The International Swimming Federation (World Aquatics, formerly FINA) has done its sums: the 2023 edition of the World Championships for all disciplines, which ended on Sunday July 30 in Fukuoka, Japan, will go down in history as a historic vintage. It brought together a record 2,361 athletes from 191 countries, including the World Refugee Team. The event attracted 135,000 spectators. There were 320 hours of live audiovisual coverage, plus 17 hours of highlights programs, distributed worldwide. In the swimming race, 10 world records were broken in Fukuoka, including the 400 m 4-swim, the oldest in history. In this distance, France’s Léon Marchand wiped the slate clean of American Michael Phelps, who held the world record for 5,110 days. American Katie Ledecky became the most successful swimmer in world championship history, with 16 individual titles. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom won her 21st medal, surpassing the 20 won by Michael Phelps in his career. Proof of the density of performances recorded in Japan: 38 continental records, 14 championship records and 4 world junior records were also set in the Fukuoka pool.
