2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 11th – February 18th (pool swimming)
- Doha, Qatar
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Official Entry Lists (Updated 2/9)
American Kate Douglass has withdrawn from the women’s 50 fly one day out from the start of the 2024 World Championships in Doha. At the same time, teammate Claire Curzan has scratched out of the women’s 50 free. Both Americans were set to accompany each other in both events, but have favored their stronger event to battle on their own.
Douglass was seeded 21st in the 50 fly at 26.27, leaving No. 6 seed Curzan (25.74) the lone American in the event. Swedish sprint queen Sarah Sjostrom is the only sub-25 entrant at 24.74. Meanwhile, Curzan was seeded 17th in the 50 free with a sub-25 entry of 24.92, leaving Douglass on her own. Douglass currently ranks 4th in the 50 free at 24.38, two-tenths off No. 3 seed Kasia Wasick of Poland (24.18) and another 0.17s off Australia’s Shayna Jack (24.01). Sweden’s Sjostrom is once again the top seed, entered at 23.61.
This leaves Curzan with 3 top seeds of now 5 individual events, and Douglass with 2 top seeds from 4 solo entries. Here’s a breakdown of their current events and psych sheet seeds:
| Current Seeds – Kate Douglass | Current Seeds – Claire Curzan | ||
| 1 | 200 Breast (2:21.22) | 1 | 100 Fly (56.61) |
| 1 | 200 IM (2:07.09) | 1 |
100 Back (58.35)
|
| 4 | 50 Free (24.38) | 1 |
200 Back (2:06.35)
|
| 4 | 100 Free (52.57) | 6 | 50 Fly (25.74) |
| 13 | 50 Back (28.14) | ||
Another multi-top seeded swimmer that dropped an event to hone in on their stronger events is Italy’s Simona Quadarella. The Italian scratched her No. 5 seed in the 400 free to focus on a potential double gold with her top seeds in both the 800 and 1500 free.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar was originally slated to swim both the 100 and 200 fly, yet has opted not to battle her No. 2 seed in the 100 fly. Instead, Pudar will go all in on her top-seeded 200 fly time of 2:06.26, with Great Britain’s Laura Stephens (2:06.62) as the only other sub-2:07 entrant.Other entrants focusing on stronger events include:
- Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga: #2 100 BR/#4 200 BR, scratched #9 50 breast
- Great Britain’s Abbie Wood: #6 200 IM, scratched #11 200 free
- Hungary’s Ajna Kesely: #6 800 free/#18 1500 free, scratched #10 400 free
On a different note, Egyptian teammates Abdelrahman Sameh and Marwan El Kamash have completely withdrawn all of their respective individual events from Doha. Sameh was seeded 5th in the 50 fly and 34th in the 50 free. Sameh told SwimSwam it was a decision he made with his NCAA coaches.
“I didn’t get much information but I trust the guy (head coach Chris Lindauer) with my life so I decided to be coachable and just listen,” Sameh said.
He was entered in the three distance free events, with a #10 seed in the 800 free, #12 seed in the 1500 free, and #12 seed in the 400 free.
El Kamash, meanwhile, withdrew with what is being called “excessive fatigue” in his left shoulder. El Kamash became the first Egyptian swimmer to hit Olympic qualifying times in the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle races.
Other notable withdrawn swimmers include:
- Hungary’s Benedek Kovacs: #4 200 back, #14 100 back
- Belgium’s Florine Gaspard: #8 50 free
Peaking at the current relay entries, Australian has scratched both their men’s 400 and 800 free relays, as well as the USA scratching the women’s 400 free relay. All relay events except both men’s and women’s 400 medley relays saw notable team scratches.
| Notable Withdrawn Relays – Update 2/9 | ||
| Seed | Country | Relay |
| 1 | Australia | Men’s 400 FR Relay |
| 4 | Australia | Men’s 800 FR Relay |
| 5 | Brazil | Mixed 400 FR Relay |
| 9 | Korea | Mixed 400 FR Relay |
| 11 | Korea | Mixed 400 Medley Relay |
| 10 | Singapore | Men’s 800 FR Relay |
| 12 | Singapore | Mixed 400 FR Relay |
| 10 | South Africa | Women’s 400 FR Relay |
| 16 | South Africa | Women’s 800 FR Relay |
| 2 | USA | Women’s 400 FR Relay |
I thought KD was doing the 100 Breast?!
Whose bright idea was it to have worlds and Olympics in the same year??? Don’t care if Covid happened… this is unacceptable
it was me.
sorry if you’re unhappy but i had bills to pay.
Will be interesting to see how many scratches and NS/DFS there will be compared to the first original entry list. I read that 2 Swedish swimmers who were on the original list/team have been scratched from the meet due to illness (do not think they were Top 24 in any event).
Hopeful this means at least one relay for the US women!
OT.Confusing article on changes made to the Olympics schedule to accommade Marchand’s quest over 200 Breast and 200 Fly.
https://twitter.com/lemondefr/status/1756269389534388654
Why is it confusing. Bowman wanted it changed. Same thing for Regan and 2 fly / 2 back.
Because in the middle of the article, they mention changes in the schedule on the 30th and not on the 31st
“Le 30 juillet, le 200 m papillon et le 200 m brasse se disputeront à une heure environ d’intervalle. L’une des demi-finales sera programmée vers 20 h 40 et l’autre vers 21 h 40.”
This is probably a typo. I guess it should read on July 31st the 200 Fly and 200 Breast will take place roughly 1 hour apart. One final will take place at 20.40 and the other at 21.40. But who knows!
That still sounds like an impossible double if Milak and Qin are in form
How many of these changes might be due to the fact that the meet has been extended to 9 days from 8 days (was decided a long time ago)?
This 2024 WC championship is still 8 days long (not sure if it will be 8 or 9 days in 2025).
Bowman wanted the schedule changed to suit his swimmers.
Other top coaches should also request the schedule changed to suit their swimmers.
“Swedish sprint queen Sarah Sjostrom is the only sub-25 entrant at 24.74.”
Who else has gone under 25? I feel like there were maybe one or two but I forgot.
I think the next best is Yufei at 25.05
Yep
and Therese Alshammar’s time from 2009 (25.07) still makes her the 3rd fastest performer
There it is!
Phrasing of that sentence was making me doubt Sjostrom was the only one.
billionth time updating the pickems
OMGosh, Jack! This photo is award worthy!!!