This page will be updated as the events complete, so be sure to refresh it frequently to see the outcome of each event!
Women’s 100 fly prelim
There were no big surprises missing the semi-final in the women’s 100 fly, but Dana Vollmer looked really comfortable in posting the world’s top time of 56.97. That missed by .03 seconds her own American Record set in rubber in 2009. Fantastic prelims swim to really put some fear in her opponents. Alicia Coutts of Australia, who entered the meet with the world’s best time, also looked very comfortable in cruising to a 57.49 as the 2nd seed.
Rounding out the top 5 were Jessicah Schipper (AUS – 57.86) and Ying Lu (57.93).
In the race within the race, 50m stars Inge Dekker of the Netherlands went out in 26.65, easily the best opening 50 of the field, and Therese Alshammar of Sweden went out in 26.89, to rank 2nd. That bodes well for both of their chances in the 50. Also significant, Russia’s Irina Bespalova qualified 16th for the semi-final in 58.85. A little bit of reassurance on the only leg that keeps Russian medley off of the medal stand.
Men’s 400 freestyle prelims
This 400 free prelims is a tricky one, because without a semi-final, swimmers really have to fight to make the top 8 out of a field of 49. USA’s Peter Vanderkaay was the early trendsetter in 3:45.02, followed by Germany’s defending Champion and World Record holder in 3:45.18. It looks like the Gator Swim Club charges of Gregg Troy have hit their famed taper about perfectly, as that time was almost two seconds better than Vanderkaay’s time from Nationals in 2010, when he was still training with Club Wolverine in Michigan.
In the second-to-last heat, Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli, who trains in Southern California, took the heat in 3:45.90. France’s Sebastian Roualt actually bested the much more hyped Yannick Agnel 3:46.20-3:46.72, though both moved on safely to the final.
Sun Yang stood ahead of World Record pace for half of the final heat, but then predictably fell off. Still, he sent a big warning shot to the field as all of his competitors watched him go out very hard, shut down his last 100 meters, and still take the top seed in 3:44.82.
Tae Hwan Park, swimming in the slowest of the seeded heats (heat 6), was almost upset when he touched in 3:46.74. He appeared to turn his speed on the last 150 meters, which was just in time to earn him the 7th seed. He sat 2nd in the world this year coming into the meet.
There were some close calls in this race, but ultimately all of the usual suspects qualified. Sun Yang is the top seed, followed by Vanderkaay, Biedermann, and Mellouli. The top 3 appeared to be the least laborous in that prelim.
Full men’s 400 free results available here.
Women’s 200 IM
This women’s 200 IM is one of the meet’s real glamour events, and though this prelims was a bit of a slow one, all of the big names pushed through to the semi-final. With the depth and quality of this IM field, the semi-final will surely produce some blazing times, because there are certainly more than 8 swimmers with the talent and pedigree to make the final.
USA/Cal swimmer Caitlin Leverenz took the top seed with a 2:11.01, which is the second-best time of her career. It’s not surprising that she was fast, but it was a bit shocking that she emerged with the top seed. She hung back until the breaststroke leg, where she might be the best in the field, and held off her heatmates Alicia Coutts (2:11.64) and Ariana Kukors (2:11.84). The two Americans were a tale of two different races: Kukors had an incredible opening 100, but fell off badly on the breaststroke, whereas Leverenz was well back, but made up the difference on the breaststroke. Coutts demonstrated that so far, she’s having no problem with the 100 fly-200 IM double. Tonight she will have two semifinals and a relay final.
World Short Course Champion Mireia Belmonte-Garcia swam a nice 2:11.38 to take the 2nd seed. As a demonstration of her power and endurance, Belmonte actually straight-armed the final 50, which is a technique that can usually only be sustained in sprints. This bodes well for her 400 IM on the meet’s final day. Katinka Hosszu of Hungary (2:11.53) and 15-year old, Chinese swimmer Shiwen Ye (2:11.63) also had very good swims.
Kirsty Coventry had a horrendous start on the butterfly leg, and was actually dead last in her heat after the first leg. She recovered fairly well, but is only seeded 11th in the semi-finals, which is not where the defending Olympic silver medalist would expect to be.
Top 5 qualifiers: Leverenz, Belmonte-Garcia, Hosszu, Ye, and Coutts. All of the usual suspects were safe.
Full results of women’s 200 IM prelims.
Men’s 50 fly
In the first test for Cesar Cielo, he looked unphased by the doping case, and took the top seed headed into the semi-finals in 23.26, despite a very long stroke into the finish. That time barely outtouched powerful Australian Geoff Huegill in 23.27. The big surprise of the heats was fast-rising French youngster Florent Manaudou. Yes, he is the younger brother of former World-Record holder Laure, and he took the 3rd seed in the 50 fly in 23.31. That by 3-tenths sets his career-best time from French Nationals earlier this year. He could be a potential future option for France in the medley relay, where currently Fred Bousquet (who qualified 14th in this race) is plugging the dam.
