Last To Qualify, First To Finish

World Aquatics Championships 2023

- Melvyn Teoh

Having qualified with the slowest time in the men's 200m breaststroke final, there was a huge question mark over Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang's hopes of a golden double at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore.

While he had swept all three breaststroke events at the 2023 edition in Fukuoka, where he also set the 200m world record of 2min 5.48sec, he has been struggling for consistency of late.

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, he finished seventh in the 100m breast final and could not even reach the 200m final.

He won the 100m gold and 50m bronze at the WCH Arena in Singapore, but the Jekyll and Hyde showing continued as he nearly missed the 200m final again, finishing eighth overall in the semifinals on July 30 in 2:09.32, just 0.28sec clear of the ninth-placed swimmer, Britain's Gregory Butler.

As the attention centred on the top qualifiers - Japan's Ippei Watanabe, American A.J. Pouch and Dutchman Caspar Corbeau - in the Aug 1 final, Qin stole the thunder from Lane 8, one of the outermost lanes, as he touched the wall first in 2:07.41.

Watanabe was second in 2:07.70, with Corbeau just 0.03sec behind in third.