Qin Haiyang of China competes in the men's 100-meter breaststroke event at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, October 6, 2023. /CFP
Qin Haiyang of China won the men's 100-meter breaststroke title at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, on Friday. By finishing the race in 57.69 seconds, he set the new World Cup record of the event and matched its Asian record kept by himself.
Qin was still competing in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province last week. He didn't take much of a break before traveling to Germany for the World Cup. He beat a series of the world's top swimmers including Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy, the event's world record holder Adam Peaty of Britain and the World Championships gold medalist Nic Fink of the United States.
Zhang Yufei of China competes in the women's 200-meter butterfly event at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, October 6, 2023. /CFP
Two Dutch swimmers, Arno Kamminga and Caspar Corbeau, had the silver and the bronze medals respectively with 59.01 and 59.27 seconds.
Qin's compatriot Zhang Yufei finished the women's 200-meter butterfly final in 2:07.11. It was not the best she could do, but good enough for her to beat Helena Rosendahl Bach (2:08.74) of Denmark and Lana Pudar (2:08.9) of Bosnia and Herzegovina to win the title.
Kaylee McKeown of Australia competes in the women's 50-meter backstroke event at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, October 6, 2023. /CFP
Australian swimmers secured three golds in the World Cup on Friday. Kaylee McKeown broke the women's 50-meter backstroke event record and cut it to 27.24 seconds. Her teammate Issac Cooper won the men's 50-meter freestyle title in 21.93 seconds. Leah Neale, Alexandria Perkins, Bronte Campbell and Cate Campbell won the women's 100-meter freestyle relay final in 3:38.44.
"I was really pleased with that swim after only a few weeks of training. I love to be challenged by the other girls in the 50. I felt good about my swim," McKeown said after the victory.
"You can say I'm back but it feels like I never left really," Cooper said. "This is the first World Cup and I am loving it. I knew standing behind the block that I was going to win."
Tes Schouten of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the women's 200-meter breaststroke event at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, October 6, 2023. /CFP
Tes Schouten added the women's 200-meter breaststroke gold and the new world record of the event in 2:22.13 for the Netherlands.
"It was a world cup record by two tenths," Schouten said. "I never thought this was possible until my coach said that he thought there was a chance for the record. He said something to me after this morning's heats, and I also thought that swimming the record might be possible and he encouraged me to go with it."
Michael Andrew (near) of the U.S. competes in the men's 100-meter butterfly event at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, Germany, October 6, 2023. /CFP
Michael Andrew claimed the men's 100-meter butterfly gold for the U.S. as he finished the event's final in 51.66 seconds and edged the silver medalist Ben Armbruster of Australia by 0.03 seconds.