Zhang, Shin, Xu Vault to Top

Combined World Championships: Zhang Zhanshuo, Shin Ohashi, Xu Jiayu Vault to Top Spot at Asian Games

Most of the world’s top swimmers wrapped up their 2026 long course seasons by mid-August following the Commonwealth Games, European Championships and Pan Pacific Championships, but the Asian Games took place last week in Tokyo. The competition provided swimmers from that continent another chance at shaking up the world rankings in advance of a return to long course racing on the global level at next year’s World Championships in Budapest.

At the Asian Games, Zhang Zhanshuo looked the part of a mid-distance freestyle star. He clocked 1:43.49 for gold in the 200 free, making him the fifth-fastest performer in history and the fastest in the world this year. He also knocked more than a second off his Asian record in the 400 free, staying at No. 2 for the year but moving closer to Australian standout Sam Short. Finally, Zhang’s gold-medal swims in the 800 and 1500 free put him into the top-five this year by small margins.

Of course, Shin Ohashi moved into the top spot in the 200 breaststroke with his world-record-shattering performance. Previously, Shin had faded to bronze in the event at the Pan Pacific Championships, but his 2:04.83 marked the top time from this year’s major meets by almost three seconds, eclipsing the previous top performance of Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki. Additionally, Shin and Dong Zhihao moved into a tie for fifth in the 100 breast, as they shared the gold medal in 58.64.

Xu Jiayu, now 31, showed he is far from done as he uncorked one of the finest performances of his career. His 50 backstroke time of 24.04 is the best time from any international meet this year while his 100-meter mark of 51.98 is second-best behind South Africa’s Pieter Coetze. Further, Xu helped lift China’s 400 mixed medley relay into the top-five, and he combined with Dong, Xu Fang and Pan Zhanle to achieve the fastest men’s 400 medley relay in the world this year.

As for the freestyle relays, the United States men retained the top spot in both, but China made inroads. The team of Xu Haibo, Fei Liwei, Pan and Zhang jumped to No. 2 in the 800 free relay with their time of 7:00.17, with Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa, Katsuhiro Matsumoto, Kazusa Kuroda and Tomoyuki Matsushita now holding the third-best mark. China’s 400 free relay, consisting of Zhao Jiayue, Wang Haoyu, Zhang and Pan swam the fifth-best time of the year.

Matsushita, the Japanese medley standout who previously swept the gold medal in the 200 IM and 400 IM at Pan Pacs, did not improve upon his world-leading mark in the 200 IM, but he cut his 200 IM time by more than a second. He finished with a 1:55.30, behind only Hubert Kos and Hugo Gonzalez in this year’s rankings. He was followed closely by countryman Yumeki Kojima, whose 1:55.36 now ranks fourth. Kojima also exploded in the 400 IM with a world junior record of 4:07.02, a time only Matsushita and American Carson Foster surpassed in international competition this year.

Below are the updated performances recorded in finals at the three recent international meets. Swimmers who raced at two of these competitions are considered with their fastest finals time between the two opportunities, and only the top two swimmers per country were ranked. These competitions took place under different circumstances with different event programs, but this Combined World Championships show how the swimmers stack up. Times recorded at the Asian Games are listed in bold.

50 Freestyle

1. Cam McEvoy (AUS), 20.97 – Commonwealth Games
2. Nikita Sheremet (UKR), 21.13 – European Championships
3. Jamie Jack (AUS), 21.35 – Pan Pacs
4. Egor Kornev (RUS), 21.37 – European Championships
5. Andrej Barna (SRB), 21.37 – European Championships

100 Freestyle

1. David Popovici (ROU), 46.56 – European Championships
2. Egor Kornev (RUS), 46.74 – European Championships
3. Kristof Milak (HUN), 46.87 – European Championships
4. Flynn Southam (AUS), 47.13 – Commonwealth Games
5. Jack Alexy (USA), 47.14 – Pan Pacs

200 Freestyle

1. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 1:43.49 – Asian Games
2. Luke Hobson (USA), 1:43.85 – Pan Pacs
3. Gabriel Jett (USA), 1:43.96 – Pan Pacs
4. David Popovici (ROU), 1:44.15 – European Championships
5. Tomas Navikonis (LTU), 1:44.55 – European Championships

400 Freestyle

1. Sam Short (AUS), 3:40.52 – Pan Pacs
2. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 3:41.28 – Asian Games
3. Leon Marchand (FRA), 3:43.14 – European Championships
4. Aaron Shackell (USA), 3:43.44 – Pan Pacs
5. Oliver Papai (HUN), 3:44.46 – European Championships

800 Freestyle

1. Sam Short (AUS), 7:37.02 – Pan Pacs
2. Johannes Liebmann (GER), 7:37.59 – European Championships
3. Sven Schwarz (GER), 7:41.16 – European Championships
4. Zalan Sarkany (HUN), 7:41.75 – European Championships
5. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 7:42.49 – Asian Games

1500 Freestyle

1. Johannes Liebmann (GER), 14:26.79 – European Championships
2. Sam Short (AUS), 14:33.97 – Pan Pacs
3. Zalan Sarkany (HUN), 14:39.45 – European Championships
4. Oliver Klemet (GER), 14:40.64 – European Championships
5. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 14:42.42 – Asian Games

