World Championships, Day 2 Finals: Qin Haiyang Wins 100 Breast In 57.69 To Go 2nd All-Time: Three-Way Tie For Silver

Haiyang Qin of China competes in rde Men's Breaststroke 100m Heats during rde 20rd World Aquatics Championships at rde Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 23rd, 2023.

Qin Haiyang: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships, Day 2 Finals: Qin Haiyang Wins 100 Breast In 57.69 To Go 2nd All-Time: Trio Share Silver

Qin Haiyang won the 100 breaststroke title in 57.69 to lower his Asian record and become the second-fastest in history as three men shared second place at the World Championships in Fukuoka.

Only Adam Peaty – with his eye-watering WR of 56.88 – has gone quicker than Qin who became the first Chinese man to win the 100br title and only the second medallist following Yan Zibei’s bronze in 2019.

Defending champion Nicolo Martinengi – out in lane one – shared silver with Arno Kamminga – second in Budapest last year – and Nic Fink, the trio all touching in 58.72.

That evoked memories of Rio 2016 when Michael Phelps, Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh shared the second step of the 100 fly podium

Qin was out in 26.96 – 0.33 outside Peaty’s world record – before coming home in 30.73 to lower the Asian mark of 57.82 he went in the semis.

He said:

“That is a pretty good time. That is my best time. But I can do better. I will catch up to the world record.”

It propelled the Chinese past Kamminga in the all-time rankings with his third journey inside 58, Peaty holding the 14-swiftest times in history.

All-Time Rankings

56.88: Adam Peaty, 2019 World Championships

57.69: Qin Haiyang, 2023 World Championships

57.80: Arno Kamminga, 2021 Olympics Tokyo

58.14: Michael Andrew, 2021 US Team Trials

58.26: Nicolo Martinenghi, 2022 World and European Championships

Kamminga was fifth at the turn in 27.52 behind Fink (27.08), Martinenghi (27.27) and Lucas Matzerath (27.35) only for the Olympic silver medallist to produce the second-fastest split of 31.20.

The Netherlands swimmer told Swimming World recently about his “real struggle” in 2022 when sickness struck on the first day of the Budapest worlds.

He won silver a year ago despite feeling horrific on the way to the pool, something the 27-year-old described as a “small miracle”.

Sickness forced his withdrawal from the 200 in the Hungarian capital and he was badly affected for the rest of the year.

At one point he was training for five hours a week – if at all – and was physically exhausted to the point where he just slept.

He only got back into any kind of real training at the start of the year and said:

“I’m very happy. It’s been a really, really rough year for me, really tough. I had to take a half-year out of the pool, and then coming back for a couple of months.

“I’ve been battling a lot the last year, been sick so many times, and starting from nothing, going back in five months time, it’s been really rough. There’s been a lot of challenges but it’s so nice being back and now winning a silver.”

On seeing there was a three-way tie, the Netherlands swimmer added:

“I saw the 2 with me and then I saw the 2 with Nicolo and then with Nic and I was like, what? My mind goes back to I think the only time I can remember is Rio in the 100 fly. It’s pretty cool.”

Martinenghi – the European champion – said:

“I realised it was a tie when I touched the wall and I saw the second red light on my starting block.

“It was insane, really insane. Before the race I thought that we were three people for two medals, but I didn’t
imagine we would be three people for the same medal. It’s incredible.

“It’s not a great time but I am still really happy. It’s a mind result today, not a body result. I did what my
coach said before the race and a silver medal is ok.

“Yesterday I said to my coach I want to do the final in the outside lane, so I want to try to swim like a surprise.

“Usually I don’t see the other swimmers when I race, so it doesn’t matter if I am in the centre or on the side. But today was really great – I am really happy.”

Fink – who won bronze last year in Budapest – added:

“It’s not about time, it’s about getting your hand on the wall first. When three people are doing the same thing as you, it makes for some tight races.

“A three-way tie for second is certainly unprecedented, but certainly happy nonetheless to celebrate a podium with more than the allotted three people.”

On processing a three-way tie for silver, he said:

“It’s a slow process because I look at my name and I see the ‘2’. And then I kind of see everyone else’s reaction, and I’m like, wait what’s happening. And then I see, actually I tied with Arno for second. That’s great.

“And Nicolo is also celebrating, and I’m like, wait, 1-2-3, he’s also second, too. It was a slow process to kind of realize what’s going on but those guys are great and the fact that we’re all going the same time here goes to show how close this competition is.”

On his finish:

“Maybe, I was probably a little long. I was also bleeding a little bit the last 5 or 10 (meters). Could I have taken another stroke? Should I have? Probably. But I just did what I thought I had to do to get my hand on the wall first.”

2023-07-24 (3)

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