2018 SC World Championships: Day 3 Prelims Preview

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th- Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
• *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
• Live Results (Omega)

The third of six preliminary sessions in Hangzhou will have eight different events contested, with the 100 IM, 50 back, 50 free and 200 breast for men, the 50 fly, 100 IM and 200 back for women, along with the mixed 4×50 medley relay to finish things off.

The men’s 50 free will be highlighted by Caeleb Dressel and Vlad Morozov going head-to-head in the 13th and final heat of the morning, after Dressel won their first duel on the lead-off leg of the mixed free relay with a 20.43 split that unofficially ranks him as the 4th fastest performer of all-time (mixed lead-offs don’t officially count). He’ll be way out in lane 9, while Morozov, who was 20.75 on that split and is the 3rd fastest performer ever at 20.31, will have lane 4. Michael Andrew will also swim that heat in lane 5.

Cesar Cielo of Brazil and Ben Proud are two of the other notable names swimming in the other circle-seeded heats.

Andrew will also have lane 4 in the last heat of the 100 IM, where he comes in as the defending champion. Morozov, who owns the ten fastest swims in the history of the event, has not entered.

Ryan Murphy won the first battle in the men’s backstroke competition, claiming the 100 over a loaded lineup on day 2, and he’ll be back in action in the 50 along with the likes of Xu Jiayu, Kliment Kolesnikov, Matt Grevers and Guilherme Guido. Kolesnikov will also swim the 100 IM.

The 200 breast is a relatively wide open event, but Russians Kirill Prigoda and Mikhail Dorinov, along with defending champ Marco Koch of Germany, are the frontrunners with seeds in the 2:01 range.

Katinka Hosszu, who already has two golds won at this competition in the women’s 200 fly and 400 IM, comes in as the favorite in both the 200 back and 100 IM, while Kelsi Dahlia, who Hosszu beat head-to-head in that 200 fly, is among the favorites in the 50. Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands is the only swimmer seeded ahead of Dahlia with a very quick 24.51.