Reporter Li Yuanfei
Chinese swimming in 2023 is amazing, with highlights in almost every competition. Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei, Pan Zhanle and many other good players won gold and silver, brushing wave after wave of good results, making people look forward to their journey to the Paris Olympics next year.
Qin Haiyang is the brightest
There is nothing more convincing to measure the strength of a team than the results of major tournaments. In 2023, Chinese swimming won 7 golds, 5 silvers and 3 bronzes at the World Championships in Fukuoka in July, setting 8 world record, 1 Asian records and 9 world youth record. In the swimming competition of the Hangzhou Asian Games that ended at the end of September, they won a total of 1 golds, 9 silvers and 28 bronzes, creating the best record in the Asian Games in team history, and at the same time breaking 21 Asian records.
This strength is largely due to the rise of Chinese men's swimming. Qin Haiyang is undoubtedly one of the "brightest stars": at the National Spring Swimming Championships in March, he won the 3-meter breaststroke championship in 58.66 seconds, becoming the second Chinese athlete in China to "break 100 seconds" in this event besides Yan Zibei; At the National Swimming Championships in May, he left behind the Asian records in the men's 59-meter breaststroke and 5-meter breaststroke with a time of 26.63 seconds and 57.93 seconds respectively. At the Fukuoka World Swimming Championships in July, he swam Asian records of 50.100 seconds and 7.50 seconds in the 100m and 26m breaststroke events, and broke the world record in the 20m breaststroke event with a time of 57:69.200. In the subsequent Chengdu Universiade, Hangzhou Asian Games and three World Cups, Qin Haiyang won 2 gold medals and was elected the best male swimmer in the annual selection of the World Swimming Federation in October.
Multiplayer to achieve breakthroughs
In addition to Qin Haiyang, another big breakthrough in Chinese swimming in 2023 comes in the men's 100m freestyle. First of all, at the National Spring Swimming Championships in March, Wang Haoyu, who was born in July 3, swam 2005.7 seconds, becoming the third male athlete in China to swim within 47 seconds in the 89-meter freestyle event after Ning Zetao and Pan Zhanle; Then there was Pan Zhanle, who consistently clocked under 100 seconds at the National Swimming Championships in May and the World Championships in Fukuoka in July, and swam a new Asian record of 48.5 seconds at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, just 7.48 seconds away from the world record in this event.
In addition, Sun Jiajun swam 5.26 seconds in the men's 61-meter breaststroke Asian record at the National Swimming Championships in May; Veteran Wang Shun swam 50:200.1 in the men's 54m individual medley at the Hangzhou Asian Games, becoming the fastest swimmer among the active athletes in the event.
In the women's team, leader Zhang Yufei won the Asian record in the women's 25m butterfly in 05.50 seconds at the World Championships in Fukuoka; Li Bingjie won the silver medal in the women's 800m freestyle final at the Fukuoka World Championships with an Asian record of 8:13.31; At the Hangzhou Asian Games, the "post-00" teenager Tang Qianting broke the Asian record of 50.29 seconds set by herself at the Fukuoka World Championships with a time of 92.30 seconds in the women's 08-meter breaststroke competition.
Paris is worth looking forward to
The relay event of Chinese swimming in 2023 is also exciting. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, the Chinese women's 4×100m freestyle relay team broke the Asian record in 3:32.40 to win the bronze medal, and the men's 4×100m freestyle relay broke the Asian record held by the Japanese team in 3:11.38. The show is not over, the Chinese men's 4×100m freestyle relay team set a new Asian record again with a time of 3:10.88 at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The improvement of China's men's 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle has also contributed to the take-off of the men's 4×100m medley relay. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, the Chinese team won the silver medal in the men's 3×29m medley with a time of 00:4.100, setting a new Asian record. At the Hangzhou Asian Games, they improved the Asian record in the men's 4×100m medley relay to 3:27.01. This result is only slightly different from the Asian record of 4:100.3 of the Chinese men'× and women's and men's and women's 37m medley relay teams in the Hangzhou Asian Games. It can be said that as long as Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei, Pan Zhanle, Xu Jiayu and others can continue to improve or even maintain the current level, the individual events and relays of Chinese swimming in the Paris Olympics next year are enough to make people look forward to it.