Swimming World Championships: Hafnaoui, Marchand and Qin win world titles

Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui won the men’s 800m freestyle at swimming’s world championships on Wednesday.

Hafnaoui came home in a time of 7min, 37.00sec, ahead of Australia’s Sam Short on 7:37.76 and American Bobby Finke on 7:38.67.

Hafnaoui, Short and Germany’s Lukas Martens were neck-and-neck for almost the entire race until Hafnaoui pulled away over the home straight.

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Hafnaoui, the reigning Olympic 400m freestyle champion2, took silver behind Short in the 400m freestyle on the competition’s opening night.

Finke, who came into the race as the Olympic and world 800m champion, came through at the end to overtake Martens.

Marchand wins second gold

France’s Leon Marchand won the men’s 200m butterfly to claim his second gold of the competition.

Marchand came home in 1min, 52.43sec, ahead of Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski on 1:53.62 and Japan’s Tomoru Honda on 1:53.66.

Marchand won the 400m individual medley on the opening night of the competition in record-breaking time.

He smashed American great Michael Phelps’s 400m IM world record, which had stood since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in a time of 4min, 02.50sec.

Qin Haiyang wins 50m breaststroke gold

Gold medallist Haiyang Qin of Team China looks on during the medal ceremony for Men’s 50m Breaststroke Final on day four of the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships
| Photo Credit:
SARAH STIER/ Getty Images

China’s Qin Haiyang won the men’s 50m breaststroke for his second gold of the competition.

Qin, who won the 100m breaststroke title on Monday, finished in a time of 26.29sec, ahead of American Nic Fink on 26.59 and China’s Sun Jiajun on 26.79.

Qin’s 100m victory on Monday gave China their first gold of the competition.

They quickly made it two when Zhang Yufei won the women’s 100m butterfly later that evening.

China only won one individual swimming gold at last year’s world championships in Budapest.