World Champs 2023
It was a massive week of swimming in Fukuoka complete with pressure-packed races for our three Funkita F-Teamers, Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh, Ireland's Ellen Walshe and South African breaststroker Lara van Niekerk.
The "race of the century" kicked off night one with Summer up against Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus in the 400m Freestyle. Despite the race not going exactly to plan, Summer's fourth place was under the 4 minute mark, a barrier considered almost untouchable after Pellegrini's supersuit-era record. It's a race Summer will be back to fight again in 2024 with more experience like her more seasoned rivals.
Summer showed her true determination with blistering swims through the rest of the meet. She set a new World Junior Record and Canadian Record in the 200m Freestyle, touching the wall in a time of 1:53.65 behind Australians Mollie O'Callahan and Ariarne Titmus to win Bronze.
Summer's strength lies in her outstanding versatility and she put on a show winning the 200m Butterfly with a time of 2:04.06 a second in front of Australia's Elizabeth Dekkers and the 2.5 seconds clear of US's Regan Smith. Her time set a new World Junior Record and Canadian record. Saving the best for last, Summer shined in the 400m Individual Medley setting a new Championship record and winning another gold with a time of 4:27.11. This time is the third fastest in history (her own world record time of 4:25.87 being one of the times that's faster!). Summer credits her consistency at training with her consistent outcomes at big meets. Her resilience and ability to refocus is extraordinary and we can't wait to see her compete in Paris.
South African F-teamer Lara van Niekerk has finished World Champs looking forward to what she can acheive next year in Paris. She had a difficult time leading up to World Champs given setbacks with her physical health so her preparations for the meet were not to her satisfaction, particularly for the 100m Breaststroke event. She was grateful for the opportunity to race in the semis of the 50m Breaststroke, a chance afforded to her Tatjana Schoenmaker's decision to withdraw from the event. She took the opportunity to qualify for the final and touched the wall in 4th place with a time of 30.09. Despite not having achieved any of the goals she set for herself at this meet, she feels that she is on track and knows what she has to work on for Paris 2024.
Irish medley specialist Ellen Walshe was happy with her performance at World Champs. She set a new Irish Record in the 200m Individual Medley, finishing 9th in the semis with a time of 2:10.92. She also joined former F-Teamer and University of Tennessee teammate Mona McSharry in the 4 x 100 medley to set a new Irish record of 4:01.25.
World Champs was also an amazing experience for Vanuatu's 17 year old Loane Russet who pulled on her new Funkita Viper race suit to dive off race blocks for the first time in front of a massive international crowd. Loane doesn't even have access to a 25m pool back home in Vanuatu but managed to train in the local harbour and came away from World Champs with 2 new Vanuatu National Records. Funkita is happy to be able to support World Record Holders and budding champions from around the world!
Stay up to date with our F-Teamers' results via our socials @funkitaswimwear!