There were a handful of noteworthy pre-session scratches upon the release of the day 2 heat sheets at the 2015 Arena Pro Swim Series – Charlotte stop.
While swimmers can still declare false starts in the morning, Michael Phelps is not among those who have scratched pre-session. The 18-time Olympic gold medalist has held onto his two entries in the 200 free and 100 fly for Friday morning, including the top seed in the latter of those races. Those races are scheduled to start at 9:16 and 10:22 AM local time.
The biggest name missing from Friday’s heat sheets is Elizabeth Beisel, who scratched out of the 200 free and 400 IM. Beisel has been battling injuries all year, though she was able to go in five events at the Pro Swim Series – Mesa meet.
Her Florida teammate Dan Wallace also doesn’t have any entries left on Friday, dropping the same two events. So far, multiple members of Gregg Troy’s training group have dropped this meet (Jess Thielmann scratched out after the initial psych sheets were released, and Theresa Michalak dropped her Friday races as well).
Also dropping the session altogether is former World Champion Filipo Magnini, who was not part of a group that has been on a sprint camp with Brett Hawke at Auburn before coming to this meet. He was entered in the 200 free, and is reportedly not in attendance at the meet at all. That will leave Italy’s four young sprinters, Luca Dotto, Marco Orsi, Michele Santucci and Luca Leonardi, to swim the 400 free relay in the finals session.
Hungarian Katinka Hosszu dropped entries in the 50 back and 100 fly, leaving her with the 200 free and 400 IM to swim on Friday. While Hosszu has frequently swum tougher sessions than four events in one day, USA Swimming rules limit the number of entries.
And finally, Amy Bilquist of the Carmel Swim Club has scratched both of her entries on Friday, the 50 back and 100 fly.
I am worried about Beisel! If she’s scratching the 400 IM, I think her injuries must not have healed in the last two months. If she’s had nagging injuries that have lasted this long, wouldn’t it be better for her to give up on Worlds, get healthy, and start over next season? I want her healthy in 2016! I also want somebody else to have the chance to swim in Kazan if she can’t be at her best.
I remark that some other Gator swimmers will not swim on Friday either.
Bobo, I hope you’re right and Beisel is just scratching because the Florida crew isn’t swimming on Friday!
Not all Gators. 🙂
Dressel, D’Arrigo or Rousseau swim today. Beisel, Wallace or Michalak not.
That’s weird.
They’ll be swimming Friday….in Sarasota
😆
Oh, thanks for the info Dr Phil!
Anyone else out there still struggling with the branding change from Grand Prix to Pro Swim? I am all for Arena re-branding the event, but the Pro Swim Series just doesn’t have the “importance” or “cachet” that Grand Prix used to.
The swim fan experience is still great, but I don’t think the new branding does anything to bring in new fans.
Now, if only USA swimming would outsource their streaming video to the Canucks who ran their world champs trials, we would be in business!
Doesn’t quite flow off of the tongue like Grand Prix did, but I think it’s opening some eyes to there actually being pro swimming, even though these meets are still primarily made up of amateur athletes.
Braden, I don’t understand the use of “Pro” in the title. College athletes are allowed to swim in these meets, so what’s the purpose of “Pro”?