2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- WORLD CHAMPS WATCH PARTY – DAILY
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
The day 3 prelims session at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka is in the books. Given that, it’s time to overreact to what we saw this morning. I’ll be honest…there were only four events this morning and it was a fairly relaxed session with the exception of the men’s 800 free prelims. That being said, I can still find it in myself to overreact to a few things.
QIN HAIYANG COULD SURPASS ADAM PEATY
Following his victory in the men’s 100 breast last night, China’s Qin Haiyang told media in an interview that he has his eyes on Adam Peaty‘s World Record. While my initial reaction to his quote was more along the lines of “yeah, maybe he could get there,” after watching Haiyang throw down an Asian Record of 26.34 in prelims of the men’s 50 breast this morning, I’m now beginning to think Haiyang will take down Peaty’s marks.
Of course, if Haiyang is to break the 100 breast WR, it won’t be at this meet, since the event has already taken place. That being said, Haiyang is now just 0.39 seconds off Peaty’s World Record of 25.95 in the 50 breast. Given how he improved steadily through prelims, semifinals, and finals in the 100 breast over the past two days, I think there’s a good chance Haiyang gets really close to the WR this week.
I’m not predicting that he’ll break the World Record at this meet, however, I do think it’s very likely that Haiyang gets very close to getting under 26 seconds, either in semis or finals. That would set him up within striking distance of the record moving forward.
One thing is for sure: there is no denying Qin Haiyang has the hottest hand in men’s sprint breaststroke in the world right now.
CLAIRE WEINSTEIN AND BELLA SIMS ARE IN DANGER IN THE 200 FREE
I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse, but the U.S. really just hasn’t been overly impressive in Fukuoka so far this week. The latest installment in this saga is the two Americans in the women’s 200 free, Bella Sims and Claire Weinstein, taking 11th and 12th in prelims of the women’s 200 free this morning.
While I can’t overreact too hard because they did advance to the semifinals, I just don’t feel amazing about their chances tonight. They both have the ability to make the final, absolutely, but at the same time, they’ll both probably have to be at least a second faster tonight than they were this morning to make it. That’s a tall order for anyone, so we’ll see how they fare.
This was Weinstein’s first race of the meet, so I’m comfortable granting her that maybe she needed to just get that first swim out of the way, then she’ll be fine. Sims, on the other, hand, has been so-so thus far in Fukuoka. She made the women’s 400 free final on day 1, which was a great accomplishment, but she didn’t swim great in that final, finishing 8th with a 4:05.37.
If they are locked out of the final tonight, it will be the second year in a row the U.S. has failed to get a swimmer into the women’s 200 free final at the World Championships. Weinstein competed in the event for Team USA last year as well, and ended up finishing 10th in semis with a 1:56.90.
BOBBY FINKE IS COVERING UP HOLES IN U.S. MEN’S DISTANCE SWIMMING
I apologize for being a bit America-centric in this post, but this one has been eating at me for a while now. Bobby Finke is such a great distance swimmer, and he races in such an exciting way with the scorching closing speed, that I feel it’s covering up for the fact that the U.S. really isn’t producing any other world class men’s distance swimmers.
If we remove Finke from the picture, there really isn’t a whole lot to look at in terms of American men in the distance events. Ross Dant was the 2nd American in the 800 free this summer. He came in 19th this morning in prelims with a pedestrian 7:54.23. He was out in 3:53.73 on the first 400m, which is a pretty decent first half of the race. However, Dant then came home in 4:00.50. The best distance swimmers simply don’t split their 800 like that – they just don’t. We can go through the list of the top 8 from this morning and their 400 splits:
- Sam Short: 3:48.71/3:52.19 (+3.48s)
- Ahmed Hafnaoui: 3:50.82/3:51.15 (+0.33s)
- Lukas Martens: 3:51.27/3:50.77 (-0.50s)
- Daniel Wiffen: 3:51.05/3:52.76 (+1.71s)
- Bobby Finke: 3:51.22/3:52.65 (+1.43s)
- Mykhailo Romanchuk: 3:51.65/3:52.42 (+0.77s)
- Gregorio Paltrinieri: 3:51.44/3:53.45 (+2.01s)
- Guilherme Costa: 3:51.80/3:54.00 (+2.20s)
Those split differentials from the 1st and 2nd 400s all look pretty similar, and nothing like Dant’s swim. It was Short who had the biggest gap in his 400s out of the finalists this morning, and it should be taken into account that he was in the lead the whole way through he race, so it’s possible the reason his 2nd 400 was a bit slower was because he had more to give on it that he didn’t end up needing to use.
