2022 European Championships: #1 Seed Wellbrock out of 800 Free (Day 2 Scratches)

2022 EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, August 11 – Wednesday, August 17, 2022 (pool swimming)
• Rome, Italy
• Parco Del Foro Italico
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times
  • Prelims: 9:00 am local / 3:00 am ET
  • Finals: 6:00 pm local / 12:00 pm ET
• Meet Central
• Event Schedule
• Entries
• Live Results
• Live Stream

Day 2 Prelims Heat Sheet

Scratch Report:

The 2nd day of the 2022 European Championships saw some notable scratches. At the top of the list is Germany’s Florian Wellbrock, who is skipping the men’s 800 free today after entering as the top seed. Wellbrock’s coach revealed a few days ago that Wellbrock recently came down with a COVID-19 infection, and that while he still plans to race this week, he would be cutting his schedule down. It appears Wellbrock wasn’t feeling up to the 800 free this week, despite entering as the #1 seed with a 7:39.63. He swam that time at the World Championships in June, winning Silver with the performance.

In Wellbrock’s absence, Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk, the Bronze medalist at Worlds this summer, is now the top seed, coming in at 7:40.05.

The women’s 100 breast also saw youngster Eneli Jefimova out of Estonia scratch. The 15-year-old was the #8 seed, but won’t be racing the event today. Jefimova swept the women’s breaststroke events at the European Junior Championships a few weeks ago in Bucharest. #14 seed Imogen Clark out of Great Britain has also scratched.

The men’s 100 free will be without Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo, who was the #10 seed, coming in at 48.19. Szabo advanced to finals of the men’s 50 fly, which will be held during the day 2 finals session. Greece’s Andreas Vazaios, the #17 seed, has also scratched the event.

The men’s 200 back saw 3 swimmers seeded in the top 20 scratch out of the event. Firstly, Germany’s Lukas Martens, the #11 seed in the event, has opted out of competing in it this morning. Martens, primarily a distance swimmer, is still swimming the men’s 800 free on day 2, where he is now the #3 seed after Wellbrock’s scratch. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zheltyakov was seeded 14th, but also scratched out of the race. Greece’s Evangelos Makrygiannis , the #20 seed, will also not be competing in the event.

Preview:

Even with Florian Wellbrock‘s scratch, the men’s 800 free will still be a thrilling race, although we may have to wait for the final. Perhaps not, however, as many of the swimmers in this field swam well in prelims of the event at the World Championships earlier this summer. Even without Wellbrock, the field contains many of the top 800 freestylers in the world, including Mykhailo Romanchuk, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Lukas Martens, and Gabriele Detti. On top of that, Italian 16-year-old Lorenzo Galossi is a swimmer to keep an eye on, as he may just shock the field either in prelims or finals.

Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank comes into the session as the top seed in the men’s 200 back by a wide margin. He shouldn’t have any issue advancing to semifinals, but it will still be interesting to see how much Greenbank puts into his prelims swim here.

The women’s 100 breast features one of the deepest fields at these Championships, featuring many of the top 100 breaststrokers in the world currently. Sweden’s Sophie Hansson comes in as the top seed with a 1:05.66, but she’s just one of four swimmers entered at 1:05. Moreover, an additional six swimmers are entered at 1:06.

It’s David Popovici‘s time to shine in the men’s 100 free. The World Champion and World Junior Record holder enters the meet as the top seed by 0.32 seconds and is riding a massive wave of momentum. We shouldn’t expect any fireworks in prelims necessarily, but all eyes will certainly be on Popovici in semifinals and finals to see if he can lower his mark.

Sarah Sjostrom, one of the greats women’s swimmers of all time, will begin her campaign to win her 5th European Championships Gold in the women’s LCM 50 fly. She enters the meet as the top seed by a massive margin, which suits her, since she’s the fastest swimmer of all-time in the event by a wide margin. Sjostrom is the only woman ever to go under 25 seconds in the event, and holds the 17 fastest times in history.