Qin Haiyang

In this Chinese name, the family name is Qin.

Qin Haiyang (Chinese: 覃海洋, born 17 May 1999) is a Chinese swimmer who specializes in the breaststroke and individual medley. He holds the world record in the 200m breaststroke, which he set at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.^[1] At the same competition, Qin became the first swimmer in history to win all three breaststroke events at a single edition of the championships.^[2] Qin was also the former world junior record holder in the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.^[3] In 2023, Qin became the first Asian swimmer to be named as the Male Swimmer of the Year by World Aquatics.^[4]

覃海洋 （Qin Haiyang）

Personal information
Nationality	Chinese
Born	(1999-05-17) 17 May 1999 (age 25) Shimen County, Hunan, China
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Breaststroke, Medley
Club	Shanghai Swimming Team
Coach	Cui Dengrong
Medal record Men's swimming Representing  China Olympic Games 2024 Paris 4x100 m medley 2024 Paris 4×100 m mixed medley World Championships (LC) 2023 Fukuoka 50 m breaststroke 2023 Fukuoka 100 m breaststroke 2023 Fukuoka 200 m breaststroke 2023 Fukuoka 4×100 m mixed medley 2023 Fukuoka 4×100 m medley World Championships (SC) 2018 Hangzhou 200 m breaststroke 2022 Melbourne 200 m breaststroke Asian Games 2018 Jakarta 4×100 m medley 2022 Hangzhou 50 m breaststroke 2022 Hangzhou 100 m breaststroke 2022 Hangzhou 200 m breaststroke 2022 Hangzhou 4 × 100 m medley relay 2022 Hangzhou 4×100 m mixed medley 2022 Hangzhou 200 m medley 2018 Jakarta 200 m breaststroke 2018 Jakarta 200 m medley Military World Games 2019 Wuhan 200 m breaststroke 2019 Wuhan 200 m medley 2019 Wuhan 400 m medley 2019 Wuhan 100 m breaststroke World University Games 2021 Chengdu 50 m breaststroke 2021 Chengdu 100 m breaststroke 2021 Chengdu 200 m breaststroke 2021 Chengdu 4×100 m medley 2021 Chengdu 4×100 m mixed medley

Career

At his first major international competition, the 2018 Asian Games, he participated in the 4x100 metre medley relay and won gold.

Later in December, he competed in the 2018 World Championships, where he won the silver medal in the 200 metre Breaststroke.

Then, in 2019, he won three silver medals and one bronze at the Military World Games.^[5]

He qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in the 200m breaststroke and finished first in his 200m breaststroke heat, but was disqualified for making an illegal kick after a turn, in what he called a "stupid mistake".^[6]

Since 2022, Qin started to train under Cui Dengrong, who also coached 2020 Olympic Games champion Zhang Yufei. Under Cui's coaching, Qin saw large improvements.^[7]

At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Qin became the first man in history to win gold in all three breaststroke events at a single edition of the championship.^[8] With a time of 2:05.48, he broke the world record in 200m breaststroke, which was previously established by 2020 Olympic Games champion Zac Stubblety-Cook in 2022. Qin also set new Asian records in 50m and 100m breaststroke respectively.

In the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games (held in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Qin again won all three individual breaststroke events.^[9] He also won the silver medal in the 200m individual medley.^[10] In the men’s 4x100m medley relay, the Chinese team of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Wang Changhao, and Pan Zhanle broke the Asian record by finishing in 3:27.01.^[11] This was also the second-fastest in history, just 0.23 behind Team USA's world record time in the 2020 Olympic Games. The Chinese team of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Zhang Yufei, and Yang Junxuan also set the new Asian record in the mixed 4x100m medley relay.^[12] With his teammate Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang was named the MVP of 2022 Asian Games for his five gold medals.^[13]

Afterwards, at the 2023 Swimming World Cup, Qin won gold in all three breaststroke events (50m, 100m, and 200m) at all three World Cup legs, held in Berlin, Athens and Budapest. Qin was consequently named as the winner of the World Cup title due to his performances at all three legs.^[14]

While at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Qin Haiyang lamented that;

The (drug) tests come early in the morning before we’re even awake, during midday rest periods, forcing us to rest on hotel lobby sofas, and even late at night, keeping us up past midnight^[15]

And after a poor start in Qin's marquee individual breaststroke events where he failed to make it into any of the individual finals,^[16][17] Qin would later bounce-back to swim the fastest split-times in the finals of his breastroke legs in the team events; 57.82 and 57.98 in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay and the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay to secure Silver and Gold medals respectively, and handing the United States swim team its first defeat in the latter-event since it was first-introduced into the Olympic program in the 1960 Rome Olympics.^[18][19][20]

Personal bests

As of 28 Jul 2023^[21]

Long course (50 m)

