Fukuoka, Japan, July 26, 2023: China’s breaststroke marvel Qin Haiyang completed the second leg of an ambitious golden treble at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan on Wednesday evening.
The 24-year-old Qin followed up his victory in the men’s 100m breaststroke on Monday with a second gold medal in the 50m breaststroke on Wednesday.
Qin, who is aiming for a 50-100-200m treble in the world championships, clocked 26.29 seconds to beat Nic Fink of the United States by 0.30 seconds as the American touched in 26.59.
The second Chinese swimmer in the final, Sun Jiajun, 22, won the bronze medal in 26.79.
Furthermore, Qin has set five Asian records in the 100m and 50m breaststroke, with three in the two-lap race – in the heat, semifinal and final - and two in the heat and semifinal of the 50m.
*In the last final of the night on Wednesday, China showed their all-round strength by winning the mixed 4x100m medley relay. The quartet of Xu Jiayu (backstroke), Qin Haiyang (breaststroke), Zhang Yufei (butterfly) and 17-year-old Cheng Yujie (freestyle) clocked 3.38.57 to win gold.
It was Qin’s second gold medal of the night and third in all, while Zhang picked up her second gold of the world championships after winning the women’s 100m butterfly.
Australia won the mixed medley relay silver in 3:39.03 and the United States took the bronze in 3:40.19.
The mixed relay gold was China’s 19th gold medal of the July 14-31 world championships, with 12 in diving, three in artistic swimming and four in swimming, supported by five silver and eight bronze for a total of 32 medals.
*Japan collected a second bronze medal in swimming on Wednesday through Tomoru Honda in the men’s 200m butterfly.
France’s Leon Marchand won gold in 1:52.43, 1.19 seconds ahead of Krzysztof Chmielewski of Poland, who took silver in 1:53.62. Honda, 21, came third in 1:53.66.