FUKUOKA, JAPAN (AFP) – China’s Qin Haiyang broke the men’s 200 metres (m) breaststroke world record to complete an unprecedented clean sweep at swimming’s world championships on Friday, while Australian teen Mollie O’Callaghan also made history.
Qin powered home in two minutes, 05.48 seconds (s) to add the 200m title to the 50m and 100m breaststroke golds he won earlier in the week, the first time any swimmer has won all three events in one championships. Qin finished ahead of previous 200m record holder Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia, who clocked 2:06.40, and American Matt Fallon, who was third on 2:07.74.
Qin said winning all three breaststroke events had been his goal coming into the championships in Fukuoka, but breaking the record had been “a surprise”.
“I thought maybe I could lose because I had already won two golds, but then before the race, I told myself that I didn’t want to be a loser,” he said.
O’Callaghan also broke new ground when she became the first woman to complete a 100m-200m freestyle double.
South Africa’s Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker added the world title in the women’s 200m breaststroke, while Hungary’s Hubert Kos claimed gold in the men’s 200m backstroke.
Britain won the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, finishing ahead of the United States and Australia.
Qin has taken over the mantle as breaststroke king in the absence of Britain’s Adam Peaty, who is not competing in Fukuoka as he focuses on his mental health.
Qin is aiming to cement his new status at next year’s Paris Olympics and he said he was “ready for a new future”. “When I finished the race, that was the end of it – now everything starts again with a new beginning,” he said.
“I will hang the medals on the wall and start a new challenge.”
O’Callaghan touched the wall in 52.16s to defend her 100m freestyle title, beating Siobhan Haughey on 52.49 and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands on 52.71. The 19-year-old O’Callaghan claimed the 200m title earlier in the week in a world record time and she said it was “such a weird feeling” to complete the double.
“I didn’t even know that no woman had done that, and to be the first is just incredible,” she said.
“There are no words to explain it – I’m just so thrilled,” she added.
It was O’Callaghan’s fourth gold of the competition, having also been part of Australia’s title winning women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay teams.
Both of those titles were won in world record times.
O’Callaghan said that her teammates had made the experience “so much easier”.
