World Championships: Tang Qianting Takes Home Wide Open 100 Breast
With just one swimmer retained from last year’s final in the women’s 100 breaststroke, a new face was required to step to the fore in Doha.
Tang Qianting was the one that raised her hand.
The Chinese teen secured gold with a time of 1:05.27, a half-second clear of the field. Tang was first at the wall and held off a late charge from Tes Schouten of the Netherlands, who added a silver medal to her recent haul. Siobhan Haughey added a bronze medal, showing her versatility outside the freestyle events.
Only one swimmer – Mona McSharry of Ireland – made the finals in Fukuoka and Doha. Schouten, who won bronze in the 200 breast in Fukuoka, was 10th in this event last year. Tang was 20th. Haughey didn’t swim the event last year. (Two of the final holdovers didn’t make finals this year, with gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte 17th in prelims and Sophie Hansson 10th in semis.) Silver medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa and Lydia Jacoby of the United States both passed on Doha.
That didn’t mean that this race was all that much slower. Meilutyte won in 1:04.62, but Schouten’s time of 1:05.82 and Haughey’s 1:05.92 were each faster by .02 than Schoenmaker and Jacoby last year.
The medal is the first in long-course internationals for Tang, who won the 100 breast at the World Short-Course Championships in 2021.
This is just Haughey’s second career Worlds medal, joining silver in the 100 free in Fukuoka. She’s a double Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo in 2021.
Tang was first at the wall in 30.25 seconds with Haughey second. Schouten was sixth at the wall before delivering the fastest final 50 of the race in 34.36 to scoot up to third.
Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova finished fourth in 1:06.02. McSharry was never in the medal picture at 1:06.42. Alina Zmushka of Belarus, swimming as a neutral international athlete, finished sixth.
