2021 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
- Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
- Meet Site
- Entries
British Olympian and European Championship gold medalist Abbie Wood has been forced to withdraw from the 2021 Short Course World Championships due to glandular fever, also known as mononucleosis (“mono”), she announced on Instagram recently.
“Really gutted to say that I’ve had to pull out of the world short course championships next week due to glandular fever,” Wood posted. “My body’s just forcing me to chill for a bit after a hectic year. Sad to not be going out there with the team but I know they’ll smash it.”
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Wood, 22, was seen as a primary medal contender in all four of her entries for the meet, which begins on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
Wood was slated to race the women’s 200 breast, 100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM, and ranks as the third-fastest swimmer in the world this season in the 200 IM (2:04.94) and second in the 400 IM (4:27.76) from her time competing in Season 3 of the International Swimming League (ISL) in Naples, Italy.
Wood represented the New York Breakers, emerging as the team’s top scorer and among the best leaguewide, but only raced in five matches due to the club failing to advance to the postseason.
The Buxton, England native was expected to challenge for titles in both the 200 and 400 IM, with Canadian Sydney Pickrem and Americans Kate Douglass (200 IM) and Emma Weyant (400 IM) the other top medal contenders.
The 100 IM is a bit more wide open amongst a number of swimmers, but Wood’s best time of 58.16 surely put her in the mix as well.
Wood won a pair of gold medals at the 2021 LC European Championships in May in the women’s 400 free and mixed 800 free relay, and added an individual silver in the 200 IM.
She then made her Olympic debut in the summer, narrowly missing an individual medal with a fourth-place finish in the women’s 200 IM (.11 behind Douglass, who won bronze), while also taking seventh in the 200 breaststroke. Wood also swam on the British women’s fifth-place finishing 400 free relay.
With Wood’s withdrawal, Molly Renshaw will be Great Britain’s lone entrant in the women’s 200 breast and 100 IM in Abu Dhabi, while Katie Shanahan will be the only British swimmer in the 200 and 400 IM.