The Chinese have been on a roll at the 2015 Kazan World Championships, and their success has continued with Li Guangyuan. The young backstroker made it into semifinals only 12th, and then scraped by to get into finals in the 8th and ultimate position to do so. He swam a 1:58.04 in prelims followed by a 1:57.12 in semifinals. Had he been just six hundredths slower in semifinals, he would’ve missed the final altogether.
Li continued to improve, however, in the finals. He held 8th position, and he was not expected to medal, but his new best time of 1:56.79 broke GBR’s Luke Greenback‘s World Junior record of 1:56.89, which was set at the 2015 European Games. Li held the record first at 1:56.94, set in 2014 in Nanjing, but Greenback took it down in late June of this year in Baku. Here’s a look at Greenback’s and Li’s comparative splits:
Greenback, European Games final- 27.10/29.20/29.97/30.62 = 1:56.89
Li, World Champs semis- 27.85/29.74/30.17/29.36 = 1:57.12
Li, World Champs finals- 27.61/29.72/30.10/29.36 = 1:56.79 WJR
Greenback took it out hard in his race, and his final 50 is much slower than Li’s semis and finals swims. The big move from Li from semis to finals was his first 50, which was over two tenths faster in finals than in semis.