Jason Dunford, 2010 Commonwealth Games Champion, is seeded 4th in 23.48, followed by Germany’s Steffen Deibler, who barely snuck into the meet, in 23.50. Roland Schoeman of South Africa, swimming next to Cielo after making some very public jabs against the embattled Brazilian, qualified 10th in 23.64.
Among the more disappointing failures-to-final were Peter Mankoc of Slovenia, though it’s great to see that he didn’t quite yet retire after Dubai, and Cullen Jones of the USA.
Top 5 qualifiers: Cielo, Huegill, Manaudou, Dunford, and Deibler. With first-through-sixteenth separated only by seven-tenths of a second, anyone still in the race has a great shot to final.
Full Results from Men’s 50 fly prelims.
Women’s 400 free prelims
The women’s 400 free saw the first minor upsets of the meet, as the #5, 6, and 7 swimmers in the world entering the meet (Bronte Barratt of Australia, Jazz Carlin of Great Britain, and Yiwen Shao of China) all failed to final. So too did American favorite Chloe Sutton, who looked strong but qualified 9th in 4:08.22. That’s nearly three-seconds off of her time from Nationals in 2010.
As to those who did qualify, Nobody was exceptionally fast, but Federica Pellegrini of Italy (4:04.76) and Camille Muffat of France (4:05.62) looked very relaxed to take the top two seeds. Lauren Boyle, a former Cal star who swims for New Zealand, was a big shock to upset a tough final heat and take the 3rd-overall seed in 4:05.86. Even more impressive was that she led that heat, which included world #1 Rebecca Adlington (4:07.38), from start-to-finish.
Katie Hoff, in her only individual event, snuck in ahead of Sutton 8th in 4:07.93.
The top 5 finalists were Pellegrini, Muffat, Boyle, Lotte Friis (Denmark), and Kylie Palmer.
Full Women’s 400 free results here.
Men’s 100 breaststroke prelims
In a very swift 100 breaststroke prelim, Norway’s Alexander Dale Oen posted the world’s third-best time this year with a 59.71 to take the top overall seed headed towards semifinals. That was not a big surprise, but the runner-up was. New Zealand’s Glenn Snyders broke his own National Record and became the first New Zealander ever under one-minute when he swam a 59.94. His stroke was nearly perfect, with absolutely no wasted motion or excess drag as he skated perfectly across the top of the water. Combined with Boyle’s 400 free prelim, the Kiwis are swimming out of their minds so far this meet.
Kosuke Kitajima used his typicall lightning-quick turnover to blow by his heat in the last 25 meters to place as the 3rd seed overall in 59.96, even with a terribly long finish. Brazil’s Silva continued to find his pacing in the 100 with a 4th-seed of 1:01.01, followed by Italian Fabio Scozzoli (1:01.14) and USA’s Mark Gangloff (1:00.29). Gangloff’s teammate, Mike Alexandrov, failed to final.
No big surprises in this final. One through five goes Dale Oen, Snyders, Kitajima, Silva, Scozzoli.
Full 100 breaststroke Prelims heats here.
Women’s 400 free relay prelims
Prelims of the women’s 400 free relay clearly established the two contenders as the USA (3:35.64) and the Netherlands (3:35.76).
From start to finish, both squads looked really swift. Check out the splits.
USA: Weir (54.35) – Franklin (53.57) – Kara Lynn Joyce (54.10) – Jessica Hardy (53.62)
Netherlands: Marleen Veldhuis (54.41) – Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.66) – Maud Van Der Meer (54.70) – Femke Heemskerk (52.99)
Kromowidjojo didn’t look as good as expected, but Heemskerk looked awesome to be the only swimmer to break 53 seconds. Those two will be battling for medal positions in the individual 100 free. When the Netherlands replaced Van Der Meer with Dekker in the final, that lops about a second off of their time.
The USA will have some very tough decisions to make in the final. Weir, Franklin, and Hardy all looked fabulous in the prelim, and with Dana Vollmer and Natalie Coughlin waiting to take two legs in the final, somebody is going to get dropped. My guess is that the finals relay will be Coughlin, Franklin, Hardy, Vollmer, but we’ll have to wait and see.
China was 3rd in 3:37.14, and didn’t look as good as expected. With a young relay, though, they might be saving everything for finals. Germany placed 4th and Australia, who will have the biggest changes to make before the final, was 5th. Canada, Japan and Denmark round out the finalists, with Great Britain disappointingly missing out and finishing 9th. Fran Halsall, though, had a great split of 53.35, but none of her teammates were much under 55.
Click here for full results of the women’s 400 free relay.
Men’s 400 free relay
The final of the men’s 400 free relay will redraw old battle-lines as the French (3:12.09), Americans (3:13.50), and Russians (3:13.61) took the top 3 seeds after prelims. Tied with the Russians were the impressively young Italians, who were our big darkhorse pick in this relay, thanks to a throwback 47.94 split from 2007 World Champion Filippo Magnini.
