#2023 world aquatics championships

[sheltiechicago]

Evangelia Platanioti of Greece extends her leg over her head in an artistic swimming event during the 2023 World Aquatics Championships on July 19 in Japan.

Fukuoka, Japan.

Adam Pretty/Getty Images

[jordanas-diary]

finally ready to talk about the men’s 400 IM …

i’m sad but i’m elated. heartbroken but encouraged. i’m so so excited for leon and his future but that … that was the last michael phelps wr. that really means it’s time to grow up 🥺

i’m ok but like ☹️😮‍💨

[laeana]

Just realized that I didn’t do any post to celebrate Léon… gasp shame on me

[regina-del-cielo]

Catching up on artistic swimming at the World Championships

For the first time they've added a "Kiss and Cry" corner - before the athlete(s) would just go stand at the pool border from where they started and wait for their result

I'm watching these athletes and their coaches sit down on a white couch 0.2 seconds after coming out of the water and the only thing I can think of is...

Please tell me that couch is waterproof. They are SOPPING WET your honour

[thenightpool]

rinharu wrapped 2023

We almost can't believe it's already time to bring out the kadomatsu again! 2023 just raced by, didn't it…?! Let's take a moment to look back on everything Rin & Haru (and their fans!) have achieved this year.

🌸 Archive of Our Own

The Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka tag on AO3 now holds 3,674 works!

That means 173 new fics were posted this year. (There might've been more than that, but it's hard to keep track of creators privatising their older fics!)

And the Night Pool's AO3 collection is up to 90 works!

.

🌸 The Night Pool

Here at TNP, we revived @sakurathon, a cherry blossom-centric event! This year, the event received 40 works by 19 lovely participants.

Since it was such a big success, we're bringing the event back on April 27th & 28th 2024.

°•. ✿ .•°

We also held the aquatic-themed Unleashed Blue, during which 20 participants created 51 (!!) otherworldly works for us.

With permission of the creators, we lovingly collected them in a 400+ page commemorative zine. You can download it on linktree

°•. ✿ .•°

Writers filled an impressive 35 prompts during our prompt meme Make a Splash! that we held in honor of Haru's birthday.

Read the fills on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

Rin & Haru's Big Warm-Up, our monthly prompt event, received 16 new works on AO3 across the year & more on socials.

Check out our collection on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

We also kicked off rinharu fandom's very first bang: MEDLEY!, a mini + reverse hybrid bang that will start posting in March!

(Psst. Sign ups are still open for a few roles!)

°•. ✿ .•°

We held 3 training camps – super fun writing retreat weekends – over on our Discord. We have 4 more retreats planned for 2024!

If you'd like to join us for the next one(s), here's the info

°•. ✿ .•°

We posted 33 new fanart translations!

Here's the link to our masterlist

°•. ✿ .•°

And finally, The Night Pool beat out Harurinralia to win our Ultimate Rinharu Moments Tournament that we held back in April on both Twitter and Tumblr!

.

🌸 Other Fandom Events

It's been a busy year!

In July, @starstarfairy hosted Wave Of Memory (@rinharumemories) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Free! The event ran in two wave on tumblr and Twitter and combined polls, fan memories, and all types of fanworks.

@sweetheavenfics helped us run the RH-friendly @soumako-week in September!

@ryu-outsider hosted the month-long daily prompt event Free!cember here on Tumblr. It welcomed the entire fandom. The event was promoted by eleanorenchanted and run via hashtag.

And @rinharuweek ran for a full 10 days this year in celebration of the show's anniversary! They are just wrapping up.

.

🌸 Official News

Free! turned 10 in 2023. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Free! The Final Stroke Part 2 broke all of the series' previous records in the box office, bringing in over 1 billion yen

It also finally made it to Crunchyroll.com for the US & select others

Miyano Mamoru & Shimazaki Nobunaga fed us (+ fanartists' inspiration) well by shouting "HARU!!" and "RIIIN!!" at each other before hugging passionately during the 10th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena

We got tons of amazing new art; including a cover illustration for Free! The Band Live's Ever Blue performance in Yokohama, Animedia's July W-cover, Sweets Paradise's promotional art, and Kyoani's 10th anniversary event's illustration

Rin's ripped jeans (+ THE ANKLETS) in the Matsukiyo & Cocokara's Top Of Summer collaboration launched a thousand fanworks

Matsuoka-senshu, Nanase-senshu, Kirishima-senshu & Yamazaki-senshu represented Mizuno at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka

Spoon2Di recently restocked volume 78 & 85 on their webshop, and Akiba Pass Shop opened pre-orders for some gorgeous tapestries featuring said art

Karatz, Bikkuriman Choco, Iwami & DECOL all bumped Rin up to 2nd place in character listings (where he belongs!!)

