Hwang Sun-woo (20-Gangwon Provincial Government) and Fan Zhan-li (19-China), Asia’s top two freestyle swimmers, will face off at the FINA World Championships.
On Friday, the Chinese Swimming Association announced its 41-man roster for the 2023 World Championships. Fan Zhanle is one of 19 men named to the squad.
According to US swimming publication Swimswarm, Fan Zhanle is ranked No. 1 in the world in the 2022-23 freestyle 100-200 meters. Hwang is rated fifth in the 100 meters and second in the 200 meters.
In both events, Pan is the No. 1 swimmer in Asia this season, while Hwang is the No. 2. They will face off for pride at the World Championships, which will be held ahead of the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games.
The World Aquatics Championships begin on July 23 in Fukuoka, Japan. The 200-meter freestyle will be held on July 24-25 and the 100-meter on July 26-27. The management events at the Hangzhou Asian Games will be held Sept. 24-29.
Fan Zhanle won the 100m on Day 1 and 200m on Day 4 at the Chinese Swimming Championships earlier this month to become the world’s fastest freestyle swimmer in the 2022-23 season. His time of 47.22 in the 100m was better than the Asian record (47.56) set by Hwang Sun-woo in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
While this is an unofficial record that has yet to be approved by the Asian Swimming Federation (ASF), there is still time before the World Championships for Panzaner to enter the event as the undisputed Asian number one.
Panzaner’s winning time of 1:44.65 in the 200 meters at the 2023 Chinese Championships is also a career best. Hwang Sun-woo’s personal best is 1:44.47 from his 2022 World Championships runner-up finish. The gap is only 0.18 seconds.스포츠토토
In both events, Hwang is among the top five in the world this season, thanks to his gold medals at the 103rd National Games in October 2022 in the 100m (47.78) and 200m (1:44.67).
Panzaner has shown that he is in top form right now. There is a growing need for Hwang Sun-woo to show that he is worthy of the 200m silver medalist at the World Championships last year and the Asian record holder in the 100m.