Thursday, October 21st – Saturday, October 23rd
Hamad Aquatic Center, Doha, Qatar
SCM (25m)
Athlete List
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.
After Budapest, 18-year-old Kos ranked #9 on the overall money standings, having collected a total of $10,200, so his absence here won’t cause too much of a shakeup among the series standings.
The biggest national roster drop from previous stops to Doha comes from the United States, with its young contingent which included Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby dwindled down to just the dynamic duo of Blake Pieroni and newly-minted 50m fly American Record holder Tom Shields.
Entering the competitive landscape this time around, however, includes some robust talent to the tune of Brazilian Fernando Scheffer, Italian Simona Quadarella and the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Russia also brings powerhouse breaststrokers Anton Chupkov and Yuliya Efimova, while young South African backstroke ace Pieter Coetze will put his short course mettle to the test.
Also of significance is the act that South Korean Hwang Sunwoo is expected to race here in Doha, which means we’ll most likely see yet another potential game-changing talent enter the 200m free conversation.
Per our ‘stealthy six’ article outlining the top young men’s talent in the 100m and 200m free events for Paris 2024, at least right now, two-time Olympic finalist Hwang is among the best.
At this FINA World Cup we’ll get a potential Paris preview, albeit in short course meters, with Hwang most likely taking on the new World Junior Record holder in the 200m free and 200m IM, 18-year-old Matt Sates of South Africa.
You can read more about these young men here.
In fact, Sates can’t rest on his laurels in any event, as Japan’s megastar Daiya Seto is set to make his presence known in Doha.
Coming off of a disappointing Olympics, Seto helped his Tokyo Frog Kings progress through the International Swimming League Season 3 and will be trying Japan’s Short Course National Championships on for size beginning Saturday, October 16th.
It was Seto’s former 200m IM World Junor Record which Sates broke in Berlin.
Below is the schedule for the 3-day affair.
Originally posted on SwimSwam.com. Click here to Read More.