Last but not least, KyoaniShop bankrupted us all by releasing amazing new merchandise (and also did not try to hide that Rin is the Free! series' 2nd protagonist, either…)

--

Thank you so much for being here with us in 2023. We hope it has been a wonderful & creative year for you. Here's wishing you an even more rinharu-filled 2024!

[coochiequeens]

Oh Canada! Oh no!

A trans-identified male athlete has taken the top spot in yet another Canadian women’s running competition, adding to the growing list of victories against female athletes he has claimed since transitioning.

Tiffany Newell, 50, has now placed first in the women’s indoor 1500 meter running competition for women aged 50-54, which was held in Toronto, Ontario this past week. This is Newell’s latest victory and has added to his long list of first-place rankings and records in women’s running competitions.

On January 8, Newell took the top spot in the women’s 3000 meter for women aged 45-49 at the Winter Mini Meet, and would rank first in the women’s 5000 meter for women aged 45-49 just days later. 

He then went on to rank first in the 1500 meter for women aged 45-49 on February 5, and, following a birthday which placed him in a new age category, ranked first in the 1500 meter in the category for women aged 50-54 in a competition held from February 23 to February 26 in Toronto.

The news of Newell’s latest victory was announced by the International Consortium on Women’s Sport, a campaign group advocating for sexed categories, prompting anger and disbelief from those concerned with the preservation of women’s sport.

“That is ridiculous and no fan of athletics will view it as any sort of achievement,” wrote Colin Winter in response to the announcement. “It is a farce & everyone knows it but too many are too frit to say so. Frit is no excuse. If one’s job is to protect the integrity of a sport, that is what one has to do. If unable to do so, resign.”

Some have also expressed concern that Newell’s new age classification will result in him now seizing the 5000 meter title from Maria Zambrano, a female athlete with multiple records across the age groups she has competed in.

Last year, Newell set a Canadian record in the 5000 meter indoor running competition for women aged 45-49 held at Toronto’s York University. Newell ran 18:02.30over the distance, besting the previous record by six seconds. His record was ratified by the Canadian Masters Athletics in December, and it became the first time a trans-identified male athlete in Canada broke a national record in track. 

At that same competition, Newell also placed first in the women’s 800 meter race for women aged 45-49.

His victories earned him an “honorable mention” as the Ontario Master’s Athlete of the Month in March of 2022, just one month after snatching the top spots.

In January of 2023, Newell placed first in the women’s 5000 meter for women aged 45-49 once again during the Ontario Master’s Mini Meet held in Toronto.

Previously, Newell won a silver medal at the 2021 Canadian XC Championships in the masters 8K, and also finished second at the 2022 Hamilton Marathon.

Newell began transitioning in 2017, but began competing in women’s sport in 2020 after claiming to have met the recommended testosterone levels as set by the World Athletics guidelines on transgender athletes.

Last June, the global regulator for swimming, diving and water polo issued a ruling barring transgender athleteswho experienced male puberty from swimming and other aquatic sports. FINA opted to create an “open category” instead in order to preserve the fairness of sexed categories. The decision came after international backlash surrounding the success of Lia Thomas, a trans-identified male, in women’s swimming.

In an interview with Running Magazine earlier this year, Newell rejected the concept of an “open category” for transgender athletes in running, and claimed he should be allowed to compete against females as he identified as such.

“The policy makes sense for non-binary athletes, but I don’t feel comfortable racing against men. It categorizes me in the sex I am not identified as,” Newell said. “I am a woman, and I feel most comfortable racing against women or other transgender women. I believe an open category can work if athletes can continue to race against athletes of the same gender.”

Despite protests from trans activists, studies have consistently affirmed that trans-identified male athletes retain a significant edge over their female counterparts, even after starting hormone therapy.

In 2020, a study released in the British Journal of Sport Medicine noted that trans-identified males were able to complete 31% more push-ups and 15% more sit-ups in one minute on average than a female Air Force service member. They also ran 1.5 miles 21% faster.

But even after two years on testosterone suppression treatment, the males were still 12% faster on average than biological females.

[oscar-piastri]

Léon Marchand is the best male swimmer of the "World Aquatics Championships 2023" after getting 3 gold medals and breaking one world record

400m medley (breaking Michael Phelps' record)

200m butterfly

200m medley

[justinssportscorner]

Karleigh Webb at Outsports:

A group of 16 female student-athletes filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA to the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia Thursday in regards to the NCAA’s transgender student-athlete inclusion policies and regulations. The suit seeks a total ban of transgender women in all NCAA sports, and also demands that all titles and positions won by transgender women are retroactively revoked. The suit was organized by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, who also have ties to a number of conservative anti-trans organizations. At the top of list of athletes who are part of the suit is former University of Kentucky swimmer-turned anti-trans activist Riley Gaines.

