Both the Australian and Netherlands swimming federations have confirmed that Australia’s Cameron McEvoy will advance to the final of the men’s 200 free, despite the two tying for 8th place in 1:47.21.
This came after Sebastiaan Verschuren withdrew from the swim-off to focus on the 100 free that begins with preliminary rounds on Wednesday. Verschuren will enter that 100 free as the third seed, and with names like Magnussen and Adrian faltering early, he is very much in the mix for a medal in that race.
He will join countrymate Thomas Fraser-Holmes in that final, who was the 7th seed, as they look to right the Australian men’s squad that is going through their second-straight year of many disappointing freestyle performances at their big taper meet.
McEvoy is young with enormous talent. Perhaps the best chance of a swim off swimmer being a factor in a final. Looking forward to this final.
Probably a good decision given his front-half speed in the heats. But I hate these swim-offs, especially in longer events. Why don’t they use the heats times as tiebreaker? How often has a swim-off winner (especially in 200 meter events+) been able to be relevant in a final?