Fukuoka World Swimming Championships: Training for the Paris Olympics The three national teams have different purposes for the "test test"

The 2023 World Aquatics Championships will be held in Fukuoka, Japan, from July 14 to 30, the last World Swimming Championships before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and it is a very important training opportunity for athletes from all countries.

The Chinese diving team sent 18 athletes to compete in all 13 diving events. The Chinese swimming team sent 41 athletes to participate in swimming competitions in all 42 sports. The Chinese synchronized swimming team sent 14 team members to compete in 11 events and strive for good results.

Diving: The "Dream Team" is looking forward to winning 13 golds

At the last World Championships in Budapest, the Chinese diving team won gold medals in all 13 events, leading the medal table of diving events with 13 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, creating the best record of the World Championships. At this year's World Cup in Xi'an and Montreal, the diving team won all 9 gold medals. In this World Championships, the team's goal is not only to qualify for the Paris Olympics for the first time, but also to win 13 gold medals.

The Chinese diving team is the earliest delegation sports team to start. In terms of the lineup, four-time world champion and Olympic two-man champion Wang Zongyuan led the men's diving team, and three-time world champion Yang Hao returned with his men's double 10m platform partner Lian Junjie.

The women's diving team includes 2022 World Champions Chen Qianxi, Quan Hongchan, Chang Yani, Chen Yiwen and Li Yajie, with last year's mixed doubles 3m springboard world champions Zhu Zifeng / Lin Shan returning, while Olympic women's double 10m platform champion Zhang Jiaqi became a member of the mixed doubles 10m platform. Of the 18 participants, only Long Daoyi and Wang Feilong are competing in the World Series for the first time.

Due to the absence of Cao Yuan, Yang Jian and other veteran players, the lineup for the World Championships is generally composed of young players, but most of them can be said to have "experienced a hundred battles" and have experienced the baptism of the World Series many times. For example, 17-year-old Chen Qianxi has been a gold medalist in the women's 10-meter platform of two consecutive World Championships, 18-year-old Zhang Jiaqi is the double champion of the World Championships and the Olympic women's 10-meter platform double event, 16-year-old Quan Hongchan is the Olympic women's platform champion, the World Championships, the World Cup women's platform double champion, and Bai Yuming, a male athlete born in 2007, won the gold medal in the mixed team event with Quan Hongchan at last year's World Championships in Budapest.

Although the overall strength of Chinese players is outstanding, there are also some very good athletes in the world sports who may have an impact on the Chinese team at the World Championships. The first thing to watch is Britain's Jack Ruphle. This is a 27-year-old "old" athlete who finished second in the men's singles 3-meter springboard as early as the Rio Olympics, and also won the gold medal in the men's doubles 3-meter springboard with his teammates. In addition, the rising star of host Japan, 17-year-old Rikuto Tamai, is a threat in the men's single 10m platform. Tamai Rikuto began training with Japanese star Ken Terauchi since he was a child, and later trained hard under Chinese coaches and made rapid progress. At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, he won the silver medal in the men's single 10m platform.

Swimming: Can men's events "bottom out"

At this year's National Spring Swimming Championships and National Swimming Championships, Zhang Yufei, Li Bingjie, Ye Shiwen, Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang and other famous players all showed good condition in the competition. This also makes the outside world full of expectations for the Chinese swimming team's trip to the World Championships.

1 gold and 4 bronze, this is the report card handed over by the Chinese swimming team at the last Budapest World Championships, especially in the men's event, the Chinese swimming team did not win. At this World Championships, the Chinese swimming team led the new with the old, aiming to speed up the completion of the replacement of the old and the new, and strive to make a breakthrough in the medal table.

Olympic champion Zhang Yufei has been in good form recently, especially after physical strengthening training and special training of core strength, and has achieved good results. In a physical fitness test in the team before departure, Zhang Yufei achieved full scores in all 6 events. At the Fukuoka World Championships, Zhang Yufei will experience an intensive schedule, including 50m, 100m, 200m butterfly, 50m freestyle and a number of relays.

Among them, the women's 200m butterfly is Zhang Yufei's main event. At the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships, there were not many opponents who competed with Zhang Yufei for gold. Canada's 16-year-old Mackintosh is a formidable rival, having set two world junior records this year, with a time of 2:04.70 that is the world's best time in the women's 200m butterfly this season.

At this World Championships, Ye Shiwen will also appear again. At this year's trials, she won the women's 200m breaststroke with a personal best of 2:22.44. Women's freestyle star Li Bingjie is another important gold point for the Chinese swimming team. At the National Swimming Championships, she competed in the women's 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m "freestyle package", won four gold medals, and swam 4:01.08 in the women's 400m freestyle final, tying her Asian record.

On the men's side, Wang Shun has been consistent in both trials, with a world-best time of 1:55.55 in the main men's 200m medley event. Qin Haiyang swam 57.93 seconds in the 100m breaststroke this year, becoming the third athlete in the world to swim 58 seconds, Yan Zibei and Sun Jiajun also swam 59 seconds, and the overall strength of the Chinese team in this event has greatly improved. Xu Jiayu, a two-time winner of the men's 100m backstroke world championship, swam this year's world best of 52.26 seconds in this event, which he will challenge for another medal at this event.

Synchronized swimming: who can adapt the fastest to the new rules

In October last year, FINA adjusted the scoring rules for synchronized swimming events, putting forward higher requirements for the difficulty of movements and choreographic design: using mathematical values and formulas to calculate the difficulty of movements, allowing male athletes to participate in collective competitions, setting up new events, and declaring difficulty score cards before the competition. In the words of the Chinese team's coaching staff, "the era of synchronized swimming being able to be choreographed at will and 'looking beautiful' is over."

Just a few days ago, FINA revised the rules again, taking the change of formation as a plus.

In the last cycle, there was only one technical manual, but now there are four manuals that explain the rules, and the thickness of the stack is three times that of the past. One of the biggest changes is the addition of collective skill options. How to add lifting movements to the set of programs, how to be difficult and artistic, has become the biggest problem in front of the coaching staff. To this end, the program has been changed and changed, inviting "foreign aid" Chinese diving team coach Liu Feng to help the top players train jumping and churning, physical coach Zhao Dantong and his family made their own spinning balance plate to help the team practice skills and special physical fitness, all of which laid the foundation for the team to achieve excellent results in several World Cup sub-races this year.

Under the new rules, male athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympic flower game for the first time. At the World Cup in France and the finals, Shi Haoxi, the "first brother of Chinese Huayou", participated in the collective skill selection competition, and he will also appear in this event at the Fukuoka World Championships. Shi Haoxiu also participated in many mixed doubles matches in the World Cup and won all of them. The Fukuoka World Championships will be Shi's fourth World Championship trip. At the last World Championships in Budapest, he and his partner Zhang Yiyao won two bronze medals, which is the best record in the mixed doubles event of China's Huayou event.