On the evening of July 23, the first indoor swimming final of the Fukuoka 2023 World Swimming Championships was climaxed, with Australian and French athletes breaking world records in three of the five final events. In particular, France's 21-year-old Marchand swam 4:02.50 in the men's 400m individual medley final, breaking the 15-year-old world record held by "Flying Fish" Phelps. Phelps, who served as a guest commentator in the stands, saw that his junior had improved his record by 1.34 seconds, and couldn't help but stop the commentary, got up and applauded, and paid tribute to the French rookie who is 17 years younger than himself.
The men's 400m individual medley world record is also known as the longest-standing pool world record, further from the 2009 World Championships in Rome in the era of fast swimsuit records. It was in the final of the Beijing Olympics on August 10, 2008, that Phelps swam 4:03.84 seconds in the water cube's lane, an unimaginable time at the time. This record was not even broken at the World Championships in Rome, where the "sharkskin" swimsuit was rampant the following year, and it has remained to this day.
On the evening of the 23rd, Marchand in the process of swimming in four alternating strokes, the red line marking Phelps' original world record could only follow the Frenchman, and at most was completely stepped on by Marchand until the end touched the wall, Marchand was as much as 1.34 seconds faster than the red line. When Marchand struggled to hit the water to celebrate the victory, Phelps, who was a live broadcast guest of a media in the United States, also stood up from the media work stand and applauded to pay tribute to the young juniors, which is also a kind of inheritance, sports competition is to constantly challenge and surpass the limit, the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves.
In addition, in the women's 400m freestyle final, three world record holders competed fiercely, they are the current world record holder, Canadian Mackintosh, who is less than 17 years old, former world record holder Australia's Titmus, and the world women's middle and long distance freestyle king and earlier world record holder Katie Ledecky of the United States.
Titmus
It was a very exciting, world-class competition, but it was not very intense, as Titmus led the way and swam faster and faster, eventually becoming the first female athlete to open the 3:56 mark on that distance, reclaiming the world record of 3:55.38, a full 3.35 seconds faster than runner-up Ledecky. However, the 26-year-old Ledecky is already the oldest of the three, with her strengths in the longer distances of the 800m and 1500m. McIntosh stalled in the final minute and finished fourth.
In the women's 4×100m freestyle relay final, the Australian team still showed a high level of proficiency, setting a new world record in the event with a time of 3:27.96, the third world record set on the day.
It is worth noting that in the first five finals, the United States, as the world's number one swimming power, failed to win a gold, which is very rare in previous world series.
Text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin