The Chinese Swimming Federation has revealed its 21-strong lineup of athletes set to race at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar next month.
8 males and 13 females are expected to represent the nation in pool swimming led by 21-year-old Olympic multi-medalist Li Bingjie.
Bingjie is coming off a successful 2023, one which included the ace equaling her best-ever outing and Asian Record of 4:01.08 in the 400m free at May’s Chinese Nationals.
Li earned 800m free silver and 1500m free bronze at the 2023 World Championships, with her 800m free time of 8:13.31 claiming a new Chinese national and Asian continental record in the process. She earned gold across the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the Asian Games while also claiming 200m free silver.
Pan Zhanle highlights the men’s portion of the lineup for Doha.
19-year-old Pan fired off one of the fastest 100m freestyle times in history, stopping the clock in a massive 46.97 to take the gold at last year’s Asian Games. That result established a new Asian Record and rendered the teen just the 5th man in history ever to break the 47-second threshold, becoming the 5th swiftest performer in history as a result.
It’s significant to note, however, that both of our 2023 Swammy Award winners for Asian Female and Asian Male are absent from the roster.
Olympic multi-gold medalist Zhang Yufei and newly-minted 200m breast World Record holder Qin Haiyang are not among those named to the Doha lineup, despite these megastars having said in the past that they did plan on competing.
However, both Zhang and Qin had a big-time packed racing schedule last year. They not only raced in Fukuoka, but also at the World University Games, and Asian Games as well as on the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup where Qin ultimately took the overall men’s series crown.
As a refresher, China placed 3rd in the overall swimming medal table in Fukuoka, accumulating 16 medals including 5 golds. Of those, 4 were attributed to Zhang and Qin while the nation also topped the mixed medley relay.
Additional notable athletes missing from the Doha roster include the men’s 50m back bronze medalist from Fukuoka Xu Jiayu, the bronze medalist in the men’s 50m breast Sun Jiajun, and the bronze medalist in the women’s 200m back Peng Xuwei.
Olympic champion Wang Shun is one more weapon who will be missing from China’s arsenal, freeing up a potential gold in the men’s 200m IM event.
Chinese Roster for 2024 World Championships
Females: Li Bingjie, Yu Yiting, Tang Qianting, Ma Yonghui, Mao Yihan, Ai Yanhan, Lv Yue, Sun Mingxia, Yang Chang, Yang Peiqi, Chen Xin, Chen Jie, Gong Zhenqi
Males: Pan Zhanle, Dong Zhihao, Wang Haoyu, Wang Xizhe, Zhang Zhanshuo, Ji Xinjie, Fei Liwei, Xu Yifan
This went downhill fast….
lukewarm take: Chinese swimmers will swim well in Paris and win a lot of medals, but there will be an aura of disappointment because a lot of fans got carried away last summer.
You mean they’ll swim well but not as good as expectations? And that will cause disappointment? Perhaps.
I mean, right now they have a pretty great chance of winning a bunch of golds:
-W100 fly, 200 fly
-M100 free, 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 200IM, Medley relay
-Mixed medley relay
I would say that even 4/8 would be a great performance and improvement on Tokyo.
This “aura of disappointment” you’re referring to is very unlikely. I don’t think Chinese swimming fans all of a sudden believe they can beat Aus or US just because of a summer of good performances. They won 3 golds in Tokyo, 1 gold in Rio. If they win 4 golds in Paris, I’m sure they won’t be disappointed. There’s 11 events where they can contend for gold and many others for minor medals. There’s also the chance they will upset like they did in W 200Fr relay.
I also think one of the most underrated stories of 2023 is China’s performance at the Asian games. It’s second only to the Aus women at worlds. They broke almost every asian… Read more »
Normally disagree with most things you say, but I have to admit you’re spot-on with this take.
What?
China won 4 gold in Olympic events at 2023 World Championship.
If they can maintain that and win 4 gold, it will be fantastic already.
