2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Finals Watch Party Daily
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
In a night that saw 3 world records, we saw just as many DQs… and they all came from one heat. However, It turns out they weren’t all for the same reason. Britain’s Katie Shanahan was called for a false start while Kaylee McKeown (the defending silver medalist in this event) of Australia and Sara Franceschi of Italy were both called for going past vertical on the back-to-breast turn.
This is not an uncommon call in national and international competition but a DQ at this level is always a bit of a surprise. When transitioning from back to breast, the rule is that you must be ‘on your back’ (not past vertical toward your stomach) when you touch the wall. If you look at the video, you can see Kaylee and Sara were past that vertical point, letting their upper arm drag them past the 90-degree point.
This is most likely due to a slight timing error on the swimmers’ part as they end up gliding longer than expected which leads to the rotation from back to front continue past the vertical plain.
I was watching closely live on TV and spotted the irregularities in both girls turns at once .What amazed me was that it occurred at this level of Meet .In 30 years of officiating ,I see it a bit at Inter Club level and even Regional level with the younger “ brigade” !….but at this level , never .The girls must be mortified ! Video replays as now in play, have changed the game for Starts ,Turns and Finish touches . Coaches ,swimmers take extra care .
It looked like she was going in for a regular backstroke flipturn.
I’ve often felt the back-to-breast flip turn was risky. It’s a close call, but it seems (for me) that the flip may not be much faster anyway. I kind of wish they just put the rule back and require open turns. Probably toothpaste out of the tube on that.
But, I tried to figure the times of the DQd swimmers, by replaying the finish, getting the ‘time back’, and adding to the Walsh time. If I did it right, their times ‘would have been’ 2:09.30 (McKeown) 2:09.77 (Shanahan) 2:10.05 (Franceschi), and they would have been T-3; and 5th; and 7th heading into Finals. In which case, the three swimmers who would not have made Finals would have been Kate Douglas,… Read more »
Not true. KD likely baked that in and let up at the end to swim that silver anchor leg. Smart swimmer.
It worked out for her in the end, but she did take a bigger risk than she probably fully considered in that brief moment while standing behind the blocks. At this level, virtually every disqualification is challenged. It’s less likely to be overturned now that the call is initiated on video, but there was a significant possibility of one or multiple reversals.
I feel like this justifies the scrutiny at US Trials. It was a sudden change but it’s best not to bring swimmers who won’t have a swim count, or at least scare the swimmers enough to make them pay attention to the tiny details.
Are they using under water video as they were at Trials
Yes, during the livestream (mainly during fly, breast and IM events) there’s a pause for a couple minutes and a small “video review in progress” icon that pops up. They’re definitely checking for extra kicks, one-hand touches and more closely reviewing turns and the strokes