Tom Dean Ruled Out Of Short Course World Championships Due To COVID Contact

2021 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

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The reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 200m freestyle, Tom Dean of Great Britain, was a no-show this morning in the heats of this hotly-contested event.

As we reported, 21-year-old Dean represented one of two top players who left their lanes empty during the prelims session. The other was South African Olympian Chad le Clos.

British media is reporting now that Dean has been ‘ruled out’ of these FINA Short Course World Championships due to a COVID-19-related incident. ‘Tom Dean was pinged as a close contact of a COVID positive,’ reads the report.

Tom Dean ruled out of world short course swimming championships today after being pinged as a close contact of a Covid positive.

Surely, surely, can’t have caught Covid himself for third time in a year…

— Mark Woods (@markbritball) December 17, 2021

Remarkably before Tokyo, Dean contracted COVID-19 two separate times. In April of this year, he told SwimSwam, that his first infection came in September of 2020, the week before he was supposed to fly out for the International Swimming League season in Budapest (which is why he, and a few other British swimmers, arrived late).

He then contracted a second case, which he describes as “very severe,” over the New Year. He was out of the water for 3 weeks at that time and then had 3 weeks to rebuild his strength.

Although Dean has been ruled out here, there is no word of any other British swimmers being impacted by this situation. Compare that to Singapore and Nigeria, who each was dealt big blows by swimmers having tested positive, render their entire squads out of this competition for the totality.