Tonight five more individual gold medals will be won on day three of the pool competition at the Aspire Dome as part of the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024.

Swimming | Men’s 200m Freestyle

With the opening two days of competition at the Aspire Dome delivering first-ever gold medals in the pool for New Zealand and Portugal, all eyes will be on top qualifier Danas Rapsys as he aims to become Lithuania’s first male world champion at a World Aquatics Championships. In last night’s semi final Rapsys clocked his fastest long course 200m Freestyle time since 2019. The 28-year-old has not been sub-1:45 since the Singapore leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup five years ago, and here in Doha, he has definitely been looking like his pre-2020 self.

While Rapsys was the only swimmer under 1:45 in the semis, the trio of Sunwoo Hwang (1:44.40), Lukas Martens (1:44.79), and Luke Hobson (1:44.87) are all entered with times faster than the Lithuanian’s semi finals swim. Hwang won bronze in this event at Fukuoka 2023 and silver at Fukuoka 2022 and is also a two-time short course world champion over this distance. Pre-Doha Hwang spent a month training on Australia’s Sunshine Coast and the 21 year-old will be aiming to complete his medal collection in this event tonight.

Germany’s Martens has already medalled in Doha in the 400m Freestyle and is dropping down to the four lap race for the first time since his seventh place finish at Budapest 2022. The United States of America’s Hobson was fifth in this event at Fukuoka 2023 and will be chasing his nation’s seventh world title in this event to join some illustrious names including Ryan Lochte (2011) and Michael Phelps (2005 & 2007).

Throw in Olympic silver medallist and the eighth fastest man ever over this distance Duncan Scott, and former 400m Freestyle world champion Elijah Winnington, and everything suggests it will be a race for the ages tonight where most of the field have a decent chance of becoming the new world champion.

Top Qualified:

• 1:44.96 – Danas Rapsys (LTU)
• 1:45.15 – Sunwoo Hwang (KOR)
• 1:45.21 – Lukas Martens (GER)

Best Entry Times:

• 1:44.40 – Sunwoo Hwang (KOR)
• 1:44.79 – Lukas Martens (GER)
• 1:44.87 – Luke Hobson (USA)

Fukuoka 2023:

• 1:44.30 – Matt Richards (GBR)
• 1:44.32 – Tom Dean (GBR)
• 1:44.42 – Sunwoo Hwang (KOR) 

Records:

• 1:42.00 – World: Paul Biedermann (GER), 2009
• 1:42.00 – Championship: Paul Biedermann (GER), 2009

Swimming | Women’s 1500m Freestyle

While all eyes tonight will be on the middle of the pool we must take time to appreciate the incredible effort of Chile’s Kristel Kobrich who will swim from lane eight in the final of the Women’s 1500m Freestyle. Kobrich made her World Championships debut at the Barcelona World Aquatics Championships. Not Barcelona 2015, but Barcelona 2003. That makes Doha her twelfth consecutive championships – with no other swimmer having more than nine appearances to their name – and tonight will swim in a remarkable eighth career 1500m Freestyle final. Kobrich started re-writing the record books in her early thirties. She is now 39 and in tonight’s final will swim alongside the People’s Republic of China’s Yang Peiqi who was born four years after Kobrich made her World Aquatics Championships debut.

Simona Quadarella enters tonight’s final as the fastest qualifier as well as the fastest swimmer on paper. A former champion in this event at Gwangju 2019, the Italian was second to Katie Ledecky in Fukuoka last year ahead of Li Bingjie in third. Expect Li to be hot on the toes of Quadarella tonight with the silver medallist in the 400m Freestyle on day one of competition aiming to make her eighth medal at the World Aquatics Championships her first gold.

Other swimmers to keep an eye on tonight include Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, who is at her second World Aquatics Championships representing her new home nation France, and Australia’s Maddy Gough, who is currently also training in France and will use tonight’s race as an important stepping stone before chasing an Olympic spot at the Australian Trials in a few months time.

Top Qualified:

• 16:02.96 – Simona Quadarella (ITA)
• 16:10.60 – Isabel Gose (GER)
• 16:13.61 – Li Bingjie (CHN)

Best Entry Times: 

• 15:43.31 – Simona Quadarella (ITA)
• 16:10.60 – Isabel Gose (GER)
• 16:13.61 – Li Bingjie (CHN)

 Fukuoka 2023: 

• 15:26.27 – Gold: Katie Ledecky (USA)
• 15:43.31 – Silver: Simona Quadrella (ITA)
• 15:45.71 – Bronze: Li Bingjie (CHN)

Records:

• 15:20.48 – World: Katie Ledecky (USA), 2018
• 15:25.48 – Championship: Katie Ledecky (USA), 2015

Swimming | Women’s 100m Backstroke

The top three entered swimmers in the Women’s 100m Backstroke went through as the top three qualifiers after last night’s semi finals with the United States of America’s Claire Curzan looking best placed to win her first individual World Aquatics Championships gold. The 19 year-old was third in this event at Budapest 2022 with Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff then bumping her off the team for Fukuoka 2023. The teenager returned to the international scene in impressive style last night with a silver in the 100m Butterfly and tonight will be looking to lower her all-time best of 58.35.

