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 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- European Recap Day 1: Germany Carries Open Water Success Into Pool
- European Recap Day 2: Diogo Ribeiro Wins Portugal’s First Ever Worlds Medal
- European Recap Day 3: Matt Richards Has Arrived
- European Recap Day 4: Chimielewski Among Euro Juniors Finding Success on Worlds Stage
As expected, all eyes were on Leon Marchand during the men’s 200 IM. Marchand used a strong breaststroke leg to get ahead of the field and didn’t look back, touching in 1:54.82 for a new European record and becoming just the third man in history to break 1:55.
And behind him, British teammates Duncan Scott and Tom Dean were making their own mark on history. Before Scott and Dean went 2-3 in an electric final meters, it had been 50 years since a British man stood on the podium of the event. The last man? David Wilkie, who earned bronze in this race at the 1973 Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Wilkie earned bronze in 2:08.84, setting a new Commonwealth record.
If you were watching Marchand’s race against the world record line, then you may have missed the chaos of the rest of the field during the freestyle leg. It’s where Scott and Dean, who were 1-2 at the Tokyo Olympics in the 200 freestyle, shine. Scott had worked his way through the field on the middle 100. He was sixth after the fly leg, but split 29.31/33.33 to turn for home running third.
“To give myself a chance in that race, I know [sic] I had to be there at the ‘one-fifty,'” he said after the race. He was there, and he put his freestyle to work with a 28.12 closing split to grab silver in 1:55.95, .67 seconds off his personal best. Scott’s freestyle split was second only to Dean, who threw down a massive 27.12 final 50 to come from nowhere–well, seventh–to earn bronze in a personal best 1:56.07.
Tom Dean, courtesy of Fabio Cetti
Post-race, Dean admitted that he knew it was going to come down to the freestyle leg. “It’s the same as the 200 freestyle… all the action really happens at the last fifty. The training we’ve been doing, I knew if I explode down that last length, I’ll be able to catch a few people.”
This was a significant race for both Scott and Dean. Now 26-years-old, Scott isn’t a stranger to the 200 IM podium. He’s the defending Olympic silver medalist, which is where he swam his personal best 1:55.28.
But, this is actually his first Worlds podium in the event. He finished fifth in 2019 (1:56.91). Then, he had a rough 2022 season as he came down with COVID-19 shortly before Worlds, which forced him to withdraw from the meet.
Scott has been open that his focus is fully on Paris. After a tough British Championships where he didn’t earn an individual berth in the 200 free, he said that [his] entire training is centered on Paris. Anything [he does] here is a bonus on top of what [he does] in Paris.”
So, to not only be back in the 1:55-range but to get on the Worlds podium for the first time since 2019 has got to be a huge confidence boost for Scott. Since he withdrew from 2022 Worlds, he actually hasn’t had a chance to race either Marchand or Carson Foster so he’s also picked up some valuable experience there.
The 200 IM is a relatively new event for Dean–he began racing it at the international level just last year. He made the Budapest final and finished sixth (1:56.77). He employed a similar race strategy then, charging home in a field-best 27.54 freestyle leg. Again, he was the only one who split sub-28.
Like Scott, this race has got to be a confidence boost for Dean. In just his second year of really racing this event on the world stage, he’s dropped all the way to a 1:56.07 and landed on the podium. As he looks towards Paris, this is another event that he could add to his schedule where he could be a big factor in the final.
Next, both Scott and Dean will be on Day 6’s 4×200 free relay for Great Britain. Their Tokyo Olympic winning squad will be reunited, and they’ll be eager to reclaim the top step of the podium after falling to bronze at 2022 Worlds.
Quick Hits
Leon Marchand Becomes 1st to Win Back-to-Back 200/400 IM World Titles Since Hosszu
Marchand has been unstoppable at these championships. Seemingly, every time he steps up to the blocks he joins rarified air. As we mentioned above, his 200 IM title caps a hat trick for him here in Fukuoka, and also makes him the only person not named Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte to go 1:54 in the 200 IM.
