Ben Proud Scratches 50 Fly on Thursday at Short Course Worlds

2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, December 11th- Sunday, December 16th
• Hangzhou, China
• Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
• SCM (25m)
• Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
• *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
• Live Results (Omega)

British sprint star Ben Proud is putting all of his eggs in the basket of the men’s 50 free at the 2018 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. The release of the start lists for Friday’s preliminary session has an empty lane for Proud’s 3rd-seed in the 50 fly – one of only two events he’s entered in at the meet.

Proud is the 9th-fastest performer in history in the 50 fly in short course, and 7th-fastest in long course. He’s the defending World Champion and European Champion in the event in long course, though he was disqualified via false start at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year. In short course, he has a 50 fly bronze from 2017 on his resume.

Editor’s Note: FINA didn’t reseed the 50 fly after Proud’s scratch, leaving lane 4 in his heat empty, which is unusual at a meet of this caliber.

With the scratch, his full focus will fall on to the 50 free, which will take place in Friday night’s final. He’s the 2nd seed in that final after swimming a 20.71 to win the first heat on Wednesday evening, which was two-tenths slower than American Caeleb Dressel. Proud is the faster of the two in long course, both in 2018 and in their careers, and is the fastest long course 50 freestyler ever in a textile suit.

With no British relays this week, that means Proud’s only event in Hangzhou will be the 50 free.

Other Noteworthy Scratches:

• Russia’s Maria Kameneva scratched out of the women’s 50 back, where she was the 11th seed. Among high seeds, Russians have been the greatest perpetrators of scratches this week.
• The Polish men have scratched another relay – this time the 200 free relay.
• After stopping before taking a stroke in the 100 fly preliminaries, Italy’s Matteo Rivolta is entered in the 50 fly still.
• Dutch swimmer Femke Heemskerk has scratched out of the 400 free, where she was the 8th seed. She took a silver medal in the 200 free earlier in the meet in 1:52.36 – which was about 7-tenths short of her best time. It would likely have taken a 1+second lifetime best in the 400 free to even have a chance at medalling on Friday (her best time of 4:00.03 is from October).