Beijing, October 10 (Reporter Xing Rui) In the early morning of the 24th Beijing time, the FINA website announced the candidates for the "best swimmer of the year". Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang and Australian swimmer McKeon won the title of "Best Swimmer" for men and women this year.

Image source: FINA website

Throughout the 2023 season, Qin Haiyang has performed well in all competitions. At this year's Fukuoka World Swimming Championships, Qin Haiyang won gold medals in the men's 100m, 50m and 200m breaststroke, and broke the world record held by Australia's Cook with a time of 200:2.05 in the 48m breaststroke final. Qin Haiyang also became the first athlete in history to win all the gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke in a single World Aquatics Championships.

After the Fukuoka World Championships, Qin Haiyang "swept" the swimming competition of the Chengdu Universiade and brought home five gold medals. In the just-concluded Hangzhou Asian Games, Qin Haiyang won 5 gold medals and won the MVP (Most Valuable Athlete) of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

In the following three World Cup competitions, Qin Haiyang won all 50 gold medals in the men's 100m, 200m and 9m breaststroke. As a result, he topped the standings and won the overall championship of the year.

Image source: FINA Social Media

Winning three consecutive championships in a single event in the three World Cup competitions can win a "crown", and in this season's World Cup, Qin Haiyang won three "crowns" alone.

Regarding the pressure of "if you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight", Qin Haiyang said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "Everyone participates in the World Cup with a relatively relaxed mentality, and enjoys the game more. Even after winning all nine breaststroke titles in three races, I didn't feel pressure or burden, which I fought hard and didn't 'heavy'. The reason why we can maintain a good competitive condition for a long time depends on the accumulation of ordinary training, which is the most important, and only this one method can show a high level in the game many times. ”

Qin Haiyang, born in 1999, is actually a "veteran" of the Chinese swimming team. According to public information, at the age of 9, Qin Haiyang was sent by his parents to the training base of the naval swimming team in Minhang District, Shanghai. When he first debuted in 2017, Qin Haiyang won the national championship one after another, rewriting the national record and the world youth record; In 2018, he won the bronze medal at the Asian Games and the silver medal at the Hangzhou Short Pool World Championships; In 2019, he stood on the podium of the Military Games again.

Data map: The picture shows Qin Haiyang jumping into the water. Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita

Before this year's state eruption, Qin Haiyang also experienced the trough of state ups and downs. At the 2019 Gwangju World Championships, Qin Haiyang missed the 200m breaststroke final; At the Tokyo Olympics, he was again disqualified for fouling in the preliminary rounds. It was not until last year's World Championships in Budapest that Qin Haiyang's thinking changed.

He admitted: "In the past, the mentality of swimming was more like work, but now I return to the original appearance, start to enjoy swimming, do a good job, do not worry about results, and I am very happy." ”

Adhering to the concept of "enjoy swimming and do a good job", Qin Haiyang achieved a bumper gold medal this year, his career has entered a new stage, and his goal is to compete in a bigger arena.

"I will sum up my experience well and take every next step to achieve the goal of raising the national flag and playing the national anthem at next year's Paris Olympic Games." Qin Haiyang said. (End)