2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Finals Live Recap
The nation of China made its presence known on day one of these 2023 World Championships, wreaking havoc across multiple events to begin their Fukuoka campaign.
For instance, we saw Qin Haiyang rip a new national record and Asian continental record in the men’s 100m breaststroke. 24-year-old Qin captured the top seed out of tonight’s semi-finals in a time of 57.82, slicing .11 off his previous personal best from this year’s Chinese Nationals.
We also were treated to a top-seeded swim by Zhang Yufei in the women’s 100m fly. The Olympic multi-medalist put up a stellar 56.40 to land lane 4 for tomorrow night’s final, producing a result that sits just outside the list of her own top 10 personal performances.
Yu Yiting made a dent in the women’s 200m IM field, securing the 2nd seed in a mark of 2:09.04 while China’s women’s 4x100m free relay landed on the podium this evening with a bronze medal. They established a new Asian Record in the process.
These results by themselves set a sound springboard from which China can elevate itself as Fukuoka unfolds. However, the nation’s showing also lets us know that they’re not scared to embrace a double taper with the prestigious Asian Games on the horizon.
Originally scheduled to take place in September 2022, the Asian Games were postponed to this year due to COVID-19 concerns within China. They’re now slated to begin on September 23rd, giving Asian nations a multi-elite event quandary much akin to what several nations faced last year.
2022 saw a World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games all land on the swimming racing calendar. That meant countries such as Great Britain had to strategize when to rest their swimmers and which meet to focus on to produce the optimal outcomes.
For some swimmers, that meant opting out of competitions entirely, as Titmus and Emma McKeon did by bypassing the World Championships in favor of the Commonwealth Games.
However, China’s day-one results here in Fukuoka hint that the nation is embracing the World Championships/Asian Games double, happy to aggressively pursue both of their big meets this year rather than picking and choosing for a single-shot taper.
National/Continental Records Through Day 1:
- China
- Qin Haiyang – 57.82 men’s 100m breaststroke Asian Record
- Women’s 4x100m free relay – 3:32.40 Asian Record
- Men’s 4x100m free relay – 3:11.38 Asian Record
- Hong Kong
- Women’s 4x100m free relay – 3:39.93
- Kyrgyzstan
- Denis Petrashov – 59.78 men’s 100m breaststroke
- South Korea
- Choi Dong-yeol – 59.59 men’s 100m breaststroke
- Back In-chul – 23.50 men’s 50m butterfly
Medal Table (Asia) Through Day 1:
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
