Although Bucher was satisfied after the semifinals, he was also a little disappointed after being eliminated: “It’s a shame, it was really close. The semi-final was much better than the preliminary. I had a better feeling in the water (than in the run-up, note), unfortunately I had a slight gliding phase at the turn. Maybe that was the reason.”
However, Bucher was happy about his new Austrian record: “You can be proud of every record. I’m actually proud of my current achievements and I’m looking forward to the relay. I think we can keep up with that. And then two more full throttles over 50 meters backstroke and 100 meters dolphin.” The main focus of the athlete who trains in Linz is the 100 m dolphin distance scheduled for Saturday. “If I can get through the second 50 meters at this high speed, that would be great. Then maybe the final is possible.”
On Wednesday and Friday he will be competing in the 4 x 50m mixed medley and 50m backstroke. In the relay, Bucher is planned for the dolphin position, Caroline Pilhatsch for the back, Bernhard Reitshammer for the breast and Lena Kreundl for the crawl.
Kreundl with a good World Cup start
Kreundl (200 meters individual medley), Pilhatsch (100 meters backstroke) and Jan Hercog (1,500 meters crawl) were eliminated in the pre-run on Tuesday morning (local time). Kreundl, 14th, was 1.19 seconds short of the final of the top eight, but in 2:08.44 minutes she still beat her personal best time from last year’s World Championships in Abu Dhabi by 1.32 seconds. “It was a really good start to the World Cup,” said the 25-year-old.
Pilhatsch only managed 29th place in 59.71 seconds, the last place in the semifinals went away in 57.54 seconds. The Styrian said that she had run out of strength at the end of the race. “But I can draw good conclusions for the 50s,” she said looking ahead to the competition in which she became vice world champion in 2018.
Hercog does not have this experience, the 24-year-old made his World Cup debut in the pool. In 15:00.36 minutes, the World Championship ninth over 10 kilometers of open water was almost four seconds faster than his best time and finished 15th.
Two relay world records
On the opening day of the World Championships, there were two world records over 4 x 100 meters freestyle. In the men’s race, an Italian quartet was 0.28 seconds faster than a US team at the 2018 World Championships in 3:02.75 minutes old world record of a Dutch team down by 1.10 seconds. The USA (3:26.29) also remained below the previous top mark.
In the 200 meter individual medley, the American Kate Douglass in 2:02.12 and the South African Matthew Sates (RSA) in 1:50.15 came within 0.26 and 0.52 seconds of the respective world records.
