Olympic Finalist Abbie Wood Absent From 200 IM Entries For Fukuoka

2023 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• July 23 – 30, 2023 (pool swimming)
• Fukuoka, Japan
• Marine Messe Fukuoka
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index

The initial entries per event are now available for the 2023 World Championships so we’re getting a glimpse into the likely lineups ready to take to the Fukuoka pool.

Among the British contingent, Olympian Abbie Wood‘s schedule includes just one individual event which is the women’s 200m freestyle. That’s a deviation from her typical program which in the past has also included the 200m IM, the event in which she placed fourth at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

At the British Swimming Championships (World Trials) meet this past April, Loughborough’s Wood reaped second place in the 200m free, with her new lifetime best of 1:57.51 finishing behind winner Freya Anderson who clocked a monster PB of 1:55.86.

As for the 200m IM, Wood also finished as the runner-up, hitting 2:09.46 to touch the wall only .06 behind winner Katie Shanahan who posted 2:09.40 for the gold. Wood’s result represented the 5th-swiftest outing of her career while Shanahan’s time marked her first-every foray under 2:11.

For reference, Wood’s 2IM time dipped under both the British Swimming Qualification Time and also the Consideration Standard.

The top 25 women 200m freestylers in the world right now are all under the 1:57 barrier which means Wood has her work cut out for her if she were to make a run at even making the final, let alone challenging for a medal.

Compare that to the 200m IM where Wood’s aforementioned time of 2:09.46 ranks her 13th in the world on the season.

Despite Wood’s solid performances at the British Championships, on the whole she’s still trying to come back to form from earlier in her career.

As a star on the International Swimming League’s (ISL) New York Breakers, in post-Tokyo 2020 Wood fired off a new British Record in the short course 200m IM (2:04.77). In season 3, Wood placed 32nd in the overall MVP standings as far and away the top overall performer from her squad.

Flash forward to the 2021 Short Course World Championships, however, and Wood’s trajectory was derailed with glandular fever, also known as mononucleosis (“mono”). She withdrew from the Abu Dhabi competition where she was a bona fide medal contender in the 200m breast and all three IM contests.

At last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Wood finished 12th in the 200m IM in a time of 2:11.31 and 8th in the 200m breast in 2:24.46.

She did bounce back to medal individually at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, taking the bronze in the 200m IM in a mark of 2:10.68.

We’ve reached out to Wood to find out more about her 200m IM absence.