DAY 8

If we were to vote on the most exciting race of the night, it will probably go to what is perceived usually as not the most exciting only as the winning margin can often be well spread. In the Men’s 1500m Freestyle. Sam Short (AUS) took the lead for half of the race well under world record pace with Bobby Fink and Ahmed Hafnaoui creeping up from the halfway mark. As Sam dropped back to a confident bronze, the other 2 battled it out for the last 500 neck for neck with Ahmed winning only on the touch by 5 one hundredths of a second which is 1 one hundredth of a second more than the blink of an eye. Both swimmers came within half a second of the world record having the crowd in suspense right until the end. Mykhailo Romanchuck (UKR) came 7th.

In the Women’s 50m Breaststroke, our Italian Ambassador Benedetta Pilato (ITA) won bronze in a race which saw a world record for the Gold. Tang Qianting (CHN) came 6th. It was another Bronze for Speedo in the Men’s 50 back for Xu Jiayu (CHN). 

Zhang Yufei (CHN) won another bronze for Speedo in the Women’s 50m Freestyle with Abbey Weitzeil (USA) coming in 4th, Emma McKeon (AUS) 5th and Yufei Cheng 6th. 

USA had a great end to the meet winning both the Men’s and the Women’s 4 x 100m Medley relays with Ryan Murphy (USA) and Regan Smith (USA) being the Speedo representatives. China won silver in the men’s relay in an Asian Record completing a great Championship with their best performances overall in the 21st century! Australia won bronze with Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) swimming the Breaststroke leg. Australia won silver in the women’s relay with Kaylee McKeon (AUS), Emma McKeon (AUS) and Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) and Canada snatching bronze with Kylie Masse (CAN) and Maggie Macneil (CAN).

To finalise the Championships, Kaylee Mckeown (AUS) and Leon Marchand (FRA) were named swimmers of the meet, both wearing Fastskin with pride in all their events. 

DAY 7

Some interesting observations from tonight’s finals which produced 2 Individual World records. Both these records were in 50m sprint events, both by women and both records were broken in arena. Just when we were about to sing from the rooftops that every world record so far at the Championships was won in Speedo, tonight we had to eat our words. These reality checks are so important for us as a Brand just the same as reality checks our elite athletes have when a competitor challenges. However, we still had some amazing results.

Kaylee McKeown (AUS) became the 2nd athlete here in Japan to complete the clean sweep in a’ form’ stroke by winning the 200 m Backstroke. Adding to her 50m and 100 m backstroke Golds, Kaylee took off on the last 50m from former world record holder, Regan Smith (USA) who challenged Kaylee for the first ¾ of the race. Xuwei Peng (CHN) won the bronze. Kylie Masse (CAN) came 5th.

Fighting for Silver and Bronze on the last 50 m of the 800m Freestyle, Li Bingjie (CHN) managed to hold off Ariarne Titmus (AUS) for the better of the medals. The sprint finish was worth it as both athletes came away with records: Li ‘s – and Asian Record and Ariarne equalled her Oceania Record. Other Ambassadors in this race included Simona Quadrella (ITA) 4th, Lani Pallister (AUS) 7th and Erika Fairweather (NZL) 8th. 

Zhang Yufei (CHN) won Silver in the Women’s 50m butterfly breaking the Asian record and Josh Liendo (CAN) gave it a good shot in the Men’s 100m Butterfly also coming away with a Silver.

The Australian Mixed 4 x 100 Freestyle relay unsurprisingly broke the World Record featuring Mollie O Callaghan (AUS). One of the Team members was a Speedo Junior Ambassador from years ago – Jack Cartwright who has been plagued with injury but battled his way back to become a World Champion showing the next generation that perseverance can pay off . USA came 2nd with Abbey Weitzeil (USA) and GBR won Bronze. The GBR Team of 4 Speedo Ambassadors, Freya Anderson (GBR), Matt Richards (GBR), Duncan Scott (GBR)and Anna Hopkin (GBR)broke the European Record. 

DAY 6

This Championship keeps producing historical moments and tonight’s first event was no exception when Mollie O’ Callaghan (AUS) became the first woman to ever win both the 100m and 200m Freestyle at a World Champs. Defending her title from 2022 and despite her recent knee injury, Mollie put all negativity behind and powered ahead winning the 100m amongst an elite field which included Olympic Champion, Emma McKeon (AUS). As an outsider, you can never see or know an athletes ‘inner” confidence but last night, Mollie started showing us all an “outer“ confidence never seen before on the big stage by raising both arms in victory as she came out to receive her medal. This could be the start of years of dominance for Mollie! Emma McKeon (AUS) finished 5th with Abbey Weitzeil (USA) finishing 7th. 

