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, Night 2 Finals: Ruta Meilutyte, Lilly King Lead Veteran 100 Breast Semis Age is just a number. Another number: 1997, as in the year that Ruta Meilutyte, Lilly King and Tatjana Schoenmaker were all born. It was, as they say, a good year, for breaststroke. Those are the top three seeds here in the year 2023 in the women’s 100 breaststroke at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where the kids on the breaststroke block will have to wait. Meilutyte led the second semifinal heat with a time of 1:05.09. King had solidified her place in the final by winning the first heat in 1:05.45. Schoenmaker clocked in at 1:05.53 to form a gilded leading pack. It’s not often that you see three Olympic champions in an event in the pool simultaneously. But that’s what the 100 breast gives you, with the 2012 Olympic champ (Meilutyte), 2016 (King) and 2021 (Lydia Jacoby) all there. Add in the bronze medalist from London in 2012 (Satomi Suzuki) and the Tokyo silver medalist/200 gold medalist (Schoenmaker), and it’s enough to wonder how quickly we can get Rebecca Soni on a plane across the Pacific. Even with the established powers, though, the race continues to get faster. “It’s great,” King said. “Looking at the results, it was almost a second faster to make semifinals today than it’s ever been. It’s a really, really good field, with Olympic champions and future Olympic champions, as well. It’s really cool, a little more stressful, but I think it’s going to make the race really, really fast tomorrow.” It’s a rare event in which the top eight included six 1990s babies and no one born after Jan. 1, 2001. Twelve of the 16 semifinalists are 24 or older. Those three champions will also be in the final, with Jacoby finishing fourth in the first heat but her time of 1:06.29 good enough to slide in. She was .02 ahead of Suzuki, from the second semifinal, who edged her countrywoman Reona Aoki by .01 into the final. Suzuki, at 32, is the elder stateswoman. Also in the final is Mona McSharry, who went 1:05.96 for Ireland. Estonian teen (so uncool) Eneli Jefimova finished fifth in 1:06.18 ahead of Louise Hansson of Sweden. “Knowing that I got the Olympic time and that’s inevitably what I came here to do in such a big swim this morning, I was like if I can get anywhere near that I’ll be happy,” McSharry said. “And that’s what it is now a bonus, being able to progress through the rounds like I have is great.”