Since tying for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle event with former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships in 2022, Gaines has become a face of this issue. Thomas, who became first transgender woman student-athlete to win an individual NCAA Division I title during those championships, has been the centerpiece of opposing concerns about the NCAA policy. The filing itself mirrored several of Gaines’ speeches, and some of the accusations she has personally made against Lia Thomas over the last two years. “The NCAA imposed a radical anti-woman agenda on college sports,” the filing states. “Reinterpreting Title IX to define women as a testosterone level, permitting men to compete on women’s teams, and destroying female safe spaces in women’s locker rooms.” [...]

Plaintiffs include various college student-athletes

Other plaintiffs in the suit include former Virginia Tech swimmer Réka György. She was 17th in the 500-yard freestyle event at the 2022 NCAA Championships. She claims that Lia Thomas, who won the national championship in that same event, unfairly kept her out of the consolation final. “That final spot was taken away from me because of the NCAA’s decision to let someone who is not a biological female compete,” György stated in a letter to the NCAA in March 2022 that was reprinted in the filing, “It hurts me, my team and other women in the pool.”

A group of 6 swimmers from Roanoke College (Va.) also signed on. Prior to the start of the 2023-2024 season, a number of members of their team staged a public demonstration, with Gaines in attendance, after a prospective trans women student-athlete petitioned join the team. The student withdrew their request prior to the demonstration. The NCAA hasn’t responded publicly, but this lawsuit comes with further changes in the NCAA policy ahead. In the 2024-2025 academic year, each NCAA sport will cede to the policies set by either their respective national or world governing bodies to decide the eligibility of transgender women. In the cases of swimming and track and field, transgender women will be banned from competition in women’s NCAA sports because that is the policies of World Aquatics and World Athletics.

16 female NCAA athletes, including Riley Gaines, Kaitlynn Wheeler, Réka György, and Ainsley Erzen, filed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA to demand a total ban on trans women in NCAA sports and retroactive revocation of all titles and positions obtained by trans women in NCAA competitions.

The Gaines v. NCAA suit is being organized by anti-trans inclusion group Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), and the suit erroneously claims trans-inclusive policies violate Title IX. The Gaines v. NCAA lawsuit is nothing more than a transphobic temper tantrum by Mrs. 5th Place Crybaby.

See Also:

Sportico: NCAA TRANS POLICY, TITLE IX SUIT MAY HINDER CONGRESS ON NIL

[waterfallswords]

Tyler Brooks - Swimming Career

2002-2008 (Ages 5-11):

Tyler starts swimming at a young age, joining a local swim team.

Shows early talent and excels in local competitions.

Begins to specialize in freestyle and butterfly events.

2009-2012 (Ages 12-15):

Competes in regional and state-level competitions.

Wins multiple events at the Florida Age Group Championships.

Sets several state age group records in freestyle and butterfly.

2013-2015 (Ages 16-18):

Wins multiple state championships in 100m and 200m freestyle.

Named Florida Swimmer of the Year in his senior year.

Earns a scholarship to swim at the University of Florida.

2015-2019 (Ages 18-22):

Joins the University of Florida swim team, competing in NCAA competitions.

Wins several SEC (Southeastern Conference) titles in 100m and 200m freestyle.

Earns All-American honors multiple times.

Graduates with a degree in Sports Management.

2019 (Age 22):

Turns professional after graduating from college.

Signs with a major swimwear brand for sponsorship.

Competes in national and international meets, including the USA Swimming National Championships.

2020 (Age 23):

Qualifies for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Makes the U.S. Olympic team, competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Wins a silver medal as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team.

Ends the year ranked among the top swimmers in the world in his events.

Professional Career Highlights

2021-2022 (Ages 24-25):

Continues to compete in international competitions, including the FINA World Championships.

Wins gold in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships.

Secures multiple podium finishes in the FINA Swimming World Cup series.

Breaks the American record in the 100m freestyle.

2023 (Age 26):

Dominates at the U.S. National Championships, winning multiple events.

Qualifies for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, winning gold in both the 100m and 200m freestyle.

Sets a new personal best and national record in the 100m freestyle.

2024 (Age 27):

Starts the year strong with victories in the TYR Pro Swim Series.

Represents the USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Wins gold in the 100m freestyle and as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team.

Ends the year ranked as one of the world’s top freestyle swimmer.

