Pan Pacific Championships, Day 1 Men’s Prelims: Three Trade Meet Marks in 50 Fly
The morning session at the Pan Pacific Championships was going to have guaranteed racing in at least one dimension. With only two finalists for each county allowed in locked finals and up to five participants per country in the meet, the battle between Americans – and to a lesser degree, Aussies – was going to be pitched.
That meant four Americans in the top seven of the men’s 50 fly, for instance, and only two to the A final.
In that opening 50 fly at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatic Center, Van Mathias, Gui Caribe and Ben Armbruster traded the meet record among three swimmers to break 23 seconds.
All the action:
Men’s 50 butterfly
Van Mathias set a meet record in heat 2 of four at 22.99. Gui Caribe of Brazil broke it in heat 3 at 22.96. Ben Armbruster went faster still at 22.92 to set the pace and get into finals. That’s your top three.
Michael Andrew is the other American in the A final in 23.01. That leaves no room for Santo Condorelli (fifth overall at 23.18) and Dare Rose (seventh at 23.26).
Australia’s Isaac Cooper, Shoon Mitsunaga of Japan, Calvyn Justus of South Africa and Canada’s Finlay Knox round out the top eight. That leaves Aussie Matthew Temple in the B final with Americans.
Men’s 200 freestyle
The same battle for spots played out in a deep 200 free, with nine – count ‘em, nine – Americans involved.
Tops among them, and tops overall, was Luke Hobson, who coasted home in 1:44.31, a meet record eclipsing the time of 1:44.75 set by Ian Thorpe in 2002. Americans went 1-2-3-5 on time. Gabriel Jett is the other A finalist in 1:45.05. Aaron Shackell (1:45.19) and Henry McFadden (1:45.61) are consigned to the B final. No love for Patrick Sammon in 1:46.15 or Keaton Jones in 1:46.30, that a huge best time by 1.36 seconds.
Also in the A final is China’s Zhanshou Zhang, who went 1:45.43. Tatsuya Murasa of Japan was sixth overall in 1:46.05, .01 ahead of tied Aussies Kai Taylor and Max Guiliani. Katsuhiro Matsumoto and Ethan Ekk are the other A finalists.
Men’s 100 backstroke
It didn’t take much to winnow the 18 finishers down to 16 Pan Pacs finalists. Leading the way was Canadian Blake Tierney, who went 53.13 to grab the top seed. American Will Modglin was second in 53.17, while the final heat of three provided all three of the top times, with Marcus Reyes Gentry of Mexico scaring his national record.
Jack Aikins is the other American in the A final after going 53.90. Daniel Diehl drops to the B final with his 54.16 that won the first heat. Also in the A final are Japan’s Hidekatsu Takehara and Kodai Nishiono, Raben Dommann of Canada and Jack Harvey of Bermuda, who lowered his national record to 54.51.
Men’s 200 butterfly
The endeavor was even more comical in the 200 fly, with 14 swimmers needing to be “narrowed” down to 16 in the Pan Pacs format.
Carson Foster won the first head of two in 1:54.72, with Harrison Turner of Australia second. Juner Chen of China was the only other one in the first heat to break two minutes.
Luca Urlando eased to the win in the final heat, going 1:54.13. Thomas Heilman was third overall (but not in the A final) in 1:55.11.
The A final is thus Urlando, Foster, Turner, Chen, Kris Mihaylov, Benjamin Loewen, Se-bom Lee and Anton Semenyuk.
Men’s 800 freestyle slowest heat
The “slowest” heat includes a not all that slow swimmer in Elijah Winnington, the Aussie Olympian who went 7:50.11. It’s eight seconds slower than he went at the Paris Olympics, but still a quick time. Sam Short and Bejamin Goedemans represent Australia in the A final, with Americans Joey Tepper and Bobby Finke entered.
Fellow Aussie Matthew Galea was second in the morning at 8:01.86.