This isn’t about Dant specifically; however, he just happens to be the latest in a trend for the U.S. It’s Dant this year, just like it was Charlie Clark last summer at the 2022 World Champs. Clark qualified for the team behind Finke, then missed the final in both the 800 and 1500. At the Tokyo Olympics two summers ago, it was Michael Brinegar. Brinegar qualified in both events behind Finke, then didn’t come close to making the final in either in Tokyo.
It’s easy to overlook because Finke is such a star in the distance events, but he really is the only thing keeping the U.S. from being a wasteland for men’s distance swimming right now.
I’ll overreact and say Paltrinieri drawing an outside lane gives him perfect opportunity to attempt what he nearly pulled off at Tokyo 800 and did pull off in last year’s 1500.
One problem: even if he does blast early he’ll probably be behind Short.
He has Finke in the adjacent lane.
Haiyang has looked impressive all year but was dismissed with the assumption that the Chinese always swim better at home. He’s been on fire.
Short is looking great for the 800. If he can pull off the double I’ll be so impressed.
Haiyang has looked impressive all year but was dismissed with the assumption that the Chinese always swim better at home.
—
Swimswam peanut gallery favorite claim:
Australia/China swimmers never swim faster outside home.
Although “in the neighborhood, Fukuoka cannot be counted as “at home”.
Short certainly looks in amazing form, question will ne whether he can build sufficient lead to hold off the likes of Finke and maybe Hafnoui.
I feel Hafnaoui is more dangerous.
As fun as it is watching Peaty fly away from the field with his impressive swims, it’s also exciting to see some real competition in the 100. Even if it’s a two-horse race… that’s a sporting rivalry worth watching.
Peaty has to return first for their to be competition otherwise it’ll just be a new era of domination.
I hope Peaty comes back
Healthy Peaty vs Qin in Paris 🤤
The question is really twofold. Firstly, will Peaty even bother to return?
Secondly, if he does, what kind of form will he be in? After all his in season times earlier this year were some 3 seconds off his PB. There is no guarantee that if he does return he will be anywhere close to his best. Look at Dressel’s form at trials for instance after taking a long break to focus on his mental health.
Sadly, I have to agree with the point about the us weakness in distance events.
USA Weakness is 200/400m Freestyle and that we call it mid distance events..
Proper distance events are 800/1500m where USA is well ahead of the world whether it is male or female..
What points will a genuine miler bring to a college program?
So from the college perspective, why find, fund, develop and facilitate a miler in their program when those same funds can return a good relay program member that fits into an existing training program and probably offers more points and options for the college 🤷 don’t know, just an outsider looking in.
So for an athlete, unless you really are a genuine chance to be properly funded by US Swimming, you are probably looking at a college education to set you up long term and being a quality athlete you probably looking for a scholarship but the colleges are looking for relay and individual stroke swimmers to 200m,… Read more »
Yes, I’m not from the US, but that makes a lot of sense to me.
SHRKB8, I understand the argument but it doesn’t seem to hold as well for US women, whose overall performance in distance freestyle the past few years has been pretty good (even if we discount KL as an outlier).
That’s a fair comment, was even thinking how can US Openwater Swimming capitalises on the success of Katie Grimes? Young, successful and very very marketable, could really increase the appeal of distance and Openwater swimming throughout the US.