Career Highlights:

College Career: Multiple SEC titles, All-American honors.

First Olympic Appearance: 2020 Tokyo Olympics, silver medalist in 4x100m freestyle relay.

World Championships Gold: 2021, 2023.

American Record Holder: 100m freestyle.

Olympic Gold Medals: 2024 Paris Olympics, 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay.

[unhonestlymirror]

Lithuanian swimmer Rūta Meilutytė won the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in the 50m breaststroke, setting a new world record.

The 26-year-old Meilutitė covered this distance in 29.16 seconds and surpassed the record (29.30) of the Italian Benedetta Pilato, which she set in May 2021 at the European Championships at the age of 16, by 14 hundredths of a second.

Thus, Meilutitė became a four-time world champion (50m - 2022 and 2023, 100m - 2013 and 2023).

[bearterritory]

Cal Swimmers Capture 16 Medals At World Championships

Cal Trio Wins Gold In 4x100 Medley Relay, Break US Record

Jack Alexy Wins a Pair of Silvers, Giving Him Four for the Meet

FUKUOKA, Japan – The contingent of Cal swimmers had a stellar weekend at the 2023 World Aquatics Championship. And by Sunday evening, UC Berkeley athletes accounted for 16 of the Team USA's 44 medals, which was the most among all countries in this year's competition.

The day ended with a bang for the Golden Bears, as the American trio of Ryan Murphy, Dare Rose and Jack Alexy led Team USA to the gold medal and a championship record in the 4x100-meter medley relay.   Hunter Armstrong, a member of the Cal pro group, also won gold in the 50 backstroke on the final day of competition.

On Saturday, rising junior Jack Alexy won a pair of silver medals, Dare Rose captured his first career individual medal (bronze) and Abbey Weitzeil won silver in the mixed 4x100 free relay with Alexy.   Day seven of the World Championships began with the finals of the 50-meter freestyle where Alexy cemented himself as one of the top freestylers in the world after taking the silver medal in a personal-best time of 21.57. He already won silver in the 100 free earlier in the meet. In the 5 free0, he was out of medal contention in the final 35 meters but a furious charge saw Alexy out-touch defending world champion Ben Proud from Great Britain by one-hundredth of a second.   Rose continued his breakout summer, capturing bronze in the 100-meter butterfly on Saturday morning for the United States' first medal in the event since 2019. Rose entered the summer with a personal-best time of 51.40 in the event but shaved 0.94 off his top time to finish at 50.46.   In the 4x100 mixed free relay Cal, Alexy and Weitzeil secured Cal's 11th medal of the meet. Alexy led off the relay with a split of 47.68 – his second event of the day. Weitzeil swam an impressive third leg, finishing with a split of 52.94. The United States finished with a time of 3:20.82. Australia who set a new World Record in the event with a time of 3:18.83.   It was Weitzeil's second silver medal of the World Championships, having also won silver in the women's 4x100 free relay. Weitzeil also advanced to the finals of Sunday's women's 50 free, finishing fourth in the semifinals with a time of 24.27.   On Day Eight (Sunday), Murphy opened the relay with a terrific 52.04-second split in the backstroke – faster than his gold-medal time of 52.22 earlier in the week – to put the United States in front.  Following a breaststroke leg of 58.03 from Nick Fink, it was a Golden Bear affair as Rose capped his breakout meet with a butterfly split of 50.13 and Alexy brought home the gold with a freestyle leg of 47.00.   The U.S. quartet finished with a time of 3:27.20, breaking the previous mark of 3:27.28 set in 2009 during the "supersuit" era.   The 4x100 medley relay gold was Murphy's fourth medal of the 2023 competition and the 17th of his World Championships career; he captured gold in the 100 back, silver in the 200 back and bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley relay earlier this week. Rose finished his first World Championships with three medals, as he also earned bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley by swimming in the heats, and an individual bronze in the 100 fly. Alexy, also making his international debut, won five medals this week; silver in the 50 free, 100 free and mixed 4x100 free relay, as well as a bronze in the 4x100 free relay.   Armstrong took home Cal's final individual gold of the meet, out touching U.S. teammate Justin Ress by .19 tenths of a second. Armstrong finished with a time of 24:05 – .01 hundredths behind the championship record of 24:04 set by Liam Tancock in 2009.  

