PARDUBICE GRAND PRIX – ROUND 2
- Friday, May 17th – Sunday, May 19th
- Pardubice, Czech Republic
- Ostrava Recap
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Czech Republic 2019 World Championships & World University Games Selection Criteria
- Day 1 Recap
- Start List/Results
- Live Stream
Two women got on the board in terms of World Championships qualification on night 2 of the 2nd Grand Prix of the Czech Republic in Pardubice.
Barbora Seemanova cranked out a new Czech National Record en route to gold in the women’s 200m free tonight. After establishing herself as the woman to beat with a prelims effort of 2:00.08, the 19-year-old Olympian crushed a winning time of 1:57.40 to beat the field by 6 seconds.
Entering this meet, Seemanova’s personal best rested at the 1:58.14 she produced for silver at the 2016 European Junior Championships. With her effort tonight, the teen becomes the first Czech female swimmer to delve into 1:57 territory, while also qualifying for this summer’s World Championships in Gwangju. She’s now ranked 22nd in the world this season.
Also making the Gwangju cut was Simona Kubova in the women’s 200m back. Putting up a time of 2:12.47, Kubova cleared tonight’s field by over 2 seconds, with Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakabos wrangling up silver in 2:14.72.
Jakabos wound up winning the women’s 200m fly in a time of 2:11.91, outperforming runner-up Mireia Belmonte of Spain. Belmonte clocked 2:13.53 for silver in the race in which she became Olympic champion at the 2016 Games in Rio.
Tomas Franta won the men’s 200m back in 2:00.62, while Tomas Havranek took the men’s 200m free in 1:51.46.
Aside from Seemanova and Kubova, there were no additional Czech World Championships qualifiers on night 2 in Pardubice.