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Jul 25, 2023

2023 World University Games: Day 5 Prelims Live Recap

Day 5 of the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu is right around the corner. This morning’s session will be a little longer than yesterday’s featuring 7 events, including heats of the women’s 800

Day 5 of the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu is right around the corner. This morning’s session will be a little longer than yesterday’s featuring 7 events, including heats of the women’s 800 free.

DAY 5 PRELIMS EVENT SCHEDULE

As was the case in the women’s 1500 free, China’s Li Bingjie enters as the heavy favorite in the women’s 800 free this morning. Bingjie is fresh off a silver medal in the event at the World Championships last week in Fukuoka, wherein she set a new Asian Record in the process. While her women’s 1500 free victory last night was a signal that we shouldn’t expect Bingjie’s times here in Chengdu to be quite what they were in Fukuoka, she should still win the race handily.

China’s Qin Haiyang has already earned gold medals in the men’s 100 breast and 200 breast in Chengdu this week. Coming off his historic World Championships last week, the men’s 50 breast will present an opportunity for Haiyang to sweep the men’s breast events for the second week in a row. Moreover, Haiyang has already cracked the WUGS Championship Records in the 100 and 200 breast, and he looks like he should break the 50 breast record as well, either today or tomorrow.

The men’s 200 back will be without Italy’s Simone Stefani. Stefani has already won the men’s 50 back and 100 back this week but isn’t competing in the 200. His teammate, Michele Lamberti, who has medaled in both backstroke events as well, is entered, though he’s seeded pretty far down the start lists. Meanwhile, American 18-year-old Keaton Jones, who has thus far been denied a medal in the backstroke events, is the top seed in the 200 back. He’s seeded exactly 0.01 seconds ahead of American teammate Tommy Janton.

TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:

The men’s 200 back prelims saw Poland’s Marcin Goraj lead the way in 2:00.69. Goraj was out the fastest of anyone this morning, splitting 57.66 on the opening 100m. Goraj continued building his lead on the 3rd 50, where he split 30.71, which was the fastest 3rd 50 split in the field. He shut it down on the final 50m, swimming a 32.32.

Japan’s Kodai Nishiono swam a 2:00.91 for 2nd, while Italy’s Michele Lamberti was also a 2:00, taking 3rd overall in 2:00.98. Of note, Lamberti has already medaled in both the men’s 50 back and 100 back this week.

TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:

Italian Antonietta Cesarano posted the top time of the morning in the women’s 200 free, stopping the clock in 2:01.11. She swam a tightly split race, going out in 59.25 on the first 100m and coming home in 1:01.86.

American Amy Tang was right behind Cesarano this morning, clocking a 2:01.20 for 2nd overall. Tang was out a little over a second faster than Cesarano, splitting 58.24 on the first 100m.

Of note, China’s Liu Yaxin was 7th this morning in 2:02.24. While that swim could very easily go unnoticed, we know Yaxin will be way faster moving forward. In last night’s finals, Yaxin led the Chinese team off in 1:57.45, which was the fastest split in the event.

TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:

In a quick prelims of the men’s 100 fly, Japan’s Genki Terakado led the field with a 52.56. He was out fast, splitting 24.76 on the first 50m. Though Terakado posted the top time of the morning, there was a very tight field behind him.

6 men were under 53 seconds this morning. One such swimmer was Germany’s Luca Armbruster, who clocked the fastest 1st 50 split in the field this morning, getting out to a blistering 24.50. He would end up taking 5th overall with a 52.86.

TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:

Poland’s Adela Piskorksa, the women’s 100 back champion from last night, led prelims of the women’s 50 back this morning, speeding to a 28.58. It was a very solid morning swim for Piskorska, who finished 0.69 seconds off the Championship Record.

Italy’s Federica Toma was right behind Piskorska, touching 28.75 for the 2nd-fastest time of the morning. In total, 6 swimmers were under 29 seconds this morning, setting a fairly high standard for what it’s probably going to take to finish in the top 8 in tonight’s semifinals.

Portugal’s Camila Rebelo, the silver medalist in the 100 back last night, cut it a little close this morning, taking 13th overall with a 29.27.

TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:

China’s Qin Haiyang didn’t waste any time this time around. After swimming very relaxed prelims of the 100 breast and 200 breast in the past few days, Haiyang threw down a sizzling 26.44 to claim the top seed for tonight’s semifinals. Not only did Haiyang lead the field by nearly a full second tonight, he also smashed the WUGS Championship Record of 26.82. Of note, the owner of the record Haiyang broke, Michael Houlie, is competing in the event as well. Houlie took 5th this morning in 27.67.

Haiyang was already the favorite heading into the meet in this event, but with his swim this morning, it looks like the 50 breast may be his best of the 3 breaststroke events at this meet.

Italy’s Alessandro Pinzuti was the only swimmer in the event this morning to swim a time within a second of Haiyang’s Pinzuti clocked a 27.38 this morning, firmly establishing himself as the 2nd seed heading into tonight’s semifinals.

TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:

In what we can only assume was an extremely relaced race for her, China’s Li Bingjie swam an 8:47.34 to clock the 3rd-fastest time of the morning in the women’s 800 free prelims. For context on why we’re so sure Bingjie wasn’t putting a ton of effort into her race this morning, she earned the silver medal exactly one week ago today at the World Championships in Fukuoka with an 8:13.31, which established a new Asian Record in the event. While her 1500 free last night tells us Bingjie probably won’t be super close to that 8:13, she should still be way faster than 8:47.

South Africa’s Dune Coetzee, who has been swimming quite well so far in Chengdu, led the field this morning in 8:40.27. Cotezee couldn’t have asked for a better race, leading the field by a whopping 7 seconds and setting herself up with lane 4 for the final, which will take place tomorrow night.

TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:

This was the first time the mixed 4×100 free relay has been competed at WUGS, so Brazil has set the Championship Record with their time of 3:31.14 this morning. Vini Assuncao was critical to Brazil’s effort, splitting a sizzling 48.87 on the 2nd leg of their relay. The only swimmer in the event who went a faster time than Assuncao this morning was Poland’s Jakub Kraska, who split 48.62 on the 2nd leg of the Polish relay.

While they came in 5th this morning and could easily slide under the radar, China still looks really good in this event. We know China, who went 3:32.91 this morning, can be much faster. They’ll almost assuredly swap in Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie for their female legs tonight. Bingjie led the Chinese women’s 4×100 free relay off in 54.40, while Yufei won the women’s 100 free in a new Championship Record of 53.34. Their additions alone could make the Chinese really close to 6 seconds faster than they were this morning.