Days Removed from Historic World Champs, Qin Haiyang Smashes 100 BR WUGS Record in 58.42

2023 WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

MEN’S 100 BREASTSTROKE – SEMIFINALS

  • World Record: Adam Peaty, Great Britain – 56.88 (2019)
  • WUGS Record: Ian Finnerty, United States – 59.49 (2019)

TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:

  1. Qin Haiyang (China) – 58.42 (Championship Record)
  2. Andrius Sidlauskas (Lithuania) – 1:00.08
  3. Jan Kalusowski (Poland) – 1:00.29
  4. Yamato Fukasawa (Japan) – 1:00.46
  5. Alessandro Pinzuti (Italy) – 1:00.58
  6. Song Jiale (China) – 1:00.97
  7. Ludovico Viberti (Italy) – 1:01.13
  8. Zhier Fan (United States) – 1:01.48 (TIE)
  9. Yu Hanaguruma (Japan) – 1:01.48 (TIE)

After swimming a very relaxed 1:00.06 in prelims of the men’s 100 breast this morning, Chinese superstar Qin Haiyang came back much faster in semifinals tonight, swimming a 58.42. Not only did the swim mark the only time in the field under 1:00 in semifinals tonight, Haiyang also crushed the WUGS Championship Record of 59.49, which American Ian Finnerty set back at the 2019 Games.

Of course, Haiyang is only days removed from his historic performance at the World Championships in Fukuoka last week, in which he became the first swimmer ever to sweep the men’s breaststroke events. While the 58.42 was a huge record-breaking performance tonight, we can actually expect Haiyang to be a bit faster in finals tomorrow. He looked like he really began to ease up with his stroke in the final 25m this morning, which would seemingly signal he had more left in the tank.

Moreover, Haiyang set the Asian Record in the event with a 57.69 last week in Fukuoka. Given that, let’s take a look at Haiyang’s splits tonight versus his splits on his Asian Record last week, as well as Ian Finnerty‘s swim from 2019.

SPLIT Qin Haiyang – 2023 WUGS Semifinals Qin Haiyang – 2023 World Championships Finals Ian Finnerty – 2019 WUGS
50m 27.48 26.96 27.46
100m 30.94 30.73 32.03
FINAL TIME 58.42 57.69 59.49

Of course, compared to Ian Finnerty, Haiyang displayed incredible closing speed. He was out 0.02 seconds slower than Finnerty on his record swim from 2019 but came home over a second faster than Finnerty did. Compared to himself from last week, Haiyang was slower on both laps. Most significantly, he was out 0.52 seconds slower than he was when he won gold in Fukuoka last week. Given that, we can assume we’ll at least see Haiyang take the race out faster tomorrow night in finals, even if his final time isn’t quite what it was in Fukuoka.

Either way, it seems very likely Haiyang will break the WUGS Record again tomorrow night, but time will tell.

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Chlorinetherapy
1 year ago

Curious what he’d do in a 200IM given his 1.57 PB from 2017!

oxyswim
Reply to  Chlorinetherapy
1 year ago

Someone said his old program has him training as a 4IMer. He’s built like a truck now, and I’ve never seen a great IMer in LC that is built that way. BR allows for more muscle because there’s a very high peak power output during each stroke, but then a lull during the glide phase.

Carlo
Reply to  oxyswim
1 year ago

He could do a good 200IM built like he is but not a good 400IM, but then again, he has always been more of a 200IM swimmer that a 400IM swimmer.

David S
1 year ago

Peaty’s record is a gonna

Facts
1 year ago

Man’s completing side quests

Tencor
1 year ago

This time would’ve won silver behind Qin Haiyang

LBSWIM
Reply to  Tencor
1 year ago

Maybe next time he can beat him then.

Michael
1 year ago

If the WR doesn’t go down tomorrow, then it will surely be eclipsed during the Asian games next month.

chazoozle
1 year ago

what are the requirements so one can participate in world university games?

Admin
Reply to  chazoozle
1 year ago

Must be an incoming, current, or outgoing university student.

There are qualifying standards (which would not be very impressive to an American swim fan).

Age cap is 25 as of end of year.

Other than that, just the usual administrative stuff, and of course “nomination by your national university sport organization”

Orange
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

Do you see Qin as a major problem?

Argentina on top 🇦🇷
Reply to  Braden Keith
1 year ago

Emilie Beckmann from Denmark is 26 years old and she is competing at this meet…

Bob
Reply to  Argentina on top 🇦🇷
1 year ago

They adapted the eligibility requirements to include athletes who were eligible in 2021/2022