2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
- The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
- Meet site
- Competition Schedule
- FinaTV Live Stream
- Entry Lists
- Results
If there’s one thing that Simone Manuel of the United States has taught us, it’s that it all matters what you can do in the final.
Despite being out-split on relays this weekend, and barely slipping into the 100 free final tonight in seventh after semifinals, Manuel charged from lane one for the world title. Her time of 52.04 won the gold by nearly four tenths of a second, and it erased her own American record time of 52.27 from the 2017 Worlds.
This race is obviously reminiscent of her upset win at those 2017 Worlds, where she upset Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström. The Swede had just set the World Record at 51.71 leading off the 4×100 free relay earlier in the meet, and out of lane five, Manuel was out in 25.21 (behind only Sjöström and Denmark’s Pernille Blume) but came home in a blistering 27.06 to hit the wall at 52.27, just four hundredths ahead of Sjöström.
This was also a very different swim from her 2017 performance. Yes, she upset the field. But this time, she did so out of lane one, and she seriously attacked the race, screaming out to a 24.81 first 50 and holding it down on the back half (27.23) to secure the win over Australia’s Cate Campbell (52.43) and Sjöström (52.46). We’ve grown accustomed to Manuel’s lethal back half, making up ground and making her moves over the final 20 meters or so — this time, she left it all on the line from the start, and it paid off.
Manuel is only the second woman in history to win back-to-back World titles in the 100 free. This hasn’t happened since East Germany’s Kornelia Ender won in both 1973 and 1975. Meanwhile, Sjöström has medaled in the last four editions of this event, taking silver in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and bronze this year.
STRENGTH AND GENIUS IS IN OUR DNA. THEY ONLY NEVER GAVE US TE OPPORTUNITY BUT WE EXCELL EVERY TIME CONGRATULATIONS
Mix relay 52,5 , individually 52.0
( makes sense specially if you cost a team gold )
For once I would like to see a comment section with mostly “great job Simone, or MANUEL!!!” No excuses for other athletes not beating her to the touch. And no insinuating she’s a selfish athlete. Other athletes have had slower splits in relays than their individual: see Dressel M 4×100 free this meet. King W 4×100 medley Rio 2016 but I didn’t see people giving her grief.
Also, each of her 100 free wins have been in PB but no one recognizes that or credits all her hardwork.
Dang! She did it again. Way to go Simone!!
It’s simple. Cate Campbell feels the pressure in individual events because she’s supremely talented and everyone expects her to win. Simone Manuel feels the pressure in relays because she represents the world’s strongest swimming nation which expects its swimmers to deliver. I hate the terms ‘choker’. ‘underperformer’. ‘clutch swimmer’ etc. Everyone feels pressure and is affected by it except the true rarities like Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky.
Clever but far too neat and binary to be anywhere near accurate. Simone felt an immense amount of pressure to defend her title.
For once I just want to see Cate swim to her full potential in the final
she already has. Finals on the big stage don’t have optimum conditions. You have pressure and opponents giving their A+ effort in any sport. This is not some Thursday afternoon neighborhood swim meet against swimmers you’re 100x better than. The big stage where all the ingredients are there separates the greats from the pretenders.
I think 2016 australian trials were faster thanks the olympics…
I’m happy for Simone, but this is kind of frustrating. She has now proven beyond a reasonable doubt that she is in the same tier as cate and Sarah. So why in the world does is seem like every time she swims them on a relay they outsplit her by a noticeable margin. You would think college swimming would have helped her excel on relays. Just confusing to me.
I expected Manuel to be in the medal mix at the end, and maybe even sneak out a photo-finish win with the patented “Manuel Touch,” But I am absolutely stunned at how she won that. She flat SENT IT from the gun, and led wire to wire. That was the most convincing of her big-meet victories, by far. Based on how she jumped on that race (1/2 second lead at the 50), I’m really liking her chances to double-up in the 50.