Qin Haiyang (, born 17 May 1999) is a Chinese swimmer who specializes in the breaststroke and individual medley. He previously held the world record in the 200m breaststroke, which he set at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. At the same competition, Qin became the first swimmer in history to win all three breaststroke events at a single edition of the championships. Qin was also the former world junior record holder in the 200m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. In 2023, Qin became the first Asian swimmer to be named as the Male Swimmer of the Year by World Aquatics.
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.
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".
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.
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. 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. He also won the silver medal in the 200m individual medley. In the men's 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. 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 medley relay. With his teammate Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang was named the MVP of 2022 Asian Games for his five gold medals.
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.
While at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Qin Haiyang lamented that;
And after a poor start to Qin's marquee individual breaststroke events where he failed to medal, 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 Medley Relay and the Men's 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.
At the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Qin Haiyang won the gold medal in the 200 m breaststroke, coming from lane eight with a time of 2:07.41. The victory marked his second gold of the championships, following his win in the 100 metre breaststroke and a bronze in the 50 metre breaststroke. His performance in the final was notable as he was the only swimmer to qualify with a time slower than 2:09.00.
Personal bests
Long course (50 m) EventTimeMeetDateNote(s) 50 m breaststroke 26.20 2023 World Championships 25 July 2023AS, NR 100 m breaststroke 57.69 2023 World Championships 24 July 2023AS, NR 200 m breaststroke 2:05.48 2023 World Championships 28 July 2023WR, 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)
EventTimeMeetDateNote(s) 50 m breaststroke 25.38 2024 Swimming World Cup 19 October 2024AS, NR 100 m breaststroke 55.47 2024 World Short Course Championships 12 December 2024AS, 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 1 200 m individual medley 1:57.54 2017 Chinese National Championships Qingdao, China 14 April 2017 17 WJ (not ratified) Former 2 200 m breaststroke 2:08.71 2017 Chinese National Championships Qingdao, China 15 April 2017 17 WJ (not ratified), NR Former 3 200 m individual medley 1:59.01 h 2017 World Aquatics Championships Budapest, Hungary 26 July 2017 18 WJ Former Heats results 4 200 m individual medley 1:57.981 sf 2017 World Aquatics Championships Budapest, Hungary 26 July 2017 18 WJ Former Semifinals results 5 200 m breaststroke 2:09.39 h 2017 World Aquatics Championships Budapest, Hungary 27 July 2017 18 WJ Former Heats results 6 200 m individual medley 1:57.06 2017 World Aquatics Championships Budapest, Hungary 27 July 2017 18 WJ Former Final results 7 200 m breaststroke 2:07.35 2017 National Games of China Tianjin, China 4 September 2017 18 WJ (not ratified), NR Former 8 50 m breaststroke 26.63 2023 Chinese Spring Championships Qingdao, China 24 March 2023 23 AS Former 9 100 m breaststroke 57.93 2023 Chinese Championships Hangzhou, China 2 May 2023 23 AS Former 10 100 m breaststroke 57.69 2023 World Championships Fukuoka, Japan 24 July 2023 24 AS Current 11 50 m breaststroke 26.34 h 2023 World Championships Fukuoka, Japan 25 July 2023 24 AS Former 12 50 m breaststroke 26.20 sf 2023 World Championships Fukuoka, Japan 25 July 2023 24 AS Current 13 200 m breaststroke 2:05.48 2023 World Championships Fukuoka, Japan 28 July 2023 24 WR Former 14 100 m breaststroke 57.69 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Berlin, Germany 6 October 2023 24 =AS Current
Short course (25 m) No. Event Time Meet Location Date Age Type Status 1 200 m breaststroke 2:04.18 2017 Swimming World Cup Beijing, China 10 November 2017 18 NR Former Final results 2 200 m breaststroke 2:01.64 h 2018 World Short Course Championships Hangzhou, China 13 December 2018 19 NR Former 3 200 m breaststroke 2:01.15 2018 World Short Course Championships Hangzhou, China 13 December 2018 19 AS Former 4 100 m breaststroke 56.31 2022 Chinese National Championships (25m) Beijing, China 27 October 2022 23 NR Current Key: NR = National Record; AS = Asian Record; WJ = World Junior Record; WR = World Record; h = heats; sf = semifinal
References
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