Defending Olympic 200m Breaststroke Champion, Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA) shed a few tears after winning Gold in her pet event. Having lost her World Record 3 just months ago to a swimmer who isn’t competing here, it was a victory she needed to get back on track to defend her Olympic title next year.

On the subject of losing a World Record, Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) lost his last night in what would be the most difficult situation. Swimming in the same race, Qin Haiyang (CHN), already the World Champion in the other breaststroke events, powered away for Gold breaking the record with Zac having to settle for Silver. Zhihao Dong (CHN) won Bronze making it a clean sweep for swimmers wearing Speedo. Zac has been in a league of his own for the last few years and is renowned for his ability to accelerate on the last 50m and when you are the hunted, swimmers and coaches have to work out how you can be beaten. To beat Zac, you need to be able to match his last 50m or be a long way in front and Qin managed a combination of the 2 to be the Champion tonight.

In the Men’s 200m Backstroke, Ryan Murphy (USA) gave it his all by taking the lead for most of the way but was pipped at the post in the last few metres winning Silver.

Great Britain won the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay just shy or the World Record with Ambassadors Tom Dean (GBR), Duncan Scott (GBR) and Matthew Richards (GBR) all in the team. Silver went to USA featuring Ambassador Kieran Smith USA and bronze went to Australia with Kai Taylor (AUS) and Tommy Neill (AUS) representing our Ambassador roster. 

DAY 5

The first 1,2,3 came in the women’s 200m Butterfly with Summer Mcintosh (CAN) winning her first gold of the Championship in a Junior World Record ahead of Elizabeth Dekkers (AUS) and Regan Smith (USA). After a rocky start for the Canadian here in Japan, this could be the re-set button she needs to start putting in some performances she is capable of doing for the rest of the meet.

The next white-wash came in the Women’s 50m Backstroke where Kaylee McKeown (AUS) broke the Oceania record with Regan Smith (USA) winning silver soon after her Bronze in the 200 m Butterfly. Regan, even though winning 2 medals this evening will be eager to learn from her coach Bob Bowman (who used to coach Michael Phelps) on how to not just win ‘multiple medals’ in one session, but how to win ‘multiple gold medals ‘ in one session. Lauren Cox GBR won Bronze sneaking the last available medal from Kylie Masse (CAN).

The 3rd clean medal sweep saw favourite Leon Marchand (FRA) fight off Scotsman Duncan Scott (GBR) in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley. In a fight at the finish, Tom Dean (GBR) used his strong freestyle leg to win bronze from an outside lane which is usually considered an outside chance.

The night finished off on a high with a World Record winning 4 x 200m Freestyle relay from Australia. The fascinating thing about this team is that all 4 swimmers train at the same club so shout out to coach Dean Boxall . Dean has to deal with 4 highly competitive girls but manages to get them to swim against each other as individuals but together as one in a relay situation– certainly a skill which not many people in the world have managed to acquire. Speedo Ambassadors Ariarne Titmus (AUS), Mollie O Callaghan (AUS), Brianna Throssell (AUS) and non ambassador Shayna Jack are the heroines tonight. China won the bronze with all 4 swimmers yet again in Speedo. 

In other events, Zhanie Pan (CHN) came 4th in an Asian Record in the Men’s 100m Freestyle with Matt Richards (GBR) 5th and Jordan Crooks (CAY) 7th . As usual, we have ambassadors who sailed through semi- finals which will be reported on tomorrow with big names such as Emma McKeon (AUS), Zac Stubblety -Cook (AUS) and Mollie O’ Callaghan (AUS).

DAY 4

Another historic night here in Japan with Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) taking out the longest standing women’s world record in the 200m freestyle. No-one in 14 years has been able to break the super suit era record and it was the 19 year old from Brisbane, Australia - the home of the 2032 Olympics, that stormed past the rest of the field on the last 50m. It is not often in an event where you see 3 world record holders be the recipients of the Gold, Silver and Bronze as we witnessed Ariarne Titmus (AUS) ( 400m Freestyle WR Holder ) win the silver and Summer Mcintosh (CAN) ( 400m Individual Medley WR Holder ) win the bronze breaking her own Junior World Record. Freya Anderson (GBR) came 7th.

In a close men’s 800m, Ambassador Sam Short (AUS), also only 19 year old and from Brisbane won the silver in an Oceania Record adding to his Gold medal in the 400m. Mykhailo Romanchuck (UKR) came 6th.

Leon Marchand (FRA) added another gold to his medal collection by winning the 200m Butterfly and was seen rushing straight from a semi final in the 200m individual Medley for his medal presentation. In terms of using sports science to have a perfect recovery from a tough race, swimmers need to ‘swim down’ soon after the event so in a situation like this, athletes need to be prepared and will adjust their usual recovery process accordingly.

