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
Tonight we saw the men’s 100m breaststroke semi-finals take to the Fukuoka pool, with China’s Qin Haiyang staking his claim on the event in style.
The 24-year-old busted out the fastest swim of his life to land lane 4 for tomorrow evening’s main event, stopping the clock in a mark of 57.82. His result easily set him apart from the remainder of the field, whose next-closest athlete was represented by Germany’s Lucas Matzerath who clinched the 2nd seed in 58.75, a new national record of his own.
Qin’s time established a new Chinese national record and Asian continental record, undercutting his own previous mark of 57.93. That former outing was notched just this past May at the Chinese Nationals.
His performance rendered him just the 3rd man ever to delve under the 58-second territory, joining World Record holder Adam Peaty of Great Britain and the Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga.
Below is a comparison of the current WR against Qin’s swiftest two outings.
| Adam Peaty’s WR | Qin Haiyang‘s New NR | Qin Haiyang‘s Previous NR | |
| 50m | 26.63 | 27.31 | 27.04 |
| 100m | 30.25 | 30.51 | 30.89 |
| 56.88 | 57.82 | 57.93 |
While Peaty’s WR of 56.88 remains untouchable, Qin is well on his way to potentially frog-hopping Kamminga to become the #2 fastest man in history.
Top 5 Men’s LCM 100 Breaststroke Performers All-Time
- Adam Peaty (GBR), 56.88 2019
- Arno Kamminga (NED), 57.80 2021
- Qin Haiyang (CHN), 57.82 2023
- Michael Andrew (USA), 58.14 2021
- Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 58.26 2022
We’ll see what China’s top man can produce during the final taking place tomorrow evening in Fukuoka.
dubs only. my man gonna break all breaststroke records. maybe marchand in 200 as well
anybody know where his backhalf (30.51) ranks amongst all time fastets backhalfs?
besides peaty not many come to mind, maybe wilby and chupkov had 30 mids? idk
This wasn’t a new national record for Matzerath, he went 0.01 faster in prelims.
He’s training with the same coach as Zhang Yufei now (Cui Dengrong).
Very impressive swim from Qin. I’m still confused how he has been able to unlock so much time this year in the event. To put it in perspective, before 2023 he hadn’t been quicker than 59:50. Now he will probably go two seconds quicker in tomorrow’s final. He is also 24, so not exactly a newcomer on the scene. I cannot think of another swimmer in his age bracket who has gone from making up the numbers to being in a league of their own in such a short time span.
I’m going to throw a wild prediction, but I think he gets the 200m WR later this week.
He’s training under Cui Dengrong now. Cui did the same to Zhang Yufei after she was unable to replicate her success post-2015. He trains scientifically as opposed the yardage-focused approach of other coaches
At this point both he and Zhang are probably better in the 100m than 200m.
Posted in another article a few months ago, but Cui apparently had Zhang focus her training on the 100 instead of the 200. Probably the same thing here, except in this case Qin was probably always better suited (read: naturally/genetically) for the 100 but never took it seriously / didn’t know until now.
Kamminga didn’t dominate, but i would say he also came pretty much out of nowhere at a relatively old age.
Shymanovich in 2019 (at 24): 58.29
Shymanovich before 2019: 59.40
—
Van der Burgh in 2012 (at 24): 58.46 (WR)
Van der Burgh before 2012: 58.95 with a supersuit
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Fink in 2021 (at 27): 58.50
Finke before 2021: 59.40
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Wilby in 2018 (at 25): 58.46
Wilby before 2018: 59.95
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Dale Oen in 2008 (at 23): 59.16
Dale Oen before 2008: 1:00.34
All times according to the FINA database.
Kamminga did post some good improvements at an older age, but it was more gradual. He first went sub 59 back end of 2019 and then just under two years later at Tokyo went his PB.
Wilby’s 58.4 was actually posted in 2019 at the World’s. In 2018 he had already gone 58.6 at Europeans.
Whilst the other improvements are solid, they are not bordering nearly 2 seconds in 7 months like Qin has achieved. He now has nearly a second on the rest of the World, that is domination not seen since peak Peaty. I don’t think 12 months ago, anyone saw this happening?
Kamminga’s progress was interrupted by the pandemic. It’s entirely possible he’d have gone 57 high/58 low in 2020 if the Olympics hadn’t been delayed but we’ll never know.
Qin haiyang was a world junior record holder in the 200 breast in his teens. He fell off for a couple of years, then came back in his mid twenties.
Nick fink has a similar trajectory of improving when he was older, except Nick fink was never a teenage talent like Qin haiyang, but was a late bloomer.
The Chinese team is on fire very great swimming so far
I think they broke the asian record in both the men’s and women’s 4×100 free relay from bad lanes. Impressive
Lot,s of youngsters coming up. Hopefully, they become a swimming power ti make swimming for competitive and interesting.