Day 1 of the finals for the last leg of the 2023 Swimming World Cup is up and running in Budapest. Swimmers across the world have gathered in Danube Arena for the one last ride, and it has been a day filled with impeccable swimming performances. Kaylee McKeown buzzed the Hungarian arena with her record-breaking performance in the women’s 50-meter backstroke, and China’s Qin Haiyang was also not much behind in achieving king status after his clean sweep in the last leg.

The swimmers who maintained their dominance and remained undefeated in the World Cup finals were crowned as the kings and queens of the pool during the event. This has also bagged them an additional bonus cash prize of $10,000.

The newly crowned kings and queens of the swimming world

As reported by World Aquatics, the Hungarian crowd witnessed one of the best swimming races when the Australian swimming prodigy Kaylee McKeown landed in the pool for the 50-meter backstroke. She looked poised for victory the moment the race started. With that early lead, the Redcliffe native did not give her opponents a chance for redemption, and finished the race in an impressive 26.86 seconds. This astounding swim also resulted in her setting the first Swimming World Cup 2023 world record. After the victory, McKeown stated, “I just wanted to get out fast tonight and see what I could do.” She also received a crown and an additional bonus cash prize of $10,000 for the aforementioned victory.

Qin Haiyang, who has achieved the status of one of the most successful breaststrokers, once again went by his reputation and won the 100-meter breaststroke finals with a magnificent finish of 57.82 seconds and achieved a rare sub-58 along with a crown and $10,000. He is also expected to compete in and potentially win the 50m and 200m breaststroke finals tomorrow, aiming to achieve the rare “triple-triple” accomplishment as a swimmer. Apart from these two, there were several others who secured the number one spot, accompanied by a crown and the additional cash prize.

More swimmers have joined the party

The first crown on Hungarian soil went to New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, who finished the women’s 400-meter freestyle in 4:02.35 seconds and became the champion. Her Australian rival and one of the primary contenders for the gold, Lani Pallister, was placed second with 4:03.43 seconds on the clock. Zhang Yufei of China is another swimmer who has been absolutely magnificent throughout the World Cup, and on the night of the finals, she went by her talent and won the 200-meter butterfly race along with the crown and the additional bonus that comes with it.

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Amidst the crowning achievements, some swimmers faced an anticlimax in the finals, falling short of winning the crown as they were beaten by their opponents. Danas Rapsys fell short against Australia’s Sam Short and missed his chance of winning 400m freestyle crown. However, he still stands a chance in 200m freestyle on Sunday. Thomas Ceccon was upset by Roman Mityukov in the 200m backstroke, and his bid to clinch the crown could not come to fruition.

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