The French clearly outclassed the rest of the prelims relays, which is no surprise given their depth in the sprint freestyles. Their leading sprinter, Fabien Gilot, certainly confirmed his position as an anchor in the finals with his split of 47.62 – the fastest of the field.
For the USA, their splits were enough to safely give them a middle lane in the final, though not as good as the French were. The times went Garrett Weber-Gale (48.49 – great flat start time for him); Ryan Lochte (48.28); Scot Robison (48.62) and Dave Walters (48.11). Based on those times, it seems that Walters has swum his way into the final to join Michael Phelps, Jason Lezak, and Nathan Adrian, but it will probably come down to a discussion between Lochte, Walters and the coaches to decide how te latter felt about his prelims swim. I’d expect Lochte to be there, but the Americans will need better than a 48.2 if they want to medal in finals.
Though the Russians and Italians took 3rd, it’s the 5th-place Australians that I expect to take the third medal in finals. They were only two-tenths back even with a disappointing anchor from Eamon Sullivan in 48.71. He was injured early this year, and still qualified for Worlds on not much rest, but seems to have not had enough time to really get his worm back. Kyle Richardson, the relay trial addition, led off in a 48.92. The Aussies were carried by two very good splits in the middle by Matthew Abood (47.91) and James Roberts (48.25). Matthew Targett and James Magnussen should take over the leadoff and anchor spots, respectively, in tonight’s final, which puts this Australian squad in gold-medal range.
The Brazilians, who rolled the dice and left Cesar Cielo off of their prelims relay, failed to final in finishing 9th. Late relay addition Marcos Macedo really sunk their chances with a split of 50.32. With Cielo in prelims, they easily qualify, but this now allows him to focus on his 50 fly in tonight’s final.
Full results from the men’s 400 free relay prelims.
Overall thoughts
After day 1 prelims, the winners thus far are definitely the New Zealanders and the Americans, who have both put themselves in position to pick up a load of medals in the finals tonight. The sliders would have to be the British: between Adlington barely sneaking into the 400 free final and the women’s 400 free relay missing the final altogether, they were hoping for a bit more representation in the first finals session. The British men, however, did well to sneak in 8th in their relay.
Cesar Cielo, upon whom all eyes were fixed, seemed to handle the pressure pretty well in the 50 fly prelim. Truthfully, though, this race is not going to be as telling as will the 50 and 100 freestyles that come later in the meet.
We got at least one realy question answered in the 100 fly. With that swim from Dana Vollmer, almost an American Record in prelims, she seems to be a slam-dunk for the women’s 400 medley relay fly leg over Christine Magnuson, who looked good but not American Record good.
Hey -what is with the Chinese having everyone’s birthday as 1st January (Sun got a variation 1 december ).
Some are 1st january 1901!
Does it matter ? Yes- . What can we believe with the Chinese?
@John26 – thanks for the reply. You will have to update us once you are on the ground. I am sure some of us will appreciate feedback on what the general atmosphere of the championships is like within the greater Shanghai community.
Side note: You have to be pulling for Dale Oen after what has happened in Oslo this weekend.
I’m not on site yet. Im still finishing up my internship and going to watch live in Shanghai this Wednesday. I’m currently in Fuzhou, which is a much smaller city about 1000km away, and everyone seems to know about it but not necessarily embracing it. I’m sure Shanghai is a lot more excited. Just perusing the internet, you can kind of feel that there is tremondous expectation on Sun Yang. Lets hope he pulls through
both relays will be close. i am afraid that the us teams will be in the short of the stick to the dutch and french. i would shuffle the deck and put franklin last because she closes well and vollmer will have already swum two fast fly races by the time of the relay final. as far as the men’s team i am hoping that adrian can pull off a lezak, because the original lezak wont be able to pull off another stiring anchor. i would go with coughlin, hardy, vollmer and franklin for women and phelps, lochte, weber gayle and adrian for men.
Vollmer looked awesome!
Heemskerk made 52.99 with a 0.43 relay start!Impressive!
don’t believe in ‘missed taper’….you never hear phelps, lochte, or any real studs use that EXCUSE…..you do the work, you have the talent, the coach, then you will swim fast….it is more who handles the pressure is the key…..just the way i feel.
@John26 – True about Brazil’s relay… but at the same time that was a risky gamble of them not to swim Cielo in the prelims.
Are you onsite? I am curious about whether or not the chinese public is really embracing swimming or if it is just a niche spectator sport within a massive metropolis? What is it like in the city… is every body talking about the championships or is it flying under the radar?
Thanks.
crowd was about 8000, half capacity. But day1 was the quickest to sell out (finals) during round2 ticket purchases so expect extremely loud crowd tonight. Liu’s semi to warm things up for the 400m free. It was a shock that Canada and Brazil didnt advance for men’s relay. We wont see Cielo and Hayden at their best for a few days. Speaking of Hayden at his best. He was 48.77, I hope he didnt miss his taper.