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2023 World Championships: Day 8 Prelims Preview And Scratches

2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 8 Prelims Heat Sheet

The final day of competition is here. Can you believe it? Wow, what a week is has been. It might be the last day, but that does not mean it won’t be full of excitement. Who doesn’t love some relays to close a meet out?

Day 8 Prelims Events:

  • Women’s 400 IM
  • Men’s 400 medley relay
  • Women’s 400 medley relay

The last prelims race of an individual event will kick off the morning with the women’s 400 IM. World Record holder Summer McIntosh of Canada is the top seed by almost six seconds. McIntosh will look to add to her individual event medal haul after already winning the 200 fly and finishing third in the 200 free this week.

The second seed behind McIntosh is fellow teenager Katie Grimes of the US. Grimes has had a busy past couple of weeks as she also competed in the Open Water events, notably finishing third in the 10K to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics in open water. This is Grimes’ second pool event as she was eighth in the 1500 free earlier in the week. 200 IM finalists Jenna Forrester (AUS) and Alex Walsh (USA) are the third and fourth seeds respectively. Walsh won silver and Forrester was fourth in the 200 IM this week. The only top 20 scratch in the event comes from Canadian Sydney Pickrem who was the #17 seed.

Italy is the top seed in the men’s 400 medley relay. The Italians are the defending World Champions in the event. The US men are the second seed. The Americans are the defending Olympic Champions after setting a World Record in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Although not as important for prelims, a quick overview of the two countries is close at the beginning. Ryan Murphy (USA) beat Thomas Ceccon (Italy) by 0.05 seconds in the 100 back earlier this week and Nic Fink (USA) and Nicolo Martinenghi (Italy) tied for silver, meaning that the teams are about even on the front half. Although the front half is about even, Italy had no finalists in the 100 fly or 100 free while the USA earned medals in both.

Lithuania, Turkey, South Africa, and Hungary have all scratched the men’s 400 medley relay.

The women’s 400 medley relay will close out prelims. The US women are the top seed and the defending World Champions. Not far behind in seed times is Australia, who are the defending Olympic Champions. Based on this week’s results, Australia has the edge in back and free while the USA has the edge in breast and fly.

South Africa, Singapore, and Turkey have scratched the women’s 400 medley relay.

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The Kaz
1 year ago

No one cares about 400IM?

Forrester looked good in the heats there, hope she didn’t go too hard though.

Summer will be on WR watch tonight I think. Grime and Walsh were pretty ordinary this morning.

Noah
1 year ago

Why is Weitzeil on prelims? I like Huske on prelims and hopefully she’s 56.x to sub her in for finals.

Sub13
Reply to  Noah
1 year ago

Weitzeil being on prelims suggests Douglass will swim finals which makes sense considering Douglass has been well above Weitzeil this week

frug
1 year ago
Oceanian
Reply to  frug
1 year ago

No surprises in the AUS squad

Torchbearer
Reply to  frug
1 year ago

US, China, Japan, AUS and CAN in the same mens heat……a bit stacked!

Last edited 1 year ago by Torchbearer
Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Wilson Harkin Throssell Harris
Coleman Hansson Hansson Sjostrom
Berkoff Jacoby Huske Weitzeil
Wilm Angus MacNeil Harvey

So one of Jack or MOC is missing a medal on this relay, thought they might reward one of them with the morning swim.

No idea what this mean for USA? Doesn’t make sense for a full swap for any of their combos unless they use Gretchen on fly

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

makes more sense for moc to swim tonight given her 51.7 last night and shayna’s double with the 50

Jimmyswim
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
1 year ago

True. Jack has been faster on a flying start but Mollie is the star of the week.

Jimmyswim
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Sorry forgot

Wang Yang Wang Wu

jess
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

I know the swim swam commenters have proposed it, but would AUS really consider MOC on back? It seems like it would be tough to have the 100back champ swimming something she didnt swim here and have the 100free champ ALSO swim a leg she didnt swim here.

IDK i think it would be dumb for them to make that many switches and I would expect MOC on free and Kaylee on back.

