World Cup, Day 1 Prelims: Qin Haiyang Sets Meet Record In 100m Breaststroke

Haiyang Qin of China competes in the 200m Breaststroke Men Final with a New World Record during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 28th, 2023.

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

World Cup, Day 1 Prelims: Qin Haiyang Sets Meet Record In 100m Breaststroke

Qin Haiyang set a meet record of 58.41 in the 100m breaststroke as the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup tour got under way in Berlin.

The Chinese swimmer sliced 0.32 from the World Cup standard of 58.73 that had stood to Belarus swimmer Ilya Shymanovich since the Tokyo stop in August 2019.

Adam Peaty made his return to the water for the first time in six months in the same race, progressing to Friday evening’s final.

Here’s how the first morning of prelims unfolded in the German capital:

Women’s 400m Freestyle

Erika Fairweather of New Zealand booked lane four in 4:06.46 with European champion Isabel Gose alongside her in the final after going 4:07.90.

Men’s 400m Freestyle

Victor Johansson headed the 400 prelims in 3:48.66 ahead of the USA’s Kieran Smith (3:49.94), the pair the only men inside 3:50.

Women’s 50m Backstroke

There was clear water between Kaylee McKeown and the rest of the 50 back field as the world champion clocked 27.55 with Maaike de Waard next through in 28.07.

Men’s 200m Backstroke

Ryosuke Irie – fresh from winning four medals at the Asian Games that concluded last Friday – was the only man inside 2mins in the 200 back, clocking 1:59.96.

Kane Follows was next in 2:00.48 with Thomas Ceccon – the 100 backstroke world record-holder – and Mitch Larkin also progressing to Friday’s final.

Women’s 200m Butterfly

Zhang Yufei has had a medal-laden 2023.

Five medals at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, were followed by an eye-watering nine golds at the World University Games days later.

At the recent Asian Games the Chinese swimmer won a further six titles in Hangzhou.

On Friday, Zhang clocked the swiftest time in 2:09.98 ahead of Katie Grimes (2:10.90) and European champion Lana Pudar (2:11.71).

Men’s 100m Butterfly

Ben Armbruster was the only man inside 52 as he went 51.67 for lane four ahead of Michael Andrew (52.00) and Cody Simpson (52.18).

Chad le Clos – the 2012 Olympic champion – was locked out of final by one place and 0.09 in 52.64.

Women’s 200m Breaststroke

Tes Schouten was quickest through by 1.23secs in 2:23.89 ahead of Australia’s Jenna Strauch (2:25.12) and Nikoleta Trnikova (2:28.04).

Men’s 100m Breaststroke

Like Chinese teammate Zhang, Qin has claimed a stream of medals in the last few months as well as writjng himself into the record books.

He won a historic breaststroke clean sweep at the Fukuoka worlds – finishing with a WR of 2:05.48 over 200 – before repeating that feat at the World University Games.

Qin moved on to the Asian Games where again he swept the 50-100-200 and arrived in Berlin as the second-fastest man in history behind Peaty in the two shorter distances.

In a race featuring the last three world champions in Qin, Nicolo Martinenghi and Peaty, the Chinese swimmer split 27.43/30.98 to book lane four for Friday’s final.

Behind him came Olympic silver medallist Arno Kamminga (59.26) and his Netherlands teammate Caspar Corbeau (59.77).

Martinenghi just dipped inside the minute mark in 59.99 with Peaty – back in the water after considering his future in the sport “a thousand times” – through in fifth in 1:00.03.

Women’s 50m Freestyle

This is set to be a compelling final with Cate Campbell booking lane four in 24.10 ahead of world record-holder Sarah Sjostrom (24.21).

Torri Huske (24.97) and 2015 world champion Bronte Campbell (24.99) were the other women inside 25secs.

Men’s 50m Freestyle

Isaac Cooper of Australia was the only man inside 22secs, clocking 21.95.

Behind him 0.30 separated second to eighth with Kenzo Simons (22.18) and Dylan Carter (22.20).

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