Video courtesy of The Olympic Channel.
Whenever Chinese superstar Sun Yang dives in the pool, the world takes notice as the 26-year-old is a 6-time Olympic medalist and reigning 1500m freestyle world record holder. He will be one of the most-watched athletes at the 2018 Asian Games, whose swimming events kick-off on Sunday, August 19th in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sun is slated to race the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, as well as the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, giving the Olympian a chance to collect a possible 5 gold medals on the competition.
At the 2014 edition of the Asian Games, Sun managed to clinch 2 individual golds across the 400m and 1500m freestyles, but saw Japanese dynamo Kosuke Hagino get the best of him in the men’s 200m free race. The pair was separated by just .05 of a second, with Hagino topping the podium in 1:45.23 to Sun’s silver medal-garnering 1:45.28.
.03 is also what separates Sun Yang from the current world leader in Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys in the rankings. Rapsys fired off a time of 1:45.12 to take the top spot among the world’s best this season time-wise, while Sun’s season-fastest is the 1:45.15 he registered at the China Games last September.
However, we all know of what Sun is capable, as evidenced by his dramatic 200m freestyle win in Rio. En route to claiming the gold at the 2016 Olympic Games, Sun overtook an out-faster-than-life Chad Le Clos to win in a mark of 1:44.65. He represented the only man of the field to dip under 1:45 in the race as he improved upon his silver medal finish from 2012 in London.
Sun has continued his stellar performances, setting an Asian Record while taking gold in Budapest last year at the World Championships. He notched a time of 1:44.39 to become the 6th fastest performer ever in the event.
Re-watch Sun’s gold medal-winning performance in Rio as we prepare to see what the man can do against the likes of Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto and Naito Ehara in Jakarta just days away.
I posted instructions on how to watch the 2018 Asian Games but for some reason SwimSwam has blocked them.
They were blocked by our spam filters, because you posted the same message 4 different times on 4 different articles with sketchy outbound links. That’s, by definition, spam.
If you don’t want your messages blocked by a spam filter, then stop being spammy.
His 200 has become a thing of beauty. Started out as a 1500 man. Worked his way down into the 200 and dominates. Reminds me of Spitz who started out as a 1500 man and gradually worked his way into the 100/200 free. Perhaps the 200 is his best event?
Probably 200-400 yeah. In my opinion he is superior to Thorpe, he has wr 1500. A faster time in 800. A 3:40 400 and a 1:43.1 200 relay split all without a full body suit like thorpe
He absolutely isn’t as good at 200m and 400m as Thorpe was. He is also a drug cheat.
He would have been better if he focused on 200 and 400 when he was at his prime.
Dolphina
Nah bro. Thorpe went 3:46 in the 400 when he was 15, 3:41 when he was 16 in a brief, 3:40 multiple times as a teenager. I think it’s a bad move to call Yang a cheat. He’d been using the substance for his condition YEARS before it was banned, and it was banned for 3 months when he tested positive.
What a dream to have watched those two side by side competing. Briefs or jammers or full suited. One of them would have gone under 3:40 (or both) while racing. Oh well…..Another one for the fantasy pool.
but cox for 2 years
Good thing this video is blocked by the IOC, who can’t stand when people just want to watch the Olympics.
If he really is doing 1500 training, I’m not expecting another 1:44 low