Day 4 at the 2011 Chinese National Championships in Rizhao, China didn’t quite live up to the excitement of the first three days, where we saw National, Continental, and nearly a World Records. Still, there were some very good swims, including a top-10 mark in the women’s 50 backstroke.
Zhao Jing is the World Record holder in that event, but chose not to swim it in Shanghai in order to focus on the Olympic distances. Here, though, she showed that her absence at the World Championships and sprint Nationals before that, was not because of a loss of skill – she posted a 27.97 to move into 7th in the World Rankings (one spot, and one one-hundreth of a second, ahead of teammate Gao Chang, who didn’t swim this race).
Fu Yuanhui took 2nd in the race in 28.26, followed by a 28.33 from Cheng Haihua, which are easily (by over a second) season-bests for both swimmers as well. This gives the Chinese almost a third (6) out of the world’s top-21 swimmers in the event.
The men’s 100 free did not yield spectacular results in time, but it did bring another great swim for 17-year old Wang Shun, who earlier in the meet showed that he’s one of the best IM’ers in the world. A 49.78 isn’t going to blow anyone away internationally (it’s ranked just about 100th in the world this year), but it’s easy to forget that despite being so good in his two primary events, he’s only the equivalent of a high school senior. With that in mind, a 49.78 in this 100 free is a phenomenal team, and brings some much-needed depth to a Chinese program that has only had four swimmers under 50-seconds this season.
In the women’s 100 fly, Lu Ying put up a 57.99. She’s the bronze medalist from the World Championships, where she was 9-tenths faster, but it’s at least the 4th time she’s been under the 58-second mark this season.
Aside from those, there weren’t a whole lot of exciting results today. We’ve extended our results below to the top-8.
Full Results (Top 8)
Women’s 50m backstroke:
1. Zhao Jing, Hubei, 27.97
2. Fu Yuanhui, Zhejiang, 28.26
3. Cheng Haihua, Beijing, 28.33
4. Zhou Yanxin, Shanghai, 28.64
5. Yao Jianan, Guangzhou Army, 28.79
6. Zhao Xinyu, Chinese Army, 28.85
7. Zhang Yanan, Guizhou, 29.01
8. Luan Xiaoxuan, Shandong, 29.10
Men’s 100m freestyle:
1. Wang Shun, Zhejiang, 49.78
2. Shi Tengfei, Beijing, 49.85
3. Zhang Enjian, Tianjin, 50.06
4. Liu Junwu, Chinese Army, 50.08
5. He Jianbin, Guangdong, 50.18
6. Zhong Qiushi, Jiangsu, 50.34
7. Ban Bao, Liaoning, 50.39
8. Chen Zuo, Beijing, 50.53
Women’s 100m butterfly:
1. Lu Ying, Shanghai, 57.99
2. Sun Mengyue, Chinese Navy, 58.94
3. Zhou Yilin, Hebei, 59.04
4. Liu Lan, Chinese Army, 59.51
5. Gong Jie, Guangzhou Army, 59.74
6. Yu Yue, Guangzhou Army, 1:00.07
7. Xin Min, Henan, 1:00.12
8. Li Shuang, Henan, 1:00.49
Women’s 50m freestyle:
1. Wang Junyao, Liaoning, 25.62
2. Jiao Liuyang, Guangzhou Army, 25.71
3. Yao Jianan, Guangzhou Army, 25.76
4. Zhang Ying, Guangdong, 25.78
5. Zhu Wenrui, Tianjin, 25.82
6. Suo Ran, Chinese Navy, 25.85
7. Liu Xinyi, Hubei, 26.07
8. Li Shuyi, Liaoning, 26.23
Women’s 200m individual medley
1. Zhu Xiaoya, Jiangsu, 2:13.08
2. Li Xuanxu, Hunan, 2:13.22
3. He Yuzhe, Zhejiang, 2:14.47
4. Zhang Sishi, Shanghai, 2:15.32
5. Chen Xiaotong, Chinese Navy, 2:16.71
6. Xue Jiao, Guangzhou Army, 2:17.15
7. Zhang Wenqing, Shandong, 2:18.06
8. Wang Qun, Shandong, 2:18.55
Men’s 50m breaststroke:
1. Qu Jingyu, Chinese Navy, 28.25
2. Li Tianhao, Guangzhou Army, 28.33
3. Ma Xiang, Tianjin, 28.37
4. Xie Zhi, Yunnan, 28.52
5. Chen Cheng, Shanghai, 28.64
6. Lai Zhongjian, Chinese Navy, 28.74
7. Xue Jiajia, Beijing, 28.93
8. Wang Shuai, Beijing, 29.01
Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay:
1. Shanghai, 3:43,10
2. Guangzhou Army, 3:43.63
3. Shandong, 3:43.80
4. Tianjin, 3:44.91
5. Jiangsu, 3:46.28
6. Beijing, 3:46.52
7. Shanxi, 3:48.78
For a 17 yo IMer, 49.78 is a great result.