In the Men’s 50m Breaststroke, Speedo wearing athletes Qin Haiyang (CHN) won Gold and bronze went to Sun Jiajun (CHN). Qin Haiyang CHN spoke to crowd afterwards about his childhood dream of one day breaking a world record and it seems that each time he swims, he gets a little closer to the great Adam Peaty. Lucas Matzerath (GER) came 6th.

In the 4 x 100 Mixed Medley Relay, China touched out Australia for Gold with USA winning the Bronze. Even though China had no signed Speedo ambassadors in this relay, it was a pretty rare scene to see all 4 swimmers racing head to toe in Speedo, Suit, cap and goggles – my ultimate goal is to see this in an Aussie relay ! Kudos to Robert Wang from Sports Marketing China for working his magic with them all. Ambassadors winning silver for Australia were Kaylee McKeown (AUS) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS) with Ryan Murphy (USA) winning Bronze for USA.

Once again, we had Speedo athletes in semi-finals going through to finals which include Lizzy Dekkers (AUS), and Kaylee McKeown (AUS).      

DAY 2

Tonight was all about China who started the night off winning 2 gold medals in the space of 7 minutes. Looking at the event schedule, it may be a few quiet days compared to yesterday’s medal haul but will hopefully escalate again towards the end of the week.

China’s first Gold came in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke with Qin Haiyang (CHN) becoming the 2nd fastest Breaststroker in history behind Adam Peaty setting a new Asian record. As we all know, each race had a gold, silver and bronze medalist and every now and again, we have 2 people tying for a medal. Tonight we witnessed 3 swimmers recording exactly the same time for the silver medal.

The second Gold followed with Zhang Yufei (CHN) winning the 100m Butterfly overcoming a strong field with reigning Olympic Champion and Canadian Speedo Ambassador Maggie Macneil (CAN) winning silver. This event was full of Speedo with Emma Mckeon (AUS) coming 4th, Angelina Köhler (GER) 5th and Brianna Throssell (AUS) 7th.

Up to this point in the evening, every Individual Gold Medal so far in the pool had been won in a Speedo suit . With no Speedo medals in the men’s 50m Butterfly, Yu Yiting (CHN) re-lit the Speedo fire winning a worthy bronze in the womens’s 200 Individual Medley.

It was a short night with 4 sets of semi-finals contested where all our global Ambassadors are through to finals tomorrow night.  This includes our very own Kaylee McKeown (AUS) who will be going for Gold in the 100m backstroke.  

DAY 1

Tonight’s finals seemed to be dominated by Australia with a sprinkling of France with the Aussies winning 4 of the 5 Gold Medals up for grabs.

The night started with Sam Short (AUS) narrowly winning and narrowly missing the World record in the 400m Freestyle. Defending World Champion, Elijah Winnington (AUS) came in 7th but showed immense sportsmanship in his congratulations to the new heir.  

The next gold medal to be contested was the most highly anticipated and written about race of the Championship, the women’s 400m Freestyle. There was no stopping Ariarne Titmus (AUS) who took the race from the front and never looked back smashing the world record she had lost earlier in the year. It was a race of revenge and great to see Ambassador, Erika Fairweather (NZL) picking up the Bronze in a New Zealand record breaking the 4 minute barrier for the first time. The final was full of Speedo Ambassadors with Li Bingjie (CHN) and Lani Pallister (AUS) coming in 5th and 6th respectively. 

Off the back of one world record, came another when Leon Marchand (FRA), rocking Fastkin Valor as a Speedo Friendly, broke the last world record held by the GOAT Michael Phelps. He had his medal presented by the GOAT himself so a real moment in history to witness here in Fukuoko today.

The other 2 Gold Medals were the women’s and men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle relays , both won by Australia. Australia were expected to win the women’s relay and did so in a world record with Mollie O Callaghan (AUS) and Emma Mckeon (AUS) both representing. China won the bronze in an Asian record with all 4 swimmers wearing Speedo with pride. Great Britain missing out on a medal by coming in 4th but still broke the British record with Anna Hopkin (GBR) and Freya Anderson (GBR) both flying the flag for Speedo UK. In the men’s relay, The Aussies took advantage of GBR being disqualified for a faulty takeover in the morning heats to take the Gold with young ambassadors Flynn Southam (AUS) and Kai Taylor (AUS) soaking up the experience which will no doubt be useful in the future.  

There were also some semi-finals where we had most of our ambassadors go through to finals but notably, the officials are also on fire with 3 swimmers being disqualified in the women’s 200 Individual medley. This was to Speedo’s disadvantage as medal hope , Kaylee Mckeown (AUS) was one of the unlucky ones.