Rafael Miroslav (GER) won the men’s 200-meter freestyle at the 2023 USA Swimming Championships and will challenge Hwang Sun-woo (20-Gangwon Provincial Government) for the title at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha.The USA Swimming Championships are open to swimmers of any nationality who are membes of a U.S. high school, college or recreational team.Miroslav, who competes for Indiana State University, finished first in the 200-meter men’s freestyle final in a meet record time of 1:45.92 at the 2023 USA Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA, on Sunday.Second place went to Drew Kibler (23-USA), who touched the wall in 1:46.12.Miroslav’s time was 0.24 seconds slower than the 1:45.68 swum by Sunwoo Hwang at the South Korean National Team Trials on March 27.Hwang’s personal best in the 200-meter freestyle was also 1:44.40, well ahead of Miroslav’s 1:45.83.At the World Championships in Fukuoka in July, Hwang won bronze in 1:44.42, while Miroslav failed to qualify for the final after finishing 12th in the semifinals in 1:46.30.Hwang will look to defend his title at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, next February, but Miroslav has a realistic goal of making the final.Luke Hobson (20) and Carson Foster (22), who will represent the United States in the men’s 200-meter freestyle at the World Championships in Doha, did not compete in the event at USA Swimming.Hopson finished fifth at the Fukuoka World Championships in 1:45.09. Foster, whose primary event is the individual medley, will compete in the 200-meter freestyle at Doha next year.
While many countries have yet to confirm their swimmers for the Doha World Championships, freestyle powerhouses such as David Popovic (19-ROM) have indicated that he will miss the February World Championships in Doha to focus on the Paris Olympics, which begin next July.Hwang posted the world’s top time in the 200-meter freestyle this year despite a packed schedule that included the World Championships in Fukuoka in July, the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September, the national championships in October and the national trials in November.With a silver medal in Budapest in 2022 and a bronze in Fukuoka in 2023, it is looking increasingly likely that Hwang will win his first world gold medal in Doha next year.Caleb Dressl (USA), 27, looking for a resurgence, won the men’s 100-meter butterfly final (A final) in 51.31 seconds at the USA Swimming Championships.Shane Casas, 24, who slipped to ninth in the preliminaries and was relegated to the B final, swam a better time of 51.03, but meet organizers recognized Dressl, who finished first in the A final, as the meet champion.”It’s her first title since her comeback,” AFP reported, describing the significance of the victory.Dressl is a swimming star with seven Olympic gold medals and 14 long course (50 meters) world championship gold medals.However, he left the pool for a while during the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, withdrawing from the remainder of the competition due to “psychological issues”.He returned to the pool in 2023 and has been gradually increasing his speed.”This competition is more of a ‘mid-season check-up’ for me,” he told AFP on Sunday. I’m happy with the results so far,” he said, adding, “My real goal is to qualify for the Olympic trials in June next year and compete in Paris.”Dressl will also 스포츠토토존 not compete at the World Championships in Doha