World Championships, Day 1 Men’s Prelims: Sam Short, Lukas Martens Set Up 400 Free Title Clash
The first final of the World Championships is expected to feature a heavyweight showdown in the men’s 400 freestyle. The last two world champions in the event, Australia’s Sam Short and Korea’s Kim Woo-min, will race alongside Olympic champion and world-record holder Lukas Martens to open the first medal session in Singapore.
The men’s action on day one also included the 50 butterfly, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
Men’s 400 Freestyle
Two years ago at the World Championships, Australia’s Sam Short put on a show in the 400 freestyle, winning the world title in 3:40.68 and coming within two-thirds of a second of a world record that had stood for 14 years. He went on to win silver in the 800 free and bronze in the 1500 free at that meet. However, Short has largely struggled since; he fell to fourth place in the event at the Olympics, missing the podium by 14-hundredths.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Lukas Martens has since emerged as the world’s dominant 400 freestyler. Martens won Olympic gold last year in Paris, and earlier this year, he finally knocked the legendary world record of Paul Biedermann from the books. Martens clocked 3:39.96, clipping the 3:40.07 that had stood since the supersuit era. But Short has responded in fine form since then, going 3:41.09 at Australian Trials in June, and the two will face off for the world title Sunday evening.
Short dominated heat four in prelims, coming within a second of world-record pace for much of the race before pulling off the pace down the stretch. He finished in 3:42.07, a second off his time from June but a half-second quicker than he went in the Olympic final. Martens followed that up by winning his heat comfortably in 3:43.81.
There was a gap behind the two top seeds, but the rest of the field was fairly tightly packed. Korea’s Kim Woo-min qualified third in 3:44.99 as he seeks to repeat the gold medal he won at last February’s Worlds in Doha. Fourth went to Bulgaria’s Petar Mitsin, who went 3:45.01 before the seeded heats. It took a time under 3:46 to reach the final as China’s Zhang Zhanshuo (3:45.26), Sweden’s Victor Johansson (3:45.72), Germany’s Oliver Klemet (3:45.72) and, Italy’s Marco de Tullio (3:45.88) reached the final.
The swimmers that missed the final included Australia’s Elijah Winnington, the 2022 world champion and last year’s Olympic winner, and the United States’ Rex Maurer. Winnington clocked 3:46.37 for 10th place while Maurer, whose time of 3:43.33 from last month’s U.S. Nationals, ended up 11th in 3:46.38. The other American, Luka Mijatovic, struggled mightily in his first World Championships swim, ending up 16th and almost 14 seconds off his runnerup effort from Nationals in 3:59.68.
Men’s 50 Butterfly
Men’s 100 Breaststroke
Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay
