Emily Seebohm, Australia’s top backstoker for the last decade, will miss the world swimming championships for the first time since 2005, when she was 13 years old.
Seebohm finished third and fourth in the backstrokes at Australia’s trials for next month’s worlds in South Korea, where a nation can only send two swimmers per individual event. Seebohm said earlier this week that illness slowed her prep, according to Australian media.
Full Australian trials results are here.
Seebohm qualified for the world championships for the first time when she was 14 years old in 2007. She went on to earn five Olympic medals, including 100m backstroke silver behind Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Games.
She then swept the backstrokes at the 2015 World Championships. After missing the individual medals in Rio, she bounced back to claim Australia’s lone gold at the 2017 Worlds, taking the 200m back. That ensured the formerly dominant swim nation didn’t go winless at an Olympics or worlds for the first time since 1986.
The world’s top backstrokers in the last year have been Americans Kathleen Baker and Regan Smith, Canadians Kylie Masse and Taylor Ruck, Italian Margherita Panziera and Australian Kaylee McKeown.
Australia’s swimming federation also put Mack Horton on the world team in his Olympic gold medal event, the 400m freestyle, even though he did not meet the nation’s qualifying standard time, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Horton would have otherwise made the team in the event for finishing second at trials.
Australia’s other stars had no problem qualifying for worlds, including sprint freestylers Kyle Chalmers, Cate Campbell and Bronte Campbell and Katie Ledecky‘s biggest rival, 18-year-old Ariarne Titmus.
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Caster Semenya said she has been denied entry into Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, even though she is eligible to race her preferred distances while a Swiss supreme court decides on her appeal against the IAAF’s new rules for female events.
Semenya also said she considered boycotting racing the 800m unless the rule is lifted for all affected runners.
“I am a woman, but the IAAF has again tried to stop me from running the way I was born,” Semenya said in the release. “The IAAF questions my sex, causes me great pain and required me to take hormonal drugs that made me feel constantly sick and unable to focus for many years. No other woman should be forced to go through this in order to have the same right that all women have – to do what we love and run the way we were born.”
The two-time Olympic 800m champion’s team said she was told Tuesday that the president of the Moroccan track and field federation denied her from entering the 800m in Sunday’s meet.
“Caster is currently seeking clarity on the specific reasons for that decision, and she urges the IAAF to ensure its member federations comply with the law and the Supreme Court’s orders,” according to a press release.
The given media contact for the Rabat meet did not respond to an email last week asking if Semenya would be invited to race after the Swiss court made her eligible for the time being to race her best events — from the 400m through the mile. The same contact did not respond to a follow-up email Thursday afternoon following Semenya’s press release.
“It should be noted that the Diamond League meetings are not organized by the IAAF,” the IAAF said in a statement later Thursday. “Entry for any athlete into a Diamond League meeting is by invitation only from the meeting organizer.”
Semenya’s team also said the Swiss court denied an IAAF request to reimpose the regulations. The IAAF said it “continues to comply with” the Swiss court order to suspend the testosterone rule, strictly for Semenya.
“No woman should be subjected to these rules,” Semenya said in the release. “I thought hard about not running the 800m in solidarity unless all women can run free. But I will run now to show the IAAF that they cannot drug us.”
Semenya is also seeking to change her event at the Pre Classic on June 30 from the 3000m to the 800m, according to the release.
“As one of the premier track and field meets in the World, the Prefontaine Classic always strives to have the top athletes in attendance,” a meet spokesperson said when asked if Semenya will be allowed in the 800m. “If an athlete has a time/mark that is among the best in the World and is eligible in the eyes of the sports’ governing bodies, then yes, they will be considered for an invite to the Prefontaine Classic.”
MORE: Caster Semenya to IAAF: Focus on dopers, not us
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A month after being edged at the finish line, Christian Coleman left no doubt on Thursday. He is the world’s fastest man this year, not to mention this Olympic cycle.
Coleman won the 100m at a Diamond League meet in Oslo in 9.85 seconds, breaking his tie with Noah Lyles and Nigerian collegian Divine Oduduru atop the 2019 world rankings. Neither Lyles nor Divine was in Thursday’s race, but neither of them has ever broken 9.86, either.
“I’m pretty excited about it. It was a good run and a pretty good time,” Coleman said, according to meet organizers. “Now I’ll look back at the video and critique it. It wasn’t ideal conditions but … I executed better than in the last race.”
Lyles put Coleman’s 100m dominance to the test, beating him by .006 on May 18 in Coleman’s first race since Aug. 31. Both clocked 9.86 in Shanghai.
But Lyles is focusing on the 200m this season, while Coleman is bidding to race both the 100m and 200m at the USATF Outdoor Championships next month. The top three at nationals qualify for those individual events at worlds.
Coleman has progressed from being strictly a 4x100m prelim runner at the Rio Olympics to taking silver at the 2017 World Championships between Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt. Then last year, Coleman came back from an early season hamstring injury to clock 9.79, the world’s fastest time since the Rio Olympics.
Full Oslo results are here. The Diamond League moves to Rabat, Morocco, on Sunday with live coverage on NBC Sports Gold.
In other events in Oslo, 19-year-old Sydney McLaughlin beat the reigning Olympic, world and U.S. champions to become the 400m hurdles favorite for next month’s USATF Outdoor Championships as well as the world championships.
Muhammad, who in Rio became the youngest U.S. track and field athlete to compete at an Olympics in 44 years, rebounded from hitting the first hurdle and coming around the last curve multiple steps behind Dalilah Muhammad.
She passed the Olympic champion in the sprint off the last hurdle for her first career win over Muhammad in her Diamond League 400m hurdles debut.
McLaughlin’s time — 54.16 and .19 faster than Muhammad — was .02 slower than her domestic season opener, but she beat not only Muhammad but also U.S. champ Shamier Little and world champ Kori Carter.
“It wasn’t the cleanest race for me, but I came back strong, and that shows me where I am fitness-wise,” McLaughlin said, according to meet organizers. “It was a sloppy race, but I pulled through.”
World champion Emma Coburn took fourth in the 3000m steeplechase, 4.71 seconds behind Kenyan winner Norah Jeruto. Jeruto clocked 9:03.71, handing countrywoman and world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech her first steeple loss since May 31, 2018.
Olympic champion Brianna McNeal was disqualified from the 100m hurdles for a false start. Another American, Christina Clemons, ended up winning in 12.69. McNeal has yet to race world-record holder Keni Harrison this season. They ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world last year — Harrison in 12.36 and McNeal in 12.38.
World champion Johannes Vetter won the javelin but pulled out after one legal, 85.27-meter throw with a right adductor injury. He was competing for the first time since August after missing time with a left leg injury.
World champion Sam Kendricks won a pole vault duel with Swede Mondo Duplantis by clearing 5.91 meters. Duplantis, who turned pro after his freshman season at LSU, cleared 6.05 meters at the 2018 European Championships, matching the world’s best since 2001.
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http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2019/06/14/emily-seebohm-australia-swimming/
2019-06-14 10:54:00Z
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