About Last Night | Preview | Back to Action at the World Swimming Championships (25m) 🏊♂

Welcome to About Last Night, Budapest 2024 edition. Yes, after the Paris Olympics, we are back, bigger than ever, bringing you closer to all of the action for all of that race analysis of the World Aquatics Swimming Championships here in beautiful Budapest. And I tell you what, guess who's joining me? The icon, the legend that is Elizabeth Beisel is going to be with me all week. Beisel, I'm so pumped you're here. I'm so honored to be here. First of all, I get to be here with you. And I think if there's one sentiment that I felt over the last 48 hours spending with you on this pool deck, it's that everybody loves John Mason. Seriously, every athlete here loves you and they trust you. And I think we're going to probably have a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of fun. She's making me blush. That was a real, really nice. I'm sorry to put that on you. I love it. Back to the action, of course, because it is day one of the World Aquatics Swimming Championships. I tell you what, it is going to be an incredible week of action. We have six days of racing coming up. 195 federations, nearly a thousand athletes and 108 races. I'm so pumped. And let's talk about the arena that we are in. This is the grand slam of all arenas for swimming pools. We've had World Junior Championships, World Championships twice, World Cup. We've had Short Course World Championships, which we're here right now. We got everything. Yeah, I think we have. OK, so let's talk about finals that we're going to see tonight. So coming up tonight, we've got the men's 1500 meter freestyle fastest heat, the women's 400 meter freestyle final. We have the women's 200 meter individual medley, the men's 200 meter individual medley, the women's four by one freestyle relay and the men's four by one freestyle relay. A whole bunch of semis as well. It's going to be a pack night of racing. What are you excited to see? Other than everything? I think it's just really cool to be able to see all these athletes that are either coming off of Paris or maybe those who weren't in Paris and now have an opportunity to do something, make a name for themselves. We're kickstarting the night. I think it's a fantastic way to start the program at women's 400 meter freestyle. Lani Pallister, reigning champion, but she's going head to head with Mary Sophie Harvey. We've got Summer McIntosh back in. We haven't swum short course in like two years. So I'm not sure which way it's going to go. It's going to be a fight. And that's the thing about this meet. Is it such it's all up in the air. Some athletes are amazing long course. I don't really know how Summer McIntosh is short course. We're going to find out tonight. She makes the final. But it's one of those things where you just never know what you can expect, which for once, I think is really refreshing when you come to a meet like this. We then move into the women's 200 meter individual medley. I mean, Kate Douglas has just been on fire this season. She was out with us on the World Cups. It was like world record after world record after world record. She just seemed to like every time she touched the water, do something magical. Yeah. And I feel like she's going to ride that wave here to short course worlds. But she also doesn't really. I mean, she's swimming a lot. So it'll be interesting to see how she fares throughout the rest of the meet, whether she gets tired. Although you were with her on World Cup. I feel like she doesn't get tired. No, she doesn't. She said to me, I am exhausted. I was like, you don't look at you swimming like a two twelve two breast. You know, so I'm excited to see what she does. And then, of course, we have the men's 200. I am Noah Ponte is in there as well. He broke the world record in the 50 butterfly twice during the World Cups. He's swimming that again tonight as well. I wonder if he's going to do it. We got the heat this morning, the semis tonight. I know he's going for it. But Canada's Ilya Karun is chasing him down. He said he wants that world record. Oh, yeah. And then we have Carson Foster, Shane Casas, the Americans. And then we have Diasetto, who just recently disclosed Yes. I mean, that's so wild to me. But Dyer is such, you know, he's the consummate professional. We were discussing earlier this is going to be his seventh consecutive if he gets a seventh consecutive short course world 400 IM title. So we're not ruling him out in a two because he's been doing it for 14 years. Absolutely. And we know that he knows how to swim and take care of his body because he's so tenured in the sport. So maybe the 200 IM for him is just going to be a warm up. See how it goes. So honestly, I wouldn't even read what we see from him in the 200 IM to kind of equate to what it will do in the 400, because I don't know, give it four days rest, a few days might be better. I don't know. And you say take it easy. But I've been watching Dyer race. He never takes it easy. Never, never, ever. He's going to be amazing. Yes. And then we have 50s. And then we have so many 50s. So many 50s. I love a 50. I mean, I love watching a 50. They're so fast. It's so fun. And I think it's a good way for a lot of these athletes to sort of start their meet, you know, with a 50. The 1500 is happening tonight as well. We've got the mile. I think it's important to remind our viewers at home that this is going to be the fastest heat. So because we haven't swum short course in such a long time, some of the big names, Charlie Clark, Florian Welbrock, they're swimming in the morning. So we're not actually going to know, you know, whoever touches first in the evening might not be world champion. Speaking of just like being in shape and swimming well, I feel like this meet is going to be coming together with those athletes that came off Paris and were like, I'm getting back into it. Yes. I'm more inspired than ever. I want to get back into the water and train for L.A. 2028. And then you have some athletes that are like, I'm going to need a little break. I'm going to need a breather. So we'll see how they like meet in the middle. Of course, it will be interesting because I know a lot of like I talked to a few coaches on deck and I'm like, oh, how so and so going? And they're like, I wouldn't know. I haven't really seen them at practice much. We'll see how they do. So it will be interesting on so many different levels. It makes it kind of fun as well. And of course, we're seeing, you know, new generation of athletes come through as well. The next generation, there's a lot of youngsters here who didn't go to Paris who are going to have been training. And, you know, so I think it's going to be a fun week. I'm super, super pumped for it. I agree. And I think, you know, for those young athletes, this meet is such a great experience and exposure to what it's like. I mean, the elements that we have at this meet, we have a revolving door for the athletes to come out in, which you'll see later tonight. It's it's unbelievable. I've never been to a meet like this. So it's really special for these athletes to kind of have that experience heading into a new quad. Yeah, absolutely. And I know you mentioned the set and what's happening here. We're here in Budapest. The crowds in Budapest are always some of the best in the world as well. So if you were watching at home, you were in for such a treat. And I tell you what, if you were lucky enough to be in Budapest and to be coming to watch it, strap yourselves in. It's going to be iconic. It's going to be great. So let's get into it.