All Chinese eyes are on Zhang Yufei who had an outstanding swim in May (2:05.44) in the 200m Butterfly, while Hali Flickinger (USA) also managed to go under 2:06 while winning the trials.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Regan Smith will fare in this new adventure but it’s Boglarka Kapas (HUN) who can offer the final proof that a talented swimmer can be still successful after a sharp mid-career turn. Kapas devoted herself to the 400-800-1500m free for long years, in Rio she fulfilled her dreams by claiming the bronze – but felt she needed something else and switched to the 200m fly after 2017. In 2018, she won the Europeans. In 2019, she won the Worlds. In 2021, she retained her European title. All were somewhat stunning as she didn’t clock outstanding times, just outsmarted the others by her racing tactics. Though she said at Gwangju that she was aware she really needed more to win the Olympics – and with the extra year to prepare for that, she might stun the others once more.
100M BUTTERFLY
On the shorter distance (100m) it should be another chapter in the Sarah Sjostrom Show as this is the pet event of the Swedish great who had won her first world title in the 100m fly at the age of 16 back in Rome 2009.
She had some ups and downs but at the end this event gave here the long-desired Olympic gold in Rio. Then in 2019 she was stunned by Canada’s Maggie MacNeil and today, after a long recovery from her shoulder surgery, there are even more who are keen to grab her title.
The list is headed by Torry Huske (USA), the 18-year old winner of the trials who beat the American record twice en route. China’s Yufei Zhang also had two sub-56sec swims and besides her blistering free runs, Emma McKeon set a new Oceanian record in this event as well. Of course, MacNeil will also line up to make a splash so Sjostrom shall need all her skills to claim a medal here.