There men’s 4 x 200 looks strong
Predictions (please respect, only my opinion)
Women
50 free 🥇sarah🇸🇪🥈shayna/kasya🥉kate/marrit
100free 🥇siobhan🇭🇰🥈shayna🥉kate/marrit
200 free🥇siobhan🇭🇰🥈barbora🥉marrit/china/freya
400 free🥇erika🇳🇿🥈li binjie🥉colbert/gose
800 free🥇li binjie🇨🇳🥈erika🥉Simona/gose melverton
1500 free🥇li binjie🇨🇳🥈simona🥉grimes/gose/melverton
50 bk🥇ingrid🇨🇦🥈medi🥉kira/china
100 bk🥇ingrid🇨🇦🥈claire🥉medi
200 bk🥇claire🇺🇸🥈shanahan/panzhiera🥉barclay/bernat
50 breast 🥇ruta🇱🇹🥈italiana🥉sophie
100 breast🥇eneli/ruta🇪🇪🥈tess🥉sophie/lara
200 breast🥇kate🇺🇸🥈tess/tatjana🥉Sydney/kelsey
50 fly🥇sarah🇸🇪🥈louise/farida🥉claire
100 fly 🥇angelina🇩🇪🥈louise🥉lana/claire
200 fly 🥇lana🇧🇦🥈helena🥉inglesa
200 im 🥇kate🇺🇸🥈sydney🥉anastasia
400 im 🥇katie🇺🇸🥈 Jenna 🥉franceschi/anastasia/colbert
Men
50 free 🥇 mcevoy🇦🇺 🥈proud🥉andrew/crooks
100 free🥇ZHANLE pan🇨🇳//richards🥈miressi🥉grousset
200 free 🥇sunwoo🇰🇷🥈richards🥉Dean/Foster/rapsys/ZHANLE pan/Scott/aubouck/djakovic
400 free 🥇martens🇩🇪🥈wiffen/winnington🥉rapsys
800 free 🥇wiffen🇮🇪🥈wellbrock🥉Martens
1500 free 🥇wiffen🇮🇪🥈 wellbrock 🥉romanchuk
50 back 🥇armstrong🇺🇸🥈cooper🥉andrew
100 back 🥇 armstrong🇺🇸🥈masiuk🥉ndoye/mewen
200 back 🥇ndoye/mewen🇫🇷🥈woodward🥉hugo/ ucraniano
50 breast 🥇peaty🇬🇧🥈martinenghi/andrew🥉williamson
100 breast🥇 kamminga🇳🇱🥈peaty/ matzerath 🥉martinenghi/fink
200 breast 🥇corbeau🇳🇱🥈kamminga🥉foster
50 fly🥇andrew🇺🇸🥈matos🥉proud
100 fly🥇groussett🇫🇷🥈casas🥉nyls korstanje
200 fly🥇honda🇯🇵🥈hungaro🥉razzetti/
200 im 🥇Scott🇬🇧🥈casas🥉Foster/hugo
400 im 🥇foster🇺🇸🥈scott🥉razzetti/clareburt
Lol I thought these were for Paris for a second and was very confused.
These look pretty reasonable to me. A few question marks in there but interested to see what happens.
No, this is for Doha, thanks!
I’ve been thinking Martens is due a 400 free gold but didn’t really know when it would happen, I suppose Doha makes sense
He seems due another breakthrough in the 400 as well so Short and Hafnaoui might not have it all their own way in Paris.
Do the relays as well please!
Predictions relays Doha;
Women
4×100 free 🥇sweden🇸🇪🥈Great britain🥉Australia/netherlands/canada
4×200 free🥇australia🇦🇺🥈Great britain 🥉canada
4×100 estilos🥇australia🇦🇺🥈sweden🥉canada
Men
4×100 free 🥇Italy🇮🇹 /Great britain🥉china/usa/Australia
4×200 free🥇Great britain🇬🇧🥈usa🥉china/brasil/ italy
4×100 estilos 🥇usa🇺🇸🥈italy🥉Great britain
You know it’s a strange meet when Australia has a better chance to win the medley than the 4×100 free.
Richards isn’t swimming the 200 in Doha.
These look good but I think I could see Curzan over Wilm in the 1 back. Her back has looked really good lately. Plus, CC’s best in 100 back is half a second faster than Wilm’s. It’ll be a good race.
A lot of these are up to personal opinion so I think people could debate it either way. But I think the ones where I think there is clearly an issue would be M 200brst and W 200IM. Dong has to be the favorite in the 2 breast. He’s younger, was 4th in Fukuoka with a WJR, and beat corbeau and Kamminga on 2 legs of the WC. It was also pretty much overlooked that he split a 31.3 on the last 50 of his 200 brst at the Berlin stop which could possibly be the fastest last lap in the entire history of the event. And Yu yiting is likely to at least medal in the 200Im.
Qin raced a lot last year, probably had done more in-competition tests than many elite swimmers. Nothing wrong with skipping the Worlds and focusing on Paris.
Not totally unexpected. While a few stars are going, the biggest ones from most countries are skipping for a reason and I think Cui Dengrong’s team saw that it was best to use every part of the year for the Olympics. It just would have been cool to see Qin repeat the triple or Zhang do a triple of her own.
Still I think there’s some very interesting storylines. Pan is obviously one of the top ones and I’m curious what kind of time he will go. I think safe to assume at least faster than the 47.6 at trials, which he didn’t seem to even take very seriously. He stated last year that he was focusing on Asian Games… Read more »
Disappointing. But they both competed so much last year that they’ve earned a break.
Not many teams still to be announced now. Looking forward to some predictions and a fantasy draft
He’s on his cycle right now that’s why
Shorter cycle than Dressel than
Time for one of those stupidly early predictions, but does this now make Peaty favourite in both the 100m and 50m now at Doha?
Thumbs up for yes, down for no!
It’s not actually that early. Swimming starts in 36 days.