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 Prelims Recap
Rebecca Meder lowered her own South African record in the women’s 200 IM prelims — the first event of the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan — clocking a 2:10.95 to shave nearly half a second off her previous national standard en route to the 11th qualifying spot in tonight’s semifinals.
The 20-year-old South African took .44 seconds off her previous-best 2:11.39 from the South African Championships in April. Meder broke Katheryn Meaklim‘s former South African record (2:12.53 from 2009) at last year’s Commonwealth Games with a 2:12.01.
Meder is closing in on the overall African record of 2:08.59 set by Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry back in 2008, but she’s still more than two seconds away from that mark.
Meder took out this race slightly slower compared to her previous best, but saved her speed for the back half, as illustrated in the splits below:
Splits Comparison, Meder’s South African Records
| 2023 Worlds prelims | 2023 South African Champs | |
| 50 butterfly | 27.90 | 27.64 |
| 50 backstroke | 33.91 | 33.32 |
| 50 breaststroke | 37.74 | 38.53 |
| 50 freestyle | 31.40 | 31.90 |
| 200 IM total | 2:10.95 | 2:11.39 |
WOMEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – HEATS
- World Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
- World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:06.89 (2023)
- Championship Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
- 2022 World Champion: Alex Walsh, USA – 2:07.13
TOP 16 QUALIFIERS:
- Kate Douglass (USA) – 2:09.17
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:09.50
- Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN) – 2:09.65 (TIE)
- Alex Walsh (USA) – 2:09.65 (TIE)
- Yu Yiting (CHN) – 2:09.66
- Jenna Forrester (AUS) – 2:09.79
- Ye Shiwen (CHN) – 2:09.81
- Sara Franceschi (ITA) – 2:10.68
- Yui Ohashi (JPN) – 2:10.80
- Anastasia Gorbenko (ISR) – 2:10.88
- Rebecca Meder (RSA) – 2:10.95
- Katie Shanahan (GBR) – 2:11.26
- Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 2:11.31
- Seoyeong Kim (KOR) – 2:11.50
- Mio Narita (JPN) – 2:11.69
- Ellen Walshe (IRL) – 2:11.69
Australian Kaylee McKeown looked smooth and in control as she sped to a heat-winning time of 2:09.50. Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko took the race out ahead of McKeown, but the Aussie chased her down on the breaststroke leg and pulled away on freestyle. Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey was right there with McKeown through the back half, but the Aussie was able to get her hand on the wall first by 0.15 seconds.
In the following heat, defending World Champion Alex Walsh (USA) pulled away from the field down the stretch, cruising into the finish in 2:09.65. Like McKeown before her, Walsh looked very much in control of her race this morning.
The final heat of the morning saw top seed Kate Douglass win a tight race with China’s Yu Yiting and Australia’s Jenna Forrester. Douglass ended up clocking a 2:09.17, marking the top time of the morning. The final heat was indeed the fastest of the morning, as Yiting came in 2nd with a 2:09.66 and Forrester touched 3rd in 2:09.79.
As expected, the breaststroke leg was what really set Douglass apart in that last field. She touched at the 100m turn a tick behind both Yiting and Forrester but was able to pull even and eventually pull ahead of both throughout the breast leg. She then had a great breast-to-free turn and broke out about half a body length ahead of the other two.
It was a quick prelims of the women’s 200 IM, seeing a total of seven swimmer go under 2:10 this morning. That sets a high bar for the semifinal in tonight’s session, where it now seems very plausible it could take a sub-2:10 just to qualify for the final.