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
Day one of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is in the books from Fukuoka, Japan with a total of three World Records falling right off the bat.
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus set the stage with a new best-ever time of 3:55.38 in the women’s 400m free while the men’s 400m IM saw Leon Marchand of France crush a result of 4:02.50 to re-write the oldest World Record on the books.
Capping off the night was the Aussie women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, whose squad of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon clocked a World Record of 3:27.96.
While positive history was made in those events, a not-so-praiseworthy statistic stemmed out of the United States camp.
For the first time since the 1994 edition of these World Championships has the nation come up with zero gold medals through the first day of competition.
The best individual results for the Americans this evening came from Katie Ledecky who earned 400m free silver while Carson Foster took home runner-up states behind Marchand in the 400m IM.
The stars n’ stripes’ women’s 4x100m freestyle relay also scored the silver while the men’s squad bagged bronze.
The day-one schedule at the World Championships has changed over the years to ultimately arrive at the races which comprised this evening’s lineup.
At the 1991 World Championships, Nicole Haislett topped the women’s 100m freestyle podium on day one to give the United States gold. However, the following World Championships in 1994 saw the Americans log zero golds just as they did tonight.
Through day one, it was Australia who took charge of the overall swimming medal table with 4 pieces of hardware, all gold, while France is next and the U.S. checked in as the third-placed nation.
As I said after the trials, this is the weeks team in many many years.
In Fukuoka, the stage was set,
With records falling, a day to be met.
But a historic change,
For the States, quite strange,
No gold on day one, a memory to get.
I said this last year and I’ll say it again. If Held keeps blasting out his first 50 like that, he should expect to die on the last 25. It looks especially worse when the other competitors are a bit more relaxed and then reel him in on the second 50. 25.9 coming home is embarrassing when your competitors are going 24.x. The best 100 freestylers in the world are the ones who build into the turn and blast coming home.
Maybe this means he’ll have good speed for the 50. Fingers are crossed.
Oi oi oi
Australia ALWAYS swims well in their time zone. Not taking anything away from their phenomenal performances, but it is what it is. The US is lacking depth on the men’s side. We need Dressel back in form for Paris. Also, it’s day one. A lot of swimming left to be had.
Imagine if most of the competitions in the world were in Asia/Oceania instead of America/Europe!
The 400 free relay used to be the bread and butter for the USA. Think the men won it every Olympics up to 1996. That’s why it was a big deal when the Aussies won it in 2000, then the South Africans in 2004. In 2008 the narrative wasn’t just around Phelps’ quest for 8 golds, but also the US team taking back the crown in “their” event. I think Lezak has mentioned this in interviews.
Those days are long gone now. For women, the Aussies have ruled the roost for the past 20 years. That dominance looks set to continue.
For the men, without the boost of Dressel it feels a bit like the doom of 2015. That was… Read more »
yh but with 2015, we definitely would’ve done better at worlds with Phelps. Phelps went crazy at nationals that year. With so much uncertainty over dressel i’m genuinely not sure how things will go
Before everyone freaks out we have to remember that Australia is very freestyle strong and 3 out of the 5 events today were freestyle. When it comes to the fly, breast, back, and IM events, this is where the US’s depth comes into play. Yes, australia have mckeown and ZSC that can do other strokes, but they don’t really have the standouts in other strokes like they do freestyle. Meanwhile, the US has standouts in every stroke. King, Walsh, KD, Fink, Murphy, Jacoby, just to name a few. The aussies’ main standouts, titmus, mckeon, jack, MOC, chalmers, are all mainly freestylers. As the meet goes on, the US will rebound in the medal count. This happened in gwangju.
4 out of 5 events were freestyle actually.
But why would you freak out? If Australia wins the medal tally one time is it going to kill you?
How are you forgetting Kaylee McKeown? That’s another 2 gold medals Australia could win 😂
Let the excuses begin. Mediocre start and I don’t see it getting much better. It has nothing to do with the timing of the trials or the schedule or jet lag. MP and lochte are long gone and not replaced. Dressel has been having his problems. It doesn’t look like anyone is going to replace ledecky on the women’s side. it requires talent, hard work and the ability to bring it at the big stage. At this point the US is woefully short on all three!