50 Backstroke

1. Xu Jiayu (CHN), 24.04 – Asian Games
2. Miroslav Knedla (CZE), 24.11 – European Championships
3. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 24.12 – European Championships
4. Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 24.14 – European Championships
5. Apostolos Christou (GRE), 24.15 – European Championships

100 Backstroke

1. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 51.77 – Commonwealth Games
2. Xu Jiayu (CHN), 51.98 – Asian Games
3. Apostolos Christou (GRE), 52.27 – European Championships
4. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 52.28 – European Championships
5. Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 52.57 – European Championships

200 Backstroke

1. Hubert Kos (HUN), 1:53.08 – European Championships
2. Apostolos Siskos (GRE), 1:53.81 – European Championships
3. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 1:53.96 – European Championships
4. Roman Mityukov (SUI), 1:54.07 – European Championships
5. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 1:54.22 – Commonwealth Games

50 Breaststroke

1. Sam Williamson (AUS), 26.36 – Pan Pacs
2. Michael Houlie (RSA)/Van Mathias (USA), 26.42 – Pan Pacs
3. None (tie for second)
4. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 26.57 – European Championships
5. Koen de Groot (NED)/Simone Cerasuolo (ITA), 26.62 – European Championships

100 Breaststroke

1. Van Mathias (USA), 58.02 – Pan Pacs
2. Shin Ohashi (JPN), 58.54 – Pan Pacs
3. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 58.58 – European Championships
4. Ivan Kozhakin (RUS), 58.58 – European Championships
5. Dong Zhihao (CHN)/Shin Ohashi (JPN), 58.64 – Asian Games

200 Breaststroke

1. Shin Ohashi (JPN), 2:04.83 – Asian Games
2. Filip Nowacki (GBR), 2:07.70 – European Championships
3. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 2:07.78 – European Championships
4. Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS), 2:08.09 – Pan Pacs
5. Josh Matheny (USA), 2:08.25 – Pan Pacs

50 Butterfly

1. Egor Kornev (RUS), 22.52 – European Championships
2. Maxime Grousset (FRA), 22.54 – European Championships
3. Grigori Pekarski (BLR), 22.68 – European Championships
4. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 22.72 – European Championships
5. Kyle Chalmers (AUS)/Ben Armbruster (AUS), 22.73 – Commonwealth Games

100 Butterfly

1. Kristof Milak (HUN), 49.48 – European Championships
2. Maxime Grousset (FRA), 49.70 – European Championships
3. Noè Ponti (SUI), 49.93 – European Championships
4. Hubert Kos (HUN), 50.25 – European Championships
5. Matt Temple (AUS), 50.39 – Pan Pacs

200 Butterfly

1. Leon Marchand (FRA), 1:51.72 – European Championships
2. Luca Urlando (USA), 1:53.11 – Pan Pacs
3. Carson Foster (USA), 1:53.67 – Pan Pacs
4. Richard Marton (HUN), 1:54.06 – European Championships
5. Apostolos Siskos (GRE), 1:54.13 – European Championships

Tomoyuki Matsushita — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

200 IM

1. Hubert Kos (HUN), 1:54.24 – European Championships
2. Hugo Gonzalez (ESP), 1:54.44 – European Championships
3. Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN), 1:55.30 – Asian Games
4. Yumeki Kojima (JPN), 1:55.36 – Asian Games
5. Mikhail Shcherbakov (RUS), 1:56.16 – European Championships

400 IM

1. Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN), 4:06.75 – Pan Pacs
2. Carson Foster (USA), 4:07.11 – Pan Pacs
3. Yumeki Kojima (JPN), 4:07.02 – Asian Games
4. Bobby Finke (USA), 4:07.59 – Pan Pacs
5. Ilya Borodin (RUS), 4:08.17 – Pan Pacs

400 Freestyle Relay

1. United States (Sammon, Guiliano, Lasco, Alexy), 3:09.01 – Pan Pacs
2. Australia (Southam, Taylor, Turner, Chalmers), 3:09.49 – Commonwealth
3. Hungary (Kos, Szabo, Nemeth, Milak), 3:10.03 – European Championships
4. Russia (Giryov, Kukushkin, Shehegolev, Kornev), 3:10.02 – European Championships
5. China (Zhao, Wang, Zhang, Pan), 3:10.60 – Asian Games

800 Freestyle Relay

1. United States (Hobson, Shackell, Sammon, Jett), 6:59.37 – Pan Pacs
2. China (Xu, Fei, Pan, Zhang), 7:00.17 – Asian Games
3. Japan (Murasa, Matsumoto, Kuroda, Matsushita), 7:01.05 – Asian Games
4. Australia (Giuliani, Taylor, Hawke, Short), 7:01.10 – Pan Pacs
5. Great Britain (Richards, McMillan, Guy, Scott), 7:01.52 – European Championships

400 Medley Relay

1. China (Xu, Dong, Xu, Pan), 3:27.89 – Asian Games
2. Russia (Kolesnikov, Kozhakin, Minakov, Kornev), 3:28.67 – European Championships
3. Japan (Takehara, Ohashi, Mitsunaga, Murasa) – 3:28.70 – Asian Games
4. Australia (Allan, Williamson, Temple, Southam), 3:28.71 – Commonwealth Games
5. Italy (Ceccon, Martinenghi, Razzetti, D’Ambrosio), 3:28.86 – European Championships