending up 5th in the stacked field.

Heat 4 will feature the three medalists from the 400 free: Sun Yang, Mack Horton and Gabriele Detti. Detti is ranked #1 in the world this year, but Sun is the three-time defending champion. American Zane Grothe will be out in lane 2, and Egypt’s Akaram Mahmoud will look to make the final after an impressive NCAA campaign with South Carolina.

You can find all the start lists for tomorrow morning here.