BLOOMINGTON — Indiana swimming and diving’s Ahmed Hafnaoui won his first world title on Wednesday (July 26), triumphing in the 800-meter freestyle at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Representing Tunisia, Hafnaoui blew away the field in the final 50 meters with a 26.24 final split. His 7:37.00 is the third-fastest swim ever and beat out Sam Short by .76 after the Australian out-touched him by two tenths in the 400-meter race earlier this week. Hafanoui now has a gold and a silver medal in his World Championships debut.
Hafnaoui is Indiana’s first male swimmer to win a gold medal at a world championships since Zach Apple and Blake Pieroni were members of Team USA’s mixed 4x100m freestyle relay in 2019.
Hafnaoui began training at Indiana in 2022 and will make his collegiate debut this coming fall. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Hafnaoui won Olympic gold in the 400-meter freestyle.
Josh Matheny captured his first world championships medal on Wednesday for his contributions to Team USA’s 4×100-meter medley relay. Matheny was a member of the prelim quartet that earned the United States the No. 1 seed for the final, blasting a 58.45 split. The IU junior was seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke earlier this week and will swim the 200-meter race later in the meet.
Indiana doubled its medal count on Wednesday, bringing its total to four. Diver Jessica Parratto also earned bronze in the women’s synchronized 10-meter event.