Canada’s Ingrid Wilm will swim alongside Curzan in the middle of the pool with the Canadian fifth in this event at Fukuoka 2023. Other notable swimmers to watch include the Australian duo of Jaclyn Barclay and Iona Anderson, who went one-two in this event at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in September last year, and Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson who will race from lane one but remains the sixth fastest swimmer ever over this distance.

Top Qualified:

• 58.73 – Claire Curzan (USA)
• 59.55 – Ingrid Wilm (CAN)
• 59.83 – Jaclyn Barclay (AUS) 

Best Entry Times:

• 58.35 – Claire Curzan (USA)
• 58.80 – Ingrid Wilm (CAN)
• 59.47 – Jaclyn Barclay (AUS)

Fukuoka 2023:

• 57.53 – Gold: Kaylee McKeown (AUS)
• 57.78 – Silver: Regan Smith (USA)
• 58.25 – Bronze Katharine Berkoff (USA)

 Records: 

• 57.33 – World: Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
• 57.53 – Championship: Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023

Swimming | Men’s 100m Backstroke

The United States of America’s Hunter Armstrong progressed through to tonight’s finals as the top seed and is the only swimmer in the field with a career-best time under 52 seconds. The only other swimmer in the field with a time close to Armstrong’s mark is Greece’s Apostolos Christou who was fifth at Budapest 2022 in this event before a disappointing 19th place finish at Fukuoka 2023. If Christou is able to get his hand on the wall first tonight he will join countryman Aristeidis Grigoriadis as only the second Greek world champion in the pool of either gender following Grigoriadis’ gold medal in the Men’s 50m Backstroke at Montreal 2005.

Other swimmers to watch in tonight’s two lap dash are South Africa’s Pieter Coetze, who holds the African Record and was also World Junior champion in 2022 in the 200m Backstroke, and 2017 World Juniors champion Hugo Gonzalez of Spain.

Top Qualified:

• 53.04 – Hunter Armstrong (USA)
• 53.07 – Pieter Coetze (RSA)
• 53.22 – Hugo Gonzalez (ESP)

Best Entry Times:

• 52.33 – Hunter Armstrong (USA)
• 52.78 – Pieter Coetze (RSA)
• 52.81 – Ksawery Masiuk (POL)  [did not make semis]

Fukuoka 2023: 

• 52.22 – Gold: Ryan Murphy (USA)
• 52.27 – Silver: Thomas Ceccon (ITA)
• 52.58 – Bronze: Hunter Armstrong (USA)

Records:

• 51.60 – World: Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 2022
• 51.60 – Championship: Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 2022

Swimming | Women’s 100m Breaststroke

Tang Qianting of the People’s Republic of China is the swimmer to beat in tonight’s Women’s 100m Breaststroke final shaving almost half a second off her personal best in last night’s semi finals. The 2021 World Short Course champion over this distance now moves to thirteenth on the all-time rankings and will be joined in the final by teammate Yang Chang as the third seed.

Ireland’s Mona McSharry is searching for her nation’s first medal at a World Aquatics Championships and will start as second fastest qualifier as she aims to better her fifth place finish at Fukuoka 2023. Tes Schouten of the Netherlands is seeded fourth as she advanced to the final after finishing tenth in Fukuoka last year, ahead of Hong Kong China’s Siobhan Haughey swimming in her first non-freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships.

Top Qualified:

• 1:05.36 – Tang Qianting (CHN)
• 1:06.11 – Mona Mc Sharry (IRL)
• 1:06.27 – Yang Chang (CHN)

Best Entry Times:

• 1:04.62 – Ruta Meilutyte (LTU)  [did not make semis]
• 1:05.55 – Mona Mc Sharry (IRL)
• 1:05.71 – Tes Schouten (NED)

Fukuoka 2023: 

• 1:04.62 – Gold: Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 
• 1:05.84 – Tatijana Schoenmaker (RSA)
• 1:05.94 – Lydia Jacoby (USA)

Records:

• 1:04.13 – World: Lilly King (USA), 2017
• 1:04.13 – Championship: Lilly King (USA), 2017