The pool competition of the World Aquatics Championships Fukuoka 2023 has marched to the halfway point tonight with Day 4 in the U.S. time zones (Wednesday morning in Japan) and even more exciting swims to come during prelims.  

Here’s a closer look at the athletes entering tonight’s prelims session: 

Women’s 50m Backstroke:
Fresh off their medal-winning performances in the 100m backstroke, Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith look to podium again as the pair holds the fastest and second-fastest times in the world this year. (Berkoff 27.13 and Smith 27.14.) The U.S. women have won medals in back-to-back championships with Olivia Smoliga’s gold in 2019 and Berkoff’s silver last year. 

• Athletes: Katharine Berkoff (Missoula, Mont./Missoula Aquatic Club/NC State) and Regan Smith (Lakeville, Minn./Sun Devil Swimming) 
• Berkoff’s 27.13 at last month’s Phillips 66 National Championships was 0.01 seconds off her American record. 
• Both Smith and Berkoff have sub-27.15 personal bests. If either swimmer cracks the 27.10 mark, they will join China’s Liu Xiang and Zhao Jing as the only women in history to do so. 

Men’s 100m Freestyle
Jack Alexy and Chris Guiliano got a taste of the podium as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team that won bronze. Today the pair will make their individual world championships debuts.   

• Athletes: Jack Alexy (Mendham, N.J./California Aquatics) and Chris Guiliano (Douglassville, Pa./University of Notre Dame) 
• Both Alexy and Guiliano make international debuts at this world championships. 
• Alexy’s 47.75 at the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships made him the ninth-fastest American in the event’s history. He’ll look to join Caeleb Dressel, Dave Walters and Ryan Held as the only Americans to go under the 47.5 mark.  

Men’s 200m Individual Medley
Carson Foster won silver in this event last year. He holds the fourth-fastest time in the world this year (1:56.19) and teammate Shaine Casas holds the third-fastest (1:56.06.) Casas is on the hunt for his first LCM individual gold medal. 

• Athletes: Carson Foster (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mason Manta Rays) and Shaine Casas (McAllen, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics) 
• Should Foster medal in the event, he would join Chase Kalisz, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps as the only American men to earn 200 IM medals in back-to-back years. 
• Casas’ personal best of 1:55.24 only trails Ryan Lochte (1:54.00) and Michael Phelps (1:54.16) on the list of fastest Americans in event history. 

Women’s 200m Butterfly
Smith will be busy today as she pulls a double with the 50m backstroke. She also currently holds the fastest time in the world this year with a 2:03.87 and looks to avenge her fourth-place finish in this event last year. Lindsay Looney is making her world championships debut and currently has the ninth-fastest time in the world. 

• Athletes: Regan Smith (Lakeville, Minn./Sun Devil Swimming) and Lindsay Looney (Denison, Texas/Metroplex Aquatics/Arizona State) 
• U.S. seeking its first world title in the event since Summer Sanders won in 1991, marking the longest world-title drought for the U.S. in a women’s event. 
• Though her teammate Hali Flickinger won silver in the event, Smith missed medaling at the 2022 World Championships by 0.47. 
• Looney makes senior-level, international debut at this world championships. She last represented the U.S. at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. 

Watch Day 4 prelims on Peacock at 9:30 p.m. ET tonight and semifinals/finals at 7:00 a.m. ET tomorrow. The morning’s session will feature semifinals in the men’s 100m freestyle, women’s 50m backstroke, women’s 200m butterfly and the men’s 200m individual medley. Finals will include the men’s 800m freestyle, women’s 200m freestyle, men’s 200m butterfly, men’s 50m breaststroke and the mixed 4x100m medley relay. 

More than 1,110 swimmers from 192 countries and the World Aquatics Refugee Team have descended on the city of Fukuoka, Japan to compete in the swimming portion of the 20th edition of these world championships.