Are Fukuoka World Championships Faster Than Last Year’s?

Hunter Armstrong -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment.

Are Fukuoka World Championships Faster Than Last Year’s?

Two of the three medalists hoping to return to the World Championships podium in the men’s 100 backstroke had a close call in the preliminary heats of the event Monday morning in Fukuoka. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who set a world record to win gold last year, swam more than two seconds slower at 53.84 to finish 14th while the United States’ Hunter Armstrong, sporting a beard for his prelims race, squeaked into the semifinals by a single hundredth, his 53.94 edging Australia’s Isaac Cooper’s 53.95.

Any worries about Ceccon quickly fell by the wayside in the semifinals as he posted the world’s fastest time at 52.16 to lead the way into the final, and minutes later, he scored a world title in the 50 butterfly. Armstrong, on the other hand, played with fire again as he swam a time of 53.21 in semis, nowhere close to his season-best time of 52.33 and his lifetime best of 51.98. He qualified for the final but again will swim in lane eight after edging Great Britain’s Oliver Morgan by five hundredths.

Another American medal favorite had a tough time with qualification as Lydia Jacoby, ranked second in the world entering the meet, placed 14th in the 100 breaststroke prelims and then seventh in the semifinals, her time of 1:06.29 only three hundredths ahead of ninth-place Reona Aoki. That event also featured some big misses as South Africa’s Lara van Niekerk and Germany’s Anna Elendt, a teammate of Jacoby’s at the University of Texas who was the silver medalist in the event last year, both missed out.

So are these big names struggling or are they miscalculating because times in the qualifying heats are faster than normal? Let’s compare what it has taken to advance at the Fukuoka meet and the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.

Event	2022 16th	2023 16th	2022 8th	2023 8th
Women’s 200 IM	2:13.20	2:12.83	2:10.72	2:10.62
Men’s 400 Freestyle	—	—	3:46.47	3:45.43
Women’s 100 Butterfly	59.46	58.56	57.91	57.17
Men’s 50 Butterfly	23.53	23.36	23.04	23.05
Women’s 400 Freestyle	—	—	4:06.44	4:04.98
Men’s 100 Breaststroke	1:00.70	1:00.22	59.52	59.50
Men’s 400 IM	—	—	4:12.50	4:12.85
Women’s 400 Free Relay	—	—	3:39.04	3:37.71
Men’s 400 Free Relay	—	—	3:14.26	3:14.03

Women’s 100 Backstroke	1:01.13	1:00.46	1:00.06	59.62
Men’s 100 Backstroke	54.22	53.94	53.00	53.21
Women’s 100 Breaststroke	1:07.35	1:06.87	1:06.40	1:06.31
Men’s 200 Freestyle	1:47.51	1:46.70	1:46.06	1:45.97
Women’s 1500 Freestyle	—	—	16:13.52	16:01.95

In most cases, the cut lines for semifinals and finals have been speedier, and in some cases significantly so. Among the standout events:

The mark in the men’s 400 freestyle heats was more than one second quicker, leaving Kieran Smith in ninth place with his time of 3:45.77.
The women’s 100 butterfly saw huge improvements: almost one second to qualify for semifinals and eight tenths quicker to make the final. Louise Hansson was among those left out. Part of the improvement was certainly due to the return of Maggie Mac Neil and Emma McKeon to the World Championships.
The difference in the women’s 400 free was more than one second, but no one missed out because of that, with ninth-place swimmer Ajna Kesely more than two seconds off the pace.
A half-second quicker in the men’s 100 breast prelims, with 200-meter world-record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook having to work harder than expected to earn the final transfer spot.
Italy, France and Brazil all missed the final of the women’s 400 free relay despite clearing last year’s qualifying mark of 3:39.04.
A big jump in the women’s 100 back meant Australia’s Madison Wilson missed the final by one hundredth while four others (Lauren Cox, Maaike de Waard, Kira Toussaint and Wang Xueer) all missed the final despite posting sub-1:00 swims in the semifinal round.
The women’s 1500 freestyle cutline was more than 11 seconds quicker, costing Moesha Johnson a spot in the final despite her 16:05.01. Five swimmers broke 16:00 in qualifying.

Notably, the times in the men’s 100 back, women’s 100 breast and men’s 200 free were all faster in prelims but not substantially improved in semifinals. So Armstrong got really lucky with his 100 backstroke swim, getting into the final despite swimming two tenths slower than last year’s qualifying mark.

We’ll see if this pattern of mostly marginal improvements with occasional big drops continues as the meet goes along. This year’s Worlds does feature more depth than last year’s edition with several global stars returning to global-level competition after a post-Olympic hiatus last year, so the suggestion to top swimmers would be not to take too many chances in the morning and even the semifinals.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use