World Cup Carmel – Day Three Prelims: Gretchen Walsh Positioned to Chase World Record in 100 Butterfly
A world record from Gretchen Walsh in the 50-meter butterfly and an American standard by Shaine Casas in the 200 individual medley highlighted the second night of competition at the World Cup stop in Carmel, Indiana. Both athletes will return to the pool for the final day of the leg on Sunday, before the circuit moves on to Westmont, Illinois (Oct. 17-19) and Toronto (Oct. 23-25).
Another 11 events are scheduled for Sunday, including the women’s 100 freestyle and the men’s 100 backstroke. The 100 freestyle will be headlined by Australian Mollie O’Callaghan, who set a national record on the way to victory in the 200 freestyle on Saturday night. In the 100 backstroke, Hungarian Hubert Kos is chasing a sweep of the backstroke events, having already prevailed over the 50 and 200 distances.
Here is an event-by-event recap of the Day Three prelims:
Day One Finals
Day Two Finals
Results
Men’s 400 Individual Medley
It’s not often that Shaine Casas contests the 400 medley, but the versatile American put together a 4:03.10 during the morning heats of the timed final. With the likes of Carson Foster and Tomoyuki Matsushita to race at night, the mark is unlikely to hold up, but it remains a strong showing from the University of Texas pro group member. Casas finished ahead of New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, who recorded a swim of 4:03.66.
Women’s 100 Butterfly
Coming off her world record in the 50 butterfly, Gretchen Walsh positioned herself to attack her global standard in the 100 butterfly. Walsh set a World Cup mark of 54.43 in prelims, qualifying more than a second ahead of American Alex Shackell, who went 55.97. Australian Alexandria Perkins was third in 56.76.
In the final, Walsh will take aim at her world record of 52.71, which she established at last year’s World Short Course Championships in Budapest.
Men’s 50 Butterfly
Another duel is set between Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and Canada’s Ilya Kharun. After finishing first and second in the 100 butterfly on the first day of the meet, Ponti (22.02) and Kharun (22.09) qualified in the top-two positions in the 50 fly. They were followed by Dylan Carter (22.45) and Josh Liendo (22.46).
Women’s 200 Backstroke
Australian Kaylee McKeown booked Lane Four for the final as she delivered a morning effort of 2:02.15, which was nearly a second clear of the 2:03.13 posted by rising American teenager Charlotte Crush. Regan Smith, who was the titlist in the 100 backstroke on Saturday night, grabbed the third seed in 2:03.87. In addition to winning the 100 backstroke, Smith also captured first place in the 200 butterfly in Carmel.
Men’s 100 Backstroke
Poland’s Kacper Stokowski had the fastest time of the morning, going 50.80, but all eyes at night will be on Hubert Kos of the Hugary. Kos advanced to the final as the fourth seed in 51.10 and will try to complete a backstroke sweep after already topping the fields in the 50 backstroke and 200 backstroke. Sitting second and third for the final are Enoch Robb (50.86) and Italian Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon (50.98).
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
Estonia’s Eneli Efimova, who was the runnerup in the 100 breaststroke on Night Two, will try to move to the top step of the podium at half the distance. Efimova comfortably managed the fastest time of the morning in the 50 breaststroke, as her outing of 29.35 was nearly a half-second quicker than the 29.80 of Germany’s Anna Elendt. Also going sub-30 in the morning were Belgium’s Florine Gaspard (29.85) and Ireland’s Mona McSharry (29.94).
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
