Zhang Yufei Scorches 24.49 50 Free/2:06.25 200 Fly Double

CHINESE SWIMMING MEET – Zhaoqing

• Friday, March 5th – Sunday, March 7th
• Zhaoqing, China
• LCM (50m)
• Results via Asian Media

The second of two high-level domestic swimming competitions introduced by the Chinese Swimming Federation got underway tonight in Zhaoqing, China. This competition is a follow-up to the previously held Shijiazhuang City tournament held at the tail end of 2020 into the first day of January 2021.

At both meets, only the top 16 athletes in each individual event at the 2020 National Swimming Championships have been formally invited, along with additional wild card spots for other national swimming team and national swimming training camp athletes. Wild card athletes must have participated in events hosted by the China Swimming Association.

Per the Chinese Swimming Federation, these competitions are being held ‘in order to further prepare for the Tokyo Olympics swimming event, build a domestic high-level swimming competition platform, and promote the improvement of swimming performances, after discussions.’

Day 1 Highlights:

Yu Hexin proved too fast for the men’s 50m freestyle field, with the 2018 Asian Games champion reaping gold here in a time of 22.16.

On the women’s side, it was Zhang Yufei who scored the victory, albeit by just .03. Zhang touched in 24.49 for the gold while Liu Xiang settled for silver right behind in 24.52. Rounding out the top 3 also under the 25-second threshold was Wu Qingfeng in 24.66.

Zhang was back at it in the 200m fly in the same session, the same dirty double she took on last December when she scorched a magnificent heats combo of 2:05.70 in the 200m fly and 24.31 in the 50m free.

She already wears the world rankings crown in the women’s 200m fly, courtesy of her head-turning 2:05.49 performance from January. Tonight, she was back to solid form once again, scorching a winning mark of 2:06.25. Tonight’s outing would have earned the gold medal at the 2019 FINA World Championships, for perspective on both her swims from these two domestic meets.

Just two swimmers got under the minute mark in the men’s 100m breaststroke, courtesy of Asian continental record holder Yan Zibei. The 25-year-old reaped a time of 59.36 to hold off a charging rival in Qin Haiyang who finished less than .2 behind in 59.51.

The 2019 World Championships bronze medalist Yan owns a season-best of 58.73 from last September, a time which ranks him as the #2 swimmers in the world this season.

Making a slight improvement on her previous-season-best, Tang Qianting took the women’s 100m breaststroke tonight in 1:06.39. That beat the field by over 3 seconds, shaving .01 off of her time of 1:06.40 logged at the first meet in Shijiazhuang to remain the #2 swimmer in the world this season.

Wang Shun produced an impressive time of 1:57.41 to check-in as the top men’s 200m IMer. His outing here was slightly off the world-leading 1:56.27 he posted in October.