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 | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Day 5 Prelims Live Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap
While China is tearing it up at these World Championships, one anomaly presented itself on day five in the form of 29-year-old Wang Shun.
Competing in the men’s 200m IM, not only did Wang not successfully follow-up his 2020 Olympic Games gold with another victory, he missed out entirely on the opportunity to do so.
Wang barely survived the prelims round of the event, sneaking into the semi-finals in a 16th-placed time of 1:59.05. Although he dropped over a second to check in with a semi-final mark of 1:57.97, in a field which contains Frenchman Leon Marchand and British ace Duncan Scott, Wang couldn’t afford the risk of a casual swim, one which rendered him 11th place and shut out of this evening’s final.
Wang entered Fukuoka as a heavy medal favorite and even a gold medal contender. He owns a season-best of 1:55.55, a time he produced at Chinese Nationals just this past May.
After his Nationals performance, Wang said he’d found his motivation once again after a slight dip post-Tokyo Olympic Games. He conveyed hunger and an eagerness to show his renewed passion in the pool at these Championships.
Had Wang put up that same caliber of performance here as he did at Nationals, Wang would have snagged the silver, with Marchand’s 1:54.84 remaining untouchable while Dunks was 1:55.95 tonight.
The men’s 400m IM was on Wang’s agenda at this competition as well, but he wound up not swimming it on day one. That’s a much weaker event for Wang so his absence wasn’t entirely alarming, giving us the thought he was simply going all-in on the 200m IM.
However, looking at the 4IM withdrawal through the lens of this 200m IM disappointment, perhaps something more is going on with the racing veteran which had him miss out on the Chinese momentum we’ve seen up to this point.
National/Continental Records Through Day 5:
- China
- Qin Haiyang – 57.69 men’s 100m breaststroke Asian Record; 26.20 50m breaststroke Asian Record
- Women’s 4x100m free relay – 3:32.40 Asian Record
- Men’s 4x100m free relay – 3:11.38 Asian Record
- Hong Kong
- Women’s 4x100m free relay – 3:39.93
- India
- Aryan Nehra – 8:00.76 men’s 800m freestyle
- Kyrgyzstan
- Denis Petrashov – 59.78 men’s 100m breaststroke
- Malaysia
- Khiew Hoe Yean – 8:05.11 men’s 800 freestyle
- Singapore
- Letitia Sim – 2:27.73 200m breaststroke
- South Korea
- Choi Dong-yeol – 59.59 men’s 100m breaststroke
- Back In-chul – 23.50 men’s 50m butterfly
- Kim Woomin – 7:47.69 men’s 800m freestyle
- Hwang Sunwoo – 1:44.42 men’s 200m freestyle
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China | 4 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
BTW he did not withdraw from the 400IM on the first day, he did raced it but got disqualified.
Tearing down a Chinese swimmer does not negate the fact that the Chinese have outperformed the US. No, I’m not talking medal count either. They’re definitely on track to kick some North American butt next year.
I am pretty sure Wang is tapering for Asian Games in his home state where he is hugely popular. He is way too old (nearly 30) to be doing a double taper.
Yeah Paris will certainly be his last Olympics
Are the Asian Games really more prestigious than the WCs over there? At the AG pretty much the only challengers Wang would have is Seto and possibly the other Japanese guy.
Yes the Chinese see the AG as higher priority than the WCs, plus the fact that it is going to be held on their home soil this year.