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The swimming division of the 2024 World Championships in Doha will be held from February 11th to 18th, in the midst of the NCAA postseason. So far, NCAA athletes have been understandably downplayed on the rosters of each country participating in the upcoming championships.
However, during Louisville’s media day, the head coach artur albiero Three swimmers from the university’s roster said they will race in Doha: Ilya Sibirtsev, Denis Loktev, and Denis Petrashov.
This announcement has significant implications for the countries expected to participate in these world championships. Albiero said Sibirtsev represents Uzbekistan, which means he has changed his country of affiliation as he is Russian-born and has previously represented Russia on the international stage. He last swam for Russia at the 2019 World Junior Championships and last swam for Russia at the 2021 Russian National Championships.
Uzbekistan is a notorious country where some swimming officials have been suspended after it was discovered that they were falsifying swimmers’ times to qualify them for international competitions.
Louisville identifies Sibirtsev’s hometown as Barnaul, Russia, in the more temperate southern part of Siberia near the border with Kazakhstan. World Aquatics has already updated his online profile to reflect his nationality change.
The International Olympic Committee has indefinitely suspended the Russian Olympic Committee, but the Republic of China is appealing the January 26 suspension following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The IOC has clarified that its sanctions will not affect Russian and Belarusian athletes being allowed to compete as individuals Neutral countries will take part in the 2024 Paris Olympics unless they support the war . Russia has now applied for a suspension at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, but CAS is not expected to overturn the IOC’s decision because Russia has annexed Ukraine’s regional athletics federation.
Loktev represents Israel internationally. Israelis are eligible to compete in World Aquatics and IOC events during the war with Palestine. However, officials from Israel’s swimming and water polo associations are concerned about participating in the 2024 world championships for security reasons, which will be held in Doha, Qatar, where Hamas offices, which launched attacks against Israel earlier this year, are located. has been expressed. The Israel Swimming Association (ISA) is in talks with World Aquatics about an alternative route to qualifying for the Olympic relay in the event of an inability to compete, and has made indirect statements that it is unsure of its desire or ability to participate in the Doha Games. Is going. Loktev’s attendance appears to confirm that Israel is sending at least some athletes to the world championships.
SwimSwam reached out to World Aquatics for more information on both instances.
From an NCAA perspective, all three swimmers will miss the Louisville Invitational on February 15th and will be scheduled for the ACC Championships, which begin on February 20th in Greensboro, North Carolina, two days after the World Championships. will be in a difficult situation. In the 2023 ACC Championship, the three helped Louisville finish in third place, just 35.5 points behind Virginia. Petrashov scored 60 points, Sibirtsev 47 points and Loktev 45 points.
In the 2023 NCAAs, Petrashov was one of Louisville’s two leading individual scorers (25 points). One of two returning “A” finalists in the 100 breaststroke, he is one of the favorites to win this meet.
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