Watch All Three World Records Broken at 1st Finals of 2023 Worlds (Day 1 Race Videos)

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

If finals of 2023 World Championships fall at an inconvenient time and you need to catch up on all the action, look no further. Here are all the race videos for the finals on the first night in Fukuoka, Japan. We’re working on tracking down all the semifinals videos, and we’ll update the article as we find them.

Finals Races

Men’s 400 Freestyle

• World Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
• World Junior Record: Petar Mitsin, Bulgaria – 3:44.31 (2023)
• Championship Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
• 2022 World Champion: Elijah Winnington, Australia – 3:41.22

1. Sam Short (AUS) — 3:40.68
2. Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) — 3:40.70
3. Lukas Märtens (GER) — 3:42.20
4. Guilherme Costa (BRA) — 3:43.58
5. Woomin Kim (KOR) — 3:43.92
6. Antonio Djakovic (SUI) — 3:44.22
7. Elijah Winnington (AUS) — 3:44.26
8. Felix Auboeck (AUT) — 3:44.33

The first final of the session did not disappoint. After announcing himself with a personal best to lead prelims, Sam Short pushed ahead of 2020 Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui in the closing meters of the race. The 19-year-old Short upped his cadence to counter Hafnaoui’s long reach, getting his hand on the wall first by two-hundredths.

Short won gold in 3:40.68 becoming the #4 fastest performer all-time, while with his silver-medal winning 3:40.70, Hafnaoui broke the African record and jumped to #5 on the all-time list.

These are huge performances for both swimmers. Short fully breaks out on the international stage and after a quiet post-Olympics, Hafnaoui backs up his gold from Tokyo, getting back on the podium in his first major LCM meet since in a huge PB.

Women’s 400 Freestyle

• World Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 3:56.08 (2023)
• World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 3:56.08 (2023)
• Championship Record: Katie Ledecky, USA – 3:58.15 (2022)
• 2022 World Champion: Katie Ledecky, USA – 3:58.15

1. Ariarne Titmus (AUS) — 3:55.38 (WORLD RECORD)
2. Katie Ledecky (USA) — 3:58.73
3. Erika Fairweather (NZL) — 3:59.59
4. Summer McIntosh (CAN) — 3:59.94
5. Li Bingjie (CHN) — 4:01.65
6. Lani Pallister (AUS) — 4:05.17
7. Isabel Gose (GER) — 4:05.27
8. Bella Sims (USA) — 4:05.37

The most anticipated race of this meet may not have been the close battle that we were all expecting, but it did end in a world record. 2020 Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus took the lead at the 100-meter mark and didn’t look back. Through the rest of the race, she extended her lead as Katie Ledecky moved through the field into second place ahead of Summer McIntosh.

Titmus had enough in the tank to charge home in 28.87, smashing the world record with a 3:55.38. She’s won this race the last 11 times she’s swum it. Now, she retakes the world record after McIntosh broke her old record in March and becomes the first woman sub-3:56.

Behind her, Ledecky earned silver while Erika Fairweather became the fifth woman to break 4:00, using a late charge to swim 3:59.59 and get ahead of McIntosh for bronze.

Men’s 400 IM

• World Record: Michael Phelps, USA – 4:03.84 (2008)
• World Junior Record: Ilya Borodin, Russia – 4:10.02 (2021)
• Championship Record: Leon Marchand, France – 4:04.28 (2022)
• 2022 World Champion: Leon Marchand, France – 4:04.28

1. Leon Marchand (FRA) — 4:02.50 (WORLD RECORD)
2. Carson Foster (USA) — 4:06.56
3. Daiya Seto (JPN) — 4:09.41
4. Chase Kalisz (USA) — 4:10.23
5. Brendon Smith (AUS) — 4:10.37
6. Lewis Clareburt (NZL) — 4:11.29
7. Alberto Razzetti (ITA) — 4:11.73
8. Balazs Hollo (HUN) — 4:13.36

Leon Marchand said after his race that “the best is yet to come,” but this was still quite a special swim. The 21-year-old smashed the world record, swimming a jaw-dropping 4:02.50 en route to back-to-back 400 IM Worlds gold medals.

Carson Foster was hanging around through the first 200 meters of the race, but on the breaststroke leg, Marchand took off. He split 1:07.64 distancing himself from both the field and the wold record line. Marchand won the race by just over four seconds, while Foster repeated for silver behind him. In front of a home crowd, Daiya Seto earned bronze, getting back on the 400 IM podium for the first time at a major international meet since he won in 2019.

If you don’t usually watch NBC (or you watch with the sound on), it’s worth listening to this one–Michael Phelps was on the call as his last individual world record went down.

WOMEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY

• World Record: Australia – 3:29.69 (2021)
• Championship Record: Australia – 3:30.21 (2019)
• 2022 World Champion: Australia – 3:30.95

1. Australia (O’Callaghan, Jack, Harris, McKeon) — 3:27.96 (WORLD RECORD)
2. United States (G. Walsh, Weitzeil, Smoliga, Douglass) — 3:31.93
3. China (Cheng, Yang, Wu, Zhang) — 3:32.40
4. Great Britain — 3:33.90
5. Sweden — 3:34.17
6. Netherlands — 3:35.41
7. Canada — 3:36.62
8. Japan — 3:38.61

The Australian quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris, and Emma McKeon crushed the world record the Australian squad set back at the Tokyo Olympics, clocking 3:27.96 to cut 1.73 seconds off the record.

O’Callaghan got things started with a blazing 52.08, which vaulted her to #6 all-time in the individual event. Then, Jack (51.96), Harris (52.29), and McKeon (51.90) backed up that exciting start. They distanced themselves from the rest of the field easily, and with their splits averaging 51.99, won the race by almost four seconds.

Kate Douglass anchored the U.S. in 52.28, passing China for the silver medal and giving the U.S. a total time of 3:31.93. China earned bronze in 3:32.40, a new Asian record.

MEN’S 4×100 FREESTYLE RELAY

• World Record: USA – 3:08.24
• Championship Record: USA – 3:09.06
• 2022 World Champion: USA – 3:09.34

1. Australia (Cartwright, Southam, Taylor, Chalmers) — 3:10.16
2. Italy (Miressi, Frigo, Zazzeri, Ceccon) — 3:10.49
3. United States (Held, Alexy, Guiliano, King) — 3:10.81
4. China — 3:11.38
5. Canada — 3:12.05
6. Brazil — 3:12.71
7. Israel — 3:14.53
8. Spain — 3:14.64

Italy led the way through the first 300 meters of this race, turning things over to Thomas Ceccon for the anchor still in the lead, with the U.S. and the Australians just behind. Australia’s Jack Cartwright (47.84), Flynn Southam (47.85), and Kai Taylor (47.91), kept the race close for Kyle Chalmers, which was just what he needed to provide the anchor heroics he’s done so often in his career.

Chalmers split 46.56–the fastest split of the race–to power the Australians to Worlds gold for the first time since 2011 in 3:10.49. That swim caps off an excellent first night for Australia, who won gold in four out of the five finals contested in this session.

Behind Australia, Italy earned silver in 3:10.49, faster than the same squad of Alessandro Miressi, Manuel Frigo, Lorenzo Zazzeri, and Ceccon went for bronze in 2022.

With a team full of swimmers new to the international stage, the Americans hung on for a medal.

Matt King anchored in 47.32, holding on against a charging Wang Haoyu, who anchored China’s fourth place and Asian record-setting relay with a 46.97.