Fukuoka, Japan, July 26, 2023: China’s glittering success at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka bodes well for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in September and October.
Not only will the Chinese aquatics team come into the Asian Games with an impressive collection of medals from the July 14-30 world championships, they will also guarantee packed stands at the new, futuristic aquatics complex in Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
“This is our time,” said 25-year-old butterfly queen Zhang Yufei after helping China win gold in the mixed 4x100 medley relay on Wednesday evening, ahead of Australia and the United States.
Zhang, who swam the third leg of the mixed relay, added: “It’s a great time. I have a beautiful and wonderful team."
That team included Qin Haiyang, who had won the men’s 50m breaststroke gold just an hour before the relay, adding to his 100m breaststroke gold on Monday.
Qin, who swam the second leg of the relay, thus became the first swimmer to win three gold medals at the Fukuoka worlds.
"I feel so amazing," he said, adding that breaking the world record would be his next target.
"I was not in good form because of the 50m breaststroke final. Fortunately, thanks to my teammates' excellent performance, we had the last laugh," he added.
China’s four-strong team was completed by Xu Jiayu, the 2017 and 2019 backstroke champion, and 17-year-old freestyle anchor Cheng Yujie.
At the close of play on Wednesday, and with four more days of action before the world championships close on Sunday, China led the medal rankings with 19 gold, five silver and eight bronze for a total of 32 medals. China won 12 gold medals in diving and three in artistic swimming before adding four more gold in swimming through Qin (men’s 100m and 50m breaststroke), Zhang (women’s 100m butterfly) and the mixed relay team.
Swimming powerhouse Australia lies second on 8-5-1, with six of those eight gold medals in swimming, and Japan is third with 4-1-5. Germany (4-0-3) and the United States (3-9-11) complete the top five.