Emily Se-Bom Lee
Reply to  jess
1 year ago

no point. harkin did a pb this week and is now 0.02 faster than mckeown’s breast, and moc is 0.9 slower than mckeown on back

stefe
Reply to  Emily Se-Bom Lee
1 year ago

.9 when Macca is fresh. Which is totally not the case today

Jimmyswim
Reply to  jess
1 year ago

No. Kaylee and MOC are the winners of their strokes. MOC likely hasn’t trained back leading up to worlds knowing she wasn’t going to swim it, although Kaylee’s breast looked good in the IM.

I will be shocked if it’s anything but McKeown/Harkin/McKeon/MOC (maaaaybe Jack but probably not, she got the mixed medley medal that Mollie didn’t, so this evens it out)

jess
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Yeah I was really only considering if they really wanted to get Jack on there, but it honestly makes zero sense to do so, why risk it?

Troyy
Reply to  jess
1 year ago

It’d be fun to watch tho!

Torchbearer
Reply to  jess
1 year ago

MOC and Kaylee have had such a successful week, no need to change things up now. Also the AUS breaststrokers need to step up, and get international exposure, it would be a big vote of no confidence if they completely ditched them!

stefe
Reply to  Torchbearer
1 year ago

It’s not ditching, No one is guaranteed a spot on any team. If they honestly believe Kaylee would be a better choice, they’d go with it.
McKeown has said to anyone that wants to listen, She’s on empty pretty much.
I don’t think Australia would benefit a great deal making the bold changes.
Harkin for me

The Kaz
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

I wonder if the minor injury MOC sustained in training was due to a backstroke take off? That would make sense why she withdraw from every backstroke event in Fukuoka.

Oceanian
Reply to  The Kaz
1 year ago

The injury happened in the gym, not in the pool.

flicker
Reply to  jess
1 year ago

to be fair Kaylee is usually like a 58.0 on the medley relay and if Mollie’s freestyle drops translate she could also be a 58.0, Harkin did a 0.02 PB here so her and Kaylee have identical PB’s in the 100 breast now, and Mollie was only 0.02 faster than Shayna on the relay last night so *theoretically* a MOC – McKeown – McKeon – Jack relay could be just as fast as a McKeown – Harkin – McKeon – O’Callaghan one and would spread medals a bit more but it seems completely pointless to make the gamble

Sub13
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

I got massively downvoted last night for suggesting they would use Walsh on fly after she medalled in the 50 but looks like I was right lol

MSC
Reply to  Sub13
1 year ago

Huske needs to put up something like 56.5-56.8 to keep the finals swim. If not, all hell breaks loose. Regan or Douglas or Gretchen on fly. Depends on what berkoff and Abby put up.

stefe
Reply to  Sub13
1 year ago

Tori having a nightmare of a meet. Back to the drawing board for that young lady.

frug
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Going with King in the final, even though Jacoby beat in the individual. The US also doesn’t appear to trust Huske either.

Bailey Ludden
Reply to  frug
1 year ago

Bc king is a vet and will outsplit Jacoby

Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Torri Huske swimming the butterfly leg in the heats of the women’s 4 x 100 meter medley relay. The plot thickens.

stefe
Reply to  Weinstein-Smith-Ledecky-Sims
1 year ago

She’s lost the spark in her starts. Coaches hoping she can pull one out of her………

Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Armstrong Matheny Heilman King
Woodward Williamson Temple Taylor
Xu Yan Sun Wang
Ceccon Martinenghi Codia Frigo
Morgan Wilby Guy Dean

kevin
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Chalmers hullo

Jimmyswim
Reply to  kevin
1 year ago

These are the actual heat entries. Chalmers will swim the final

Jimmyswim
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

Interesting that they didn’t give Champion a crack at the heat? Looks like Woodward and Temple will both be swimming twice. I thought this year would be a 100 back breakout for Cooper but looks like he’s all in on sprints now.

Troyy
Reply to  Jimmyswim
1 year ago

We’re really gonna need Larkin to return to form in 1back for Paris. Hopefully he just ignores the 2IM.

stefe
1 year ago

Summer

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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