2024 World Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 11th – February 18th
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Official Entries
• Live Results (Omega)

Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet

Women’s 4×100 Free Relay Start List 

Men’s 4×100 Free Relay Start List 

It’s time for the first swimming finals session of the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. And as always, it’s a packed session; there are four finals (including two relays) and four semifinals on tap.

Day 1 Finals Schedule:

• Men’s 400 freestyle — final
• Women’s 100 butterfly — semifinals
• Men’s 50 butterfly — semifinals
• Women’s 400 freestyle — final
• Men’s 100 breaststroke — semifinals
• Women’s 200 IM — semifinals
• Women’s 4×100 freestyle relay — final
• Men’s 4×100 freestyle relay — final

The session kicks off with the men’s 400 freestyle final. The big news of the prelims session was that defending champion Ahmed Hafnaoui missed the final with a 3:48.05, finishing 17th. Without him and his personal best of 3:40.70 in the field, the two favorites are the top two qualifiers: Australia’s Elijah Winnington and Germany’s Lukas Märtens. Both are familiar with the podium, Winnington is the 2022 champion and Märtens has a silver and a bronze from the last two Worlds.

Winnington and Märtens were the only two sub-3:45 this morning, but don’t count out Kim Woomin or Daniel Wiffen. They’re sitting 3rd and 4th after prelims, respectively.

There’s a close race brewing in the women’s 400 freestyle as well. After prelims, Li Bingjie and Erika Fairweather are separated by just five-hundredths. Fairweather controlled their heat for a majority of the race, but Li caught her in the closing meters, posting the top time of the morning in 4:04.65. Fairweather broke 4:00 in Fukuoka, stunning for the bronze medal, so and we’ll see if she’s brought that form to Doha.

The other two finals of the session are the women’s and men’s 4×100 freestyle relays. Australia, the world record holders and defending champions–lead the women’s field by almost a full second, qualifying first for the final with a 3:38.33. Meanwhile, the U.S. men put up the top time on the men’s side (3:12.32) ahead of Italy and Great Britain, the latter of whom hit their Olympic qualification time with a 3:13.96 after being disqualified from prelims in Fukuoka.

MEN’S 400-Meter Freestyle – Final

• World Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
• World Junior Record: Petar Mitsin, Bulgaria – 3:44.31 (2023)
• Championship Record: Paul Biedermann, Germany – 3:40.07 (2009)
• 2023 World Champion: Sam Short, Australia – 3:40.68

Final:

WOMEN’S 100-Meter Butterfly – Semifinals

• World Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 55.48 (2016)
• World Junior Record: Claire Curzan, USA – 56.43 (2021)
• Championship Record: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – 55.53 (2017)
• 2023 World Champion: Zhang Yufei, China – 56.12

Top 8 Qualifiers:

MEN’S 50-Meter Butterfly – Semifinals

• World Record: Andrii Govorov, Ukraine – 22.27 (2018)
• World Junior Record: Diogo Ribeiro, Portugal – 22.96 (2022)
• Championship Record: Caeleb Dressel, USA – 22.35 (2019)
• 2023 World Champion: Thomas Ceccon, Italy – 22.68

Top 8 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 400-Meter Freestyle – Final

• World Record: Ariarne Titmus, Australia – 3:55.38 (2023)
• World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 3:56.08 (2023)
• Championship Record: Ariarne Titmus, Australia – 3:55.38 (2023)
• 2023 World Champion: Ariarne Titmus, Australia – 3:55.38

Final:

MEN’S 100-Meter Breaststroke – Semifinals

• World Record: Adam Peaty, Great Britain – 56.88 (2019)
• World Junior Record: Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy – 59.01 (2017)
• Championship Record: Adam Peaty, Great Britain – 56.88 (2019)
• 2023 World Champion: Qin Haiyang, China – 57.69

Top 8 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 200-Meter Individual Medley – Semifinals

• World Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
• World Junior Record: Summer McIntosh, Canada – 2:06.89 (2023)
• Championship Record: Katinka Hosszu, Hungary – 2:06.12 (2015)
• 2023 World Champion: Kate Douglass, USA – 2:07.17

Top 8 Qualifiers:

WOMEN’S 4×100-Meter Freestyle Relay – Final

• World Record: Australia – 3:27.96 (2023)
• Championship Record: Australia – 3:27.96 (2023)
• 2023 World Champion: Australia – 3:27.96

Final:

MEN’S 4×100-Meter Freestyle Relay – Final

• World Record: USA – 3:08.24
• Championship Record: USA – 3:09.06
• 2023 World Champion: Australia – 3:10.16

Final:

SwimSwam: 2024 World Championships: Day 1 Finals Live Recap