Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. World Championships, Day One Semifinals: Zhang Yufei on Top of Decorated 100 Fly Foursome After Semis Four of the top five performers in history will meet in the women’s 100 butterfly final, and the world record, which has lasted for seven years, will be in real jeopardy. The grouping of Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil, China’s Zhang Yufei, Australia’s Emma McKeon and the United States’ Torri Huske all finished within 14 hundredths in the Olympic final, all within a quarter-second of the world record. Mac Neil won gold that evening in Tokyo while Huske was denied the podium by one hundredth, but one year later, Huske was victorious in dominant fashion at the 2022 World Championships, a race notably missing Mac Neil and McKeon. Now, all four will square off for the first time in two years after each one swam sub-57 in the semifinals of the event Sunday evening in Fukuoka. For the second consecutive round, Zhang claimed the top time in 56.40, the third-fastest time in the world so far this year behind the times posted by Americans Huske (56.18) and Gretchen Walsh (56.34) at U.S. Nationals last month. Huske won her semifinal heat in 56.76 to take second overall, followed closely by Mac Neil (56.78) and McKeon (56.89). Germany’s Angelina Kohler swam her second lifetime best of the day to take fifth in 57.05 while Walsh and Australia’s Brianna Throssell tied for sixth in 57.14. The last spot in the final went to France’s Marie Wattel in 57.17. Wattel, the silver medalist behind Huske at last year’s Worlds, just denying Sweden’s Louise Hansson (57.29) and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar (57.34).