Event	Time	Meet	Date	Note(s)
50 m breaststroke	26.20	2023 World Championships	25 July 2023	AS, NR
100 m breaststroke	57.69	2023 World Championships	24 July 2023	AS, NR
200 m breaststroke	2:05.48	2023 World Championships	28 July 2023	WR, AS, NR
200 m individual medley	1:56.79	2019 Military World Games	20 October 2019
400 m individual medley	4:10.41	2019 Military World Games	21 October 2019

Short course (25 m)

Event	Time	Meet	Date	Note(s)
50 m breaststroke	25.81	2022 World Short Course Championships	17 December 2022
100 m breaststroke	56.31	2022 Chinese National Championships (25m)	27 October 2022	NR
200 m breaststroke	2.01.15	2018 World Short Course Championships	13 December 2018	NR, Former AS
100 m individual medley	57.18	2017 Swimming World Cup	11 November 2017
200 m individual medley	1.54.51	2022 Chinese National Championships (25m)	28 October 2022

Key: NR = National Record; AS = Asian Record; WR = World Record

Records

Long course (50 m)

No.	Event	Time		Meet	Location	Date	Age	Type	Status	Ref
1	200 m individual medley	1:57.54		2017 Chinese National Championships	Qingdao, China	14 April 2017	17	WJ (not ratified)	Former	[22]
2	200 m breaststroke	2:08.71		2017 Chinese National Championships	Qingdao, China	15 April 2017	17	WJ (not ratified), NR	Former	[23]
3	200 m individual medley	1:59.01	h	2017 World Aquatics Championships	Budapest, Hungary	26 July 2017	18	WJ	Former	[24]
4	200 m individual medley	1:57.981	sf	2017 World Aquatics Championships	Budapest, Hungary	26 July 2017	18	WJ	Former	[25]
5	200 m breaststroke	2:09.39	h	2017 World Aquatics Championships	Budapest, Hungary	27 July 2017	18	WJ	Former	[26]
6	200 m individual medley	1:57.06		2017 World Aquatics Championships	Budapest, Hungary	27 July 2017	18	WJ	Former	[27]
7	200 m breaststroke	2:07.35		2017 National Games of China	Tianjin, China	4 September 2017	18	WJ (not ratified), NR	Former	[28]
8	50 m breaststroke	26.63		2023 Chinese Spring Championships	Qingdao, China	24 March 2023	23	AS	Former	[29]
9	100 m breaststroke	57.93		2023 Chinese Championships	Hangzhou, China	2 May 2023	23	AS	Former	[30]
10	100 m breaststroke	57.69		2023 World Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	24 July 2023	24	AS	Current	[31]
11	50 m breaststroke	26.34	h	2023 World Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	25 July 2023	24	AS	Former	[32]
12	50 m breaststroke	26.20	sf	2023 World Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	25 July 2023	24	AS	Current	[33]
13	200 m breaststroke	2:05.48		2023 World Championships	Fukuoka, Japan	28 July 2023	24	WR	Current	[34]
14	100 m breaststroke	57.69		2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup	Berlin, Germany	6 October 2023	24	=AS	Current	[35]

Short course (25 m)

No.	Event	Time		Meet	Location	Date	Age	Type	Status	Ref
1	200 m breaststroke	2:04.18		2017 Swimming World Cup	Beijing, China	10 November 2017	18	NR	Former	[36]
2	200 m breaststroke	2:01.64	h	2018 World Short Course Championships	Hangzhou, China	13 December 2018	19	NR	Former	[37]
3	200 m breaststroke	2:01.15		2018 World Short Course Championships	Hangzhou, China	13 December 2018	19	AS	Former	[38]
4	100 m breaststroke	56.31		2022 Chinese National Championships (25m)	Beijing, China	27 October 2022	23	NR	Current	[39]

Key: NR = National Record; AS = Asian Record; WJ = World Junior Record; WR = World Record; h = heats; sf = semifinal

