Miguel Ortiz of Spain and Guilherme Guido of Brazil will face off for a spot in tonight’s 50m backstroke semifinals after tying for the 16th seed with a time of 25.29.
Ortiz entered the meet with a seed time of 24.86 whereas Guido entered with a time of 25.17. If one swimmer has the upper hand in the swim-off, it’s 100 per cent Ortiz.
The Spanish swimmer will face off against Guido at the end of this morning’s prelims session which are set to conclude with the 1500m freestyle.
Due to the long wait between their first swims and the swim-off, they will both have plenty of time to warm down and prepare for the race.
The winner will advance to the semifinals which already features some of the fastest names in swimming.
The fastest qualifier overall this morning was Camille Lacourt of France who stretched out to a 24.56. Second to Lacourt was defending 100m backstroke Olympic gold medallist American Matt Grevers.
Grevers was a 24.68 this morning. Add in a few more stellar athletes such as Ben Treffers, 100m backstroke world champion Mitch Larkin, David Plummer, world record holder Liam Tancock, Jeremy Stravius and more, and this will be one of the most stacked finals at these World Championships.
Plenty of these athletes have already earned international medals in backstroke events earlier in their careers.