Doha, Qatar, February 16, 2024: Dong Zhihao of China produced a storming finish to take gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024 at Aspire Dome on Friday evening.
Dong, 18, had it all to do at the halfway point but he powered down the home straight to touch in 2 minutes, 07.94 seconds.
Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands finished second in 2:08.24, 0.30 seconds behind Dong, and Nic Fink of the United States won the bronze 2:08.85, 0.91 seconds behind the Chinese champion.
China’s Qin Haiyang dominated the three individual breaststroke events at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan last July, setting a world record of 2:05.48 in the 200, before going on to excel at the Hangzhou Asian Games and being named male MVP.
However, Qin, along with his fellow Asian Games MVP Zhang Yufei, have opted to skip the world championships in order to focus on their preparations for the Paris Olympic Games.
In Qin’s absence, Dong – the world junior record holder - stepped up and produced a late charge to win China’s fifth gold medal of the swimming competition at Doha 2024 and 21st gold in all disciplines.
CHINA ADDS RELAY GOLD
China added a second gold of the night in a pulsating men’s 4x200m freestyle relay ahead of Korea and the USA in a race which had the crowd enthralled.
The United States dominated the early stages but the Chinese and Koreans fought back to take the top two places on the podium.
China won in 7 minutes, 01.84 seconds, ahead of Korea in 7:01.94 – just 0.10 seconds behind. The USA clocked 7:02.08 for bronze.
China’s four were Ji Xinjie, Wang Haoyu, 100m freestyle world record holder Pan Zhanle and anchor Zhang Zhanshuo.
Zhang, just 16, said he wanted to thank his coach and teammates for the victory and added: “What can I say? – Anything is possible.”
Korea’s silver medallists were Yang Jae-hoon, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sun-woo.
HAUGHEY WINS SILVER
Double Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China finished second in the women’s 100m freestyle final to add silver to her gold from the 200m freestyle and bronze from the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week.
The Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen, the fastest qualifier, produced a strong second 50 to overtake Haughey and win in 52.26 seconds.
Haughey, leading at the turn, clocked 52.56, 0.30 seconds behind, to take silver and Shayna Jack of Australia won the bronze medal in 52.83.
“I knew it would be really close, and my strength is typically in the first half of the race so I tried to go faster but not too hard,” said Haughey, who won Olympic silver medals in the 100 and 200 freestyle in Tokyo and became Hong Kong, China’s first world champion here in Doha with her victory in the 200 free.
“We’ve got quite a few more months before Paris and a few more meets to finetune things for Paris,” added Haughey, who was seeded second for the final behind the Dutch sprinter.
Haughey, 26, also won silver in the women’s 100m freestyle in the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan last July.