Budapest, Hungary, October 23, 2023: World Aquatics champions and world record breakers Kaylee McKeown of Australia and Qin Haiyang of China have been named World Aquatics Swimming Athletes of the Year.
The two swimmers were honoured during an event at the site for the future World Aquatics headquarters in Budapest, Hungary on Monday evening following the conclusion of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 tour that took place in the Hungarian capital.
Qin’s crowning moment of 2023 came during the 200m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka when he clocked 2 minutes 5.48 seconds to shave 47 hundredths off the world record then held by Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook.
With Qin’s 200m breaststroke win, he became the first male swimmer in history to sweep the 50m, 100m and 200m titles in any stroke at a single edition of the World Aquatics Championships.
The 24-year-old student-athlete followed up his Fukuoka success by sweeping the breaststroke competitions at the Summer Universiade in Chengdu, China and winning five golds and one silver medal at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. His performances in Hangzhou earned him the LOONGAIR Most Valuable Player award along with fellow swimmer Zhang Yufei, China’s “Madam Butterfly”.
Returning to the international racing scene for the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup series, Qin blitzed to nine wins in nine races on the way to winning the Swimming World Cup Overall Male award last Sunday night.
McKeown, 22, broke the 50m and 100m backstroke world records this past weekend in Budapest on the way to winning the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup women’s overall title.
This comes after her standout performances this past July where she became the first swimmer to sweep the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke titles at a single World Aquatics Championships.
(World Aquatics)
