Thursday, October 21st – Saturday, October 23rd
Hamad Aquatic Center, Doha, Qatar
SCM (25m)
Entries
With the conclusion of the Budapest stop of the 2021 FINA World Cup, we’re already at the halfway point of this year’s concise four-location series.
Doha, Qatar is upon where elite athletes will descend next, with the list of top 10 overall money leaders on both the men’s and women’s sides remaining primarily intact. The only swimmer missing among the upper echelon is Hungary’s Hubert Kos.
But that doesn’t mean we have robust fields all around. The women’s 50m back, for instance, has just 5 entrants while the men’s 1500m free will see just 3 swimmers as it stands right now.
Nevertheless, we’ve compiled our top races to watch this weekend, so mark your calendars for this short course meter showdowns.
Men’s 100m Freestyle
Aussie Kyle Chalmers has proven to be the man to beat through the first two stops in this 100m free event and he’ll see many of the same rivals here in Doha.
Russia’s Vlad Morozov and Dutchman Jesse Puts continue to bring the heat, while World Cup newcomer Hwang Sunwoo will try to steal Chalmers’ thunder.
Sunwoo rarely swims short course meters so we don’t have a solid idea of what to expect from the 18-year-old. However, his best time in long course of 47.56 equates to a 45.96 in SCM which could put Marion’s Chalmers on the defensive.
Women’s 50 Fly
With names like Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands, along with Holly Barratt and Emma McKeon of Australia among the lineup, one can’t be too sure what the outcome of this women’s 50m fly will be.
Barratt took the event in stop #1 in Berlin with a time of 24.77while McKeon reaped gold one week later in Budapest with a personal best of 24.97. Could it be Kromo’s turn to split the Aussies and take gold for herself? We’ll see what transpires this weekend.
Men’s 200 Free
South Africa’s Matt Sates has enjoyed two weeks’ worth of success in this men’s 2free event, reaping victory in Berlin with a time of 1:40.65 and Budapest in a mark of 1:41.51. The former result signified a new World Junior Record for the 18-year-old who has committed to swim at the Univesity of Georgia in the spring.
However, this time around, Sates will not only face Chalmers and Lithuanian Rapsys but the future Bulldog will also have Hwang with which to contend.
Again, rarely on the short course radar, Hwang did final in this event at the Tokyo Olympic Games, placing 7th overall.
Men’s 400 IM
So, um, yeah, there are just 4 entrants in total in this men’s 400m IM, 2 of which are Daiya Seto of Japan and the aforementioned Sates of South Africa.
Sates already downed Seto’s previous short course World Junor Record in the men’s 200m IM and the South African has a chance to accomplish the same feat here in the longer event in Doha.
Seto owns the World Record in his massive 3:54.81 logged at the International Swimming League (ISL) final in 2019. Sates, on the other hand, is chasing the World Junior Record of 3:59.15, the benchmark set by FINA when WJR’s were established.
Entering Doha, Sates’ personal best in this short course 4IM rests at the 4:01.98 he produced in Berlin at the first stop of this FINA World Cup.
Originally posted on SwimSwam.com. Click here to Read More.