Finally, I've Come Back, Says 'King' Qin

Chinese hero of 2023 wins 100m breast after a poor Paris Games; targets LA 2028

- David Lee

The king of breaststroke is back. After creating history by sweeping the men's 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke titles at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships (WCH), Qin Haiyang's highly anticipated coronation at the Paris 2024 Olympics turned out to be an anti-climax as he finished seventh over 100m and did not even qualify for the 200m final.

A year later, the 26-year-old Chinese swimmer's road to redemption has begun. At Singapore's WCH Arena on July 28, he reclaimed the 100m crown in 58.23sec, ahead of Italy's Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi (58.58) and Kyrgyzstan's Denis Petrashov (58.88), who won his country's first WCH medal.

After reeling in Martinenghi in the last 25m, Qin summed up his first international win since the Olympic setback in four English words: "Finally, I've come back."

Later at the mixed zone, Qin, who is also competing in the 50m and 200m breast, said in Mandarin: "This definitely helps with confidence. I'm competing in three events, and they're all tough ones. In the last 10m, we were all spent, maybe this was when my technique gave me a little bit of an advantage.

"This win gives me confidence. To win this gold medal is not something that's easily said and done for me. I want to still be able to achieve my dreams. That dream is to achieve Olympic gold in this event."