In addition to those accolades, Marchand’s added his name to the record book in another way. He’s the first person since Katinka Hosszu to successfully defend both their 200/400 IM world titles, and he’s the first man since Lochte. It’s a short list of people who’ve achieved this feat:
- Tamas Darnyi, Hungary — 1986, 1991
- Katie Hoff, United States — 2005, 2007
- Ryan Lochte, United States — 2009, 2011
- Katinka Hosszu, Hungary — 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
- Leon Marchand, France — 2022, 2023
Roman Mityukov Sets Swiss Record To Lead 200 Back Semis
Even with defending champion Ryan Murphy in the field, it feels like all three medals in the men’s 200 backstroke are up for grabs. However, it was still somewhat of a surprise to see Roman Mityukov grab lane four for tomorrow’s final.
The 22-year-old swam a personal best of 1:55.85 to lead the way into the final. There, he’ll be flanked by a pair of Hungarians, Benedek Kovacs and Hubert Kos, who are separated by just a tenth of a second. They swam 1:55.89 and 1:55.99 respectively, not too far off Mityukov’s time.
For the Swiss swimmer, this is a big swim. Not only did he lower his own national record, but it’s the first time that he’s been sub-1:56. His previous best was the 1:56.22 he swam in the 2022 European Championships semifinals. He’ll be looking to avoid a repeat of that meet, because he lead the way through to the final there as well, but ultimately added time and finished off the podium in fourth.
Other Continental and National Records
- Matt Richards took down the men’s 100 freestyle British record for the third time in as many swims. The 20-year-old finished fifth in 47.45, taking another two-hundredths off his national record. He finished fifth in a tight race with Maxime Grousset and Pan Zhanle. Three-hundredths separated third through fifth. Grousset picked up bronze to add to France’s medal haul.
- Snæfríður Jórunnardóttir broke her second Iceland record of the week. In the 100 freestyle heats, Jórunnardóttir clocked 54.74. That lowers the 54.97 she swam leading off the relay at the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe.
- Israel’s 4×200 freestyle relay brought their national record under 8:00 for the first time. Anastasia Gorbenko, Daria Golovaty, Ayla Spitz, and Lea Polonsky swam 7:59.02 to get under the previous record of 8:00.51 from 2021.
European Medal Table Thru Day 5
| Nation | Total Medals | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| France | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| Italy | 5 | 1 | 4 | |
| Great Britain | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | ||
| Portugal | 1 | 1 | ||
| Poland | 1 | 1 | ||
| Germany | 1 | 1 |
You forgot to mention Cox’s 50 Back Bronze, GB’s first female individual medal at Worlds since SMOC and Carlin in 2015.
God the 2008 Olympics really did Katie Hoff’s legacy(?) a bit dirty. Forgot how good she was.
(Obviously picking up three medals isn’t bad but it felt like a disappointment at the time)
When you’re from a country that wins minimum 10 golds every Olympics and you don’t have an Olympic gold it’s hard to be up there
She had such incredible runs in ‘05 and ‘07, that she looked set to actually be ‘the female phelps’ which was an unfair bar to set.
And while we weren’t to know at the time, history shows that her wins there were against quite weak fields or swimmers yet to fully develop (Coventry and Rice in ‘07). So her results in Beijing are probably closer to her level – a genuine contender with huge range but not a dominant force.
She was unlucky though, with 2 x 4ths and being out touched in the 400 free.
her coach was too ambitious with her schedule, which gave rise to unfair expectations from the american media.
she was ranked first in the world in 2 events and second in 3 (200 IM, but her coach entered her in everything to give her a shot at 6 golds. on paper this was realistic, since the biggest margin from first was 0.79 in the 200 IM. but the schedule meant she swam 4 400s in the first 4 sessions, then 6 200s in the following 4. then she ends up missing the 800 final on day 6. she should have dropped a 200 and 400, but it would have been hard to decide which one to keep at the time,… Read more »
GBR ‘fell to bronze’ at World’s in 2022 in the 4×2 free relay because only Guy and Dean of the Olympics 4 were in the relay. No Scott or Richards.
Richards wasn’t there because he wasn’t fast enough in the heats to get a finals berth.
Thanks for the reminder. He didn’t have a good 2022.
Dean isn’t that new to competing internationally at IM. We are just more used to him doing freestyle nowadays. He was European Junior Champion at 200 IM in 2017. (Also got silver in the 400 IM). He swam the 200 IM at the senior Euros in 2018 and came 9th.