[questintheskies]

7/23/23 Kanna Hashimoto took part in the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships telecast

[jordanas-diary]

i mean no spoilers but what the f u c k happened in the men’s 200 free??!??! i wake up to no Popovici world champ??? i am ✨confusion✨

[oceansoulmatesblog]

Swimming: France's Marchand wins 200 IM world title for third gold

AFP, Thursday 27 Jul 2023 France’s Leon Marchand won the men’s 200m individual medley on Thursday for his third gold medal of swimming’s world championships. Gold medallist France’s Leon Marchand celebrates during the medals  ceremony for the men’s 200m individual medley swimming event during the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka on July 27, 2023. Photo: AFP Marchand won in a time of…

[thatstormygeek]

Sometimes I think about 2016.

My focus is not, as one might expect, on the presidential election.

In May of 2016, the NBA moved its All-Star game out of North Carolina.

The NCAA and ACC declined to host their championships in North Carolina.

In April of 2016, PayPal and Deutsche Bank announced they were no longer planning to add new jobs in North Carolina.

Overall, North Carolina was taking quite a beating in 2016.

I think about that, and then I think about 2017 and 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and 2021 and 2022 and 2023

and now.

Bemused that this has somehow become business as usual. Not even worth comment: the sky is blue, the grass is green, states are voting on anti-trans bills.

As for the NCAA, well, they changed their mind. Other sports governing bodies - such as World Athletics, USA Swimming, the International Cricket Council, USA Boxing, British Cycling, FINA/World Aquatics, UCI, the International Rugby League, and even the International Chess Federation (FIDE) - have rushed to find new and inventive ways to restrict trans participation, mostly in the form of banning trans women. Though FIDE does get a nod for retroactively stripping titles won pre-transition from trans men. That was really going above and beyond.

So yeah. Sometimes I think about 2016. And then I think about 2024 think about 2024 about 2024 about

[pashterlengkap]

Lia Thomas asks court to overturn World Aquatics’ ban on trans female swimmers

Transgender competitive swimmer Lia Thomas has taken legal action to challenge World Aquatics’ ban on trans competitors. She has recruited Tyr, a Canadian law firm, to challenge the ban in Switzerland’s Court of Arbitration for Sport , The Telegraph reported. Thomas hasn’t swum since 2022, when World Aquatics, the global body overseeing competitive swimming events, changed its rules to prohibit anyone who had experienced “any part of male puberty” from competing in the female category. Related: Fairness is a red herring: What the fight over trans athletes is really about Award-winning journalist Katie Barnes takes on science, policy, and empathy in a new book. Thomas first went to the CAS to challenge the ban in September 2023. However, World Aquatics asked the court to throw out her case since she’s not a member of USA Swimming, the U.S. member association impacted by World Aquatics’ rules. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our daily newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Thomas’s lawyer, Carlos Sayao, slammed World Aquatics’ trans ban, calling it “discriminatory” and saying it causes “profound harm to trans women.” “Lia has now had the door closed to her in terms of her future ability to practice her sport and compete at the highest level,” Sayao said. “She’s bringing the case for herself and other trans women to ensure that any rules for trans women’s participation in sport are fair, proportionate, and grounded in human rights and in science.” World Aquatics changed its rules in June 2022, three months after Thomas, who was then a University of Pennsylvania swimmer became the first trans woman ever to earn a national title. She controversially won the title in the women’s 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA championships in Atlanta. Thomas had begun transitioning fewer than three years before her win. She had previously competed on the university’s men’s swim team. She said that she transitioned to be true to herself, not to have a competitive advantage. World Aquatics said it restricted trans women from participating based on a scientific policy document that concluded that trans women swimmers retain significant physical advantages acquired during puberty, like increased muscle mass and lung size, even if they reduce their testosterone levels through medication. While World Aquatics accompanied its policy change by creating an “open category” welcoming trans female competitors, Thomas and other trans swimmers said that such a category doesn’t make them eligible to compete in higher levels of competition. The Olympics, for example, only has men’s and women’s swimming categories, not an “open” category. So, even if Thomas performs well in the open category, her records there wouldn’t help her advance to the Olympics. “It’s been a goal of mine to swim at Olympic trials for a very long time, and I would love to see that through,” Thomas told Good Morning America in May 2022. Furthermore, so few swimmers applied for World Aquatics’ open category that the category was canceled due to lack of interest in the upcoming Swimming World Cup event in Berlin, Germany. Responding to the category’s cancellation, World Aquatics said, “Even if there is no current demand at the elite level, the working group is planning to look at the possibility of including open category races at masters events in the future.” But sports journalist and Fair Play author Katie Barnes recently told LGBTQ Nation that the number of out trans athletes competing at the elite level is so small that it makes open categories unrealistic to maintain. “World Aquatics remains confident that its gender inclusion policy represents a fair approach and remains absolutely determined to protect women’s sport,” the governing body wrote in a statement. http://dlvr.it/T1tYh7