Lena Grabowski from Burgenland missed the semifinals of the top 16 over 200 m backstroke in 2:12.79 minutes as 20th, Carinthian Heiko Gigler only managed 22.46 seconds over 50 m crawl to place 36. Bucher has relatives in Japan, the arrived and had already bought tickets for the final session.
“I’m really sorry,” said the 23-year-old, extremely disappointed. “The way the World Cup started with the 50s, I would have expected a lot more,” said Bucher. In June 2022 in Budapest he had finished sixth in the World Championships over this distance and was actually going for a medal. “It got way too hard on the second 50s. I couldn’t get out the back and in the end I couldn’t get my arms out of the water.”
“Now I’ll put everything in the relay”
The goal of a medal is very far away, and it is no consolation that he bought the Olympic ticket in March. “If I swim there like that, I don’t even have to go there,” Bucher looked ahead to Paris 2024 a year ahead. “Now I’ll put everything in the relay. We want to get into the final here and ultimately qualify for the Olympics.” That’s what it’s all about on Sunday over 4 x 100 m individual medley in the only remaining competition with red-white-red participation.
Timetable in ORF Sport +
pool swimming:
Saturday: 1 p.m
Sunday: 1 p.m
Gigler will also be there, his two individual appearances did not go according to plan for him. If Bucher missed the semifinals by 0.51 seconds, it was 0.41 seconds for him. A time of 22.05 seconds would have been enough for promotion, which is exactly Gigler’s OSV record. He was half a second too slow for the Olympic qualification he was aiming for, and Gigler was only 36th in the 100 m crawl.
“22.4 is not the time I flew to Japan for,” said the 27-year-old. Gigler promised “full attack” for the season, even though Valentin Bayer and Bernhard Reitshammer have not been convincing in Japan either. “If we stand in the callroom together, then we’ll get the job done.” In the end, only Bucher from the OSV team came close to his best time in these title fights, fixing the OSV record over 50 m Delfin.
Grabowski quite satisfied
Nothing could be expected from Grabowski after a personally difficult year in this direction, she was 0.85 seconds short of the semifinals. In her only World Cup appearance this time, the 20-year-old summed it up with satisfaction. “That’s what I can do at the moment. I’m not extremely disappointed, I’m just being realistic.” Grabowski sees it as a basis for attacking the Olympic limit next season. This was 2.40 seconds away on Friday.
McCallaghan shines with world record win
Internationally, Mollie McCallaghan shone with a world record victory over 100 m and the associated freestyle double after 200 m gold. Including the two crawl relays, it was the Australian’s fourth gold in these title fights. The Hungarians, formerly spoiled by success, won their first Fukuoka medal with 20-year-old Hubert Kos (gold/200 m backstroke), while Qin Haiyang (CHN) set a remarkable breast triple with a world record over 200 m.
