World Aquatics Championships: Qin Haiyang bags 200m breaststroke gold in ‘lane 8 miracle’
Breaststroke king hits form in Singapore after also winning 100m gold and 50m bronze, before China’s men’s 4x200m freestyle team win silver
China’s Qin Haiyang returned to winning ways on Friday night as he stormed home to victory in the 200 metres breaststroke from lane eight at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Qin clocked a time of two minutes and 7.41 seconds, some two seconds off the world record time he set in Fukuoka in 2023, but enough to win his second gold medal at the championships.
“Have you heard of the lane eight miracle? You saw it tonight,” said Qin of his victory. He was the only finalist to qualify with a time slower than 2:09.00.
Qin made history in the 2023 edition of the championships by sweeping the men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke titles.
And after a disappointing 2024 season and Olympic showing, there were signs early on in the week that Qin was on track to redemption, bagging the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke on Monday and the bronze in the 50m breaststroke on Wednesday.
On Friday night, Qin was fifth after the first 50m but climbed the ranks to lead by the final length as the cheers from the Chinese supporters grew deafening. Their ovation reached a crescendo as Qin touched the wall ahead of Japan’s Ippei Watanabe (2:07.70) and Caspar Corbeau from the Netherlands (2:07.73).