"seeded heats" in Olympic swimming

Question

Just watching the swimming and they are talking about "seeded heats" and obviously "normal?" heats. What are seeded heats and who gets through to the semis?

Answer 1

lol I was so just about to ask the same question.....

Answer 2

In a swimming race the last 3 heats are seeded.  The fastest swimmer is in the last heat in the center lane.  The second fastest entry time is in the center lane in the 2nd to last heat, 3rd fastest is in the center lane in the 3rd to last heat.  The 4th fastest is next to the fastest in the last heat and so forth.  The semis are usually the fastest times through to 16th place, so 2 heats of semis.

Answer 3

it means that for an event where there is more than 24 competitors (for an 8 lane pool) the people ranked 25 and below from their entry time are put in normal heats. so the person ranked 25th will go in the middle lane, lane 4, lane 5 is for number 26, lane 3 for 27. the typical lane layout for this heat is:

Lane:  1    2   3   4  5   6  7   8

Rank: 31 29 27 25 26 28 30 32

the final 3 heats are then divided out so the the fastest 3 competitors (ranked as the 3 medal winners) dont race against each other until the final. the typical lane layout for the last 3 heats are:

lane:                1    2   3   4   5     6    7    8

3rd last heat:   21  15   9   3   6   12   18   24

2nd last heat:  20  14   8   2   5   11   17   23

last heat:        19  13   7   1   4   10   16   22

Answer 4

im not sure but i think seeded means circle seeded. The last three heats are seeded differently. its kinda hard to explain,but the fastest swimmers wont race each other in prelims.(i think)