References

1. "Men's 200m Breaststroke Final Results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
2. "History Maker, Ten minutes with Qin Haiyang". worldaquatics.com. 14 September 2023. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
3. "Third Time's the Charm: Qin Haiyang Continues to Lower 200 IM World Junior Record". Swimming World Magazine. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
4. "Qin, McKeown named best swimmers of year by World Aquatics". The Straits Times. 24 October 2023. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
5. "Highlights of swimming finals at Military World Games - Xinhua | English.news.cn".
6. "China's breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang and Co out to make an Asiad splash". The Straits Times. 23 September 2023.
7. Hanson, Ian. "Qin Haiyang Honored As Swimming World's Pacific Rim Male Swimmer of the Year (Full Voting)". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
8. Rieder, David. "World Championships, Day Six Finals: Qin Haiyang Completes Breaststroke Sweep With World Record". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
9. Huang, Zongzhi. "Qin Haiyang completes breaststroke treble at Hangzhou Asiad". Xinhua. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
10. "Wang Shun breaks Asian record in 200m IM win at Hangzhou Asiad". Xinhua. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
11. "China Rattles WR In Men's Medley Relay At Asian Games; Siobhan Haughey Sets Asian 100 Free Record". Swimming World Magazine. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
12. Parry, Martin. "Zhang fires Olympic warning as China narrowly miss 4x100m mixed medley relay world record at Hangzhou Asian Games". The Star. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
13. "Asian Games 2023: Chinese swimmers Zhang Yufei and Qin Haiyang win MVP awards". Olympics. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
14. "Qin Haiyang, Kaylee McKeown take overall World Cup title to conclude racing in Budapest". World Aquatics. 22 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
15. Race, Retta (27 July 2024). "Qin Haiyang Says Drug Tests Are an American & European Plot After Testers Interrupt His Sleep". SwimSwam. Retrieved 7 August 2024. He (Qin) continued, "The tests come early in the morning before we're even awake, during midday rest periods, forcing us to rest on hotel lobby sofas, and even late at night, keeping us up past midnight."
16. "Decent", Tom (31 July 2024). "Paris Olympics 2024: Zac Stubblety-Cook has last laugh as Qin Haiyang bombs out of Games". www.smh.com.au. Archived from the original on 31 July 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024. There was speculation Stubblety-Cook might protest if Qin won a gold medal at these Games, but that won't happen now... One suspects Stubblety-Cook was pleased to see Qin miss the final... was asked if he was surprised that Qin missed making the final. "No comment," said Stubblety-Cook with a big grin, before walking off.
17. Writer, David Rieder-Senior (13 September 2024). "New Men's Swimming Stars? Leon Marchand, Fellow Paris Champions Limit Opportunities". Swimming World News. Retrieved 19 September 2024. ... the only person capable of beating Marchand is Qin Haiyang, the world-record holder in the event, provided he can bounce back from a disastrous Olympics
18. "Swimming: China end US reign over men's 4x100 medley relay". Reuters. 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
19. Fast, Annie (2024). "Paris 2024 swimming: All results, as People's Republic of China win gold in men's 4x100m medley relay". Olympics. Dressel, speaking on behalf of his team, said, "For Team USA, the expectation is [winning] gold. That's traditionally what we strive for... It came down to the wire. [China] had four great splits. We had four great splits. But they were faster. It's as simple as that." Murphy shared Dressel's sentiment, saying, "Today, China was just a little bit better... "It is hard to get separation in that race. It was really tight all the way through. Hats off to China, they had a great race tonight."
20. Roy, Neelabhra (6 August 2024). "USA lose in 4x100m medley relay for the very first time after China beat them to gold at Paris". Sportskeeda. The USA lost to China in the men's 4x100m medley relay at the Paris Olympics, thus making it the very first time they did not win gold in the discipline. The Chinese quartet clocked 3:27.46, while the Americans clocked 3:28.01... The men's 4x100m medley relay was first held at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and the United States have won gold in the discipline whenever they have participated. They did not win at the 1980 Moscow Games because they did not compete.
21. "FINA personal best results".
22. Braden Keith (14 April 2017). "Qin Haiyang Breaks Andrew's Junior World Record at Chinese Nationals". SwimSwam. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
23. Braden Keith (15 April 2017). "Tan Haiyan Breaks Chinese, World Junior Records in 200 Breastroke". SwimSwam. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
24. Heats results
25. Semifinals results
26. Heats results
27. Final results
28. Hannah Hecht (4 September 2017). "Tan Haiyan Breaks Chinese World Junior Records in 200 Breastroke". SwimSwam. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
29. Retta Race (24 March 2023). "Qin Haiyang Clocks 26.63 Asian Record in 50 Breast, 9th Fastest Performer Ever (Video)". SwimSwam. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
30. Retta Race (2 May 2023). "Qin Haiyang Rips 57.93 to Become Third Man Ever Under 58 Seconds in 100 Breast (Video)". SwimSwam. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
31. "Men's 100m Breaststroke Final Results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
32. "Men's 50m Breaststroke Heats Results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
33. "Men's 50m Breaststroke Semifinals Results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 25 July 2023. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
34. "Men's 200m Breaststroke Final Results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
35. "Men's 100m Breaststroke Final Results" (PDF). Omega Timing. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
36. Final results
37. "Heats results". Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
38. "Final results". Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
39. Retta Race (27 October 2022). "Qin Haiyang Nails 56.31 Chinese Record in 100 Breaststroke". SwimSwam. Retrieved 30 October 2022.

External links

• Qin Haiyang at World Aquatics
• Qin Haiyang at SwimRankings.net
• Qin Haiyang at Olympics.com
• Qin Haiyang at Olympedia

Records
Preceded by Zac Stubblety-Cook	Men's 200-metre breaststroke world record-holder (long course) 28 July 2023 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent