Fukuoka, Japan, July 23, 2023: China and Japan had to settle for one bronze medal apiece on the opening night of the swimming competition at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka Marine Messe on Sunday.
As well as the bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, China set a new Asian record time of 3:32.40.
Australia won gold in a world record time of 3:27.96, followed by the United States in second place in 3:31.93 – 3.97 seconds behind. It was Australia’s third successive victory in this event at the world championships.
China, 4.44 seconds off the world record-breaking Australians, were represented by Cheng Yujie (17), Yang Junxuan (21), Wu Qingfeng (20) and Olympic champion Zhang Yufei (25).
Japan’s bronze medal came from veteran allrounder Daiya Seto in the men’s 400m individual medley, which was won by France’s Leon Marchand, 21, in 4:02.50 – eclipsing the record of Michael Phelps that had stood for 21 years.
Carson Foster of the United States won the silver medal in 4:06.56 and Seto, 29, took the bronze in 4:09.41 – 6.91 seconds behind the champion. It was Seto’s fifth 400m IM medal at the long course World Championships.
“I’m glad that I got a medal, but at the same time it's frustrating that I couldn't achieve my goal of 4:02,” Seto said.
Australia won four of the five gold medals on offer on the opening night, with France taking the other through Marchand.