Horton Only in 400 Free, No Chikunova On Early 2019 Worlds Entry Lists

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
• FinaTV Live Stream
• Live results

Earlier today, we published an early, unofficial version of the entry lists for the 2019 World Championships. No entry times are included on this early version, and there are still some updates to be made (the men’s 100 free shows only the women’s 100 free entries, for example), but the early lists give some hints at a couple fairly notable entry decisions by major nations.

Australia’s Mack Horton is only entered in the 400 free. The 2017 Worlds bronze medalist in the 1500 had a rough Australian Trials and missed the selection cut in the 200, 400 and 800 frees, but was selected to the team anyways. No events were listed on the Australian roster we had at the time, but it was somewhat expected that Horton would only make an appearance in the 400 free, where he’s the defending Olympic champ. The men’s 800 free doesn’t appear on the entries we’ve been provided, so it’s unclear whether Horton will be entered in that race.

Meanwhile Russia’s Evgenia Chikunova is not entered in anything. The 14-year-old won Russian Nationals in the 200 breast, but bumped the reigning Olympic silver medalist and Worlds gold medalist Yulia Efimova out of the top two. Russia indicated that Chikunova would focus on European Juniors and World Juniors this year and would only be a reserve swimmer for Worlds. The entry lists seem to confirm that, with Efimova and Mariia Temnikova in the 200 breast and Chikunova nowhere on the entry lists.

A few other notable pieces:

• We’ll see veterans Sarah Sjostrom and Federica Pellegrini in the 200 free, provided they don’t scratch. Both veterans have suggested in the past that they were done with the event, but remain on the entry lists.
• The entries also reflect the change to the U.S. roster, with Ella Eastin in the 200 IM instead of Kathleen Baker.