2019 CHINESE NATIONALS
- March 24th – March 31st
- Swimming and Diving Hall of Qingdao Sports Center
- LCM
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
*Note: Results are only available through Chinese app
The 2019 Chinese Nationals kicked off today in fast fashion, with athletes vying for spots on their nation’s roster for this summer’s World Championships in Gwangju. Perhaps the biggest gun to take to the Qingdao Sports Center pool today was National Record holder and multiple Olympic champion Sun Yang, who is racing in his first meet since his latest doping debacle.
Sun was recently involved in another sketchy doping situation in which the athlete broke a number of testing protocols, including ordering security guards to destroy a vial of his blood. Dr. Han Zhaoqi, the head of the Zhejiang Anti-Doping Center told FINA that the testing nurse present didn’t have the necessary paperwork, and at a January 3rd hearing, the FINA panel ruled in Sun’s favor, stating that they would “never know” what had happened.
Nevertheless, Sun produced a morning swim of 3:49.04 to take the top spot in the men’s 400m freestyle, only to shatter that mark on tonight’s final. Sun fired off a wicked-fast 400m free time of 3:43.73 to beat the next closest competitor, Ji Xinjie, by over 4 seconds. Xinjie touched in 3:47.88, while Meng Rui notched 3:51.48 for bronze tonight.
Sun’s performance easily takes over as the top time in the world this season, marking the only swimmer to delve under the 3:45 threshold thus far.
2018-2019 LCM MEN 400 FREE
YANG
3.42.44
| 2 | Mack HORTON | AUS | 3.43.17 | 07/21 |
| 3 | Gabriele DETTI | ITA | 3.43.23 | 07/21 |
| 4 | Danas RAPSYS | LTU | 3.43.36 | 05/12 |
| 5 | Jack McLOUGHLIN | AUS | 3.44.34 | 06/09 |
Beyond that, for additional perspective, Sun’s time would have taken 4th place at the 2016 Olympic Games, where he took silver in 3:41.68. His 3:43.73 outing tonight also would have taken the silver medal behind himself at the 2017 World Championships, as well as would have produced the silver medal in Jakarta, again behind himself, at last year’s Asian Games.
Splits for Sun’s swim tonight include the following:
54.30/56.89/56.98/55.56
Sun’s last 100 included a final 50 of 27.14.
Huh. Whaddya know.
This guy is a walking science fair project
Haven’t forgotten his behavior at Olympics either
Where can I find the full results? What’s the name of the Chinese app?
Never thought I’d find myself rooting for Biedermann’s super suit record, but at least he was playing by the rules as they were.
Think we can all agree that’s the real world record. Be a shame to see the textile best go down to Sun, but I think it’s unlikely, 2012 was his shot.
Yea, Thorpe went 3:41.8 in briefs when he was 16. He was miles above everyone else, and still is. If only Thorpe didn’t glide into the wall in 2002, the WR would still be his at 3:39.
3:41 in a brief when he was 16…forgot about that…
Sun yangs become the Barry Bonds of the sport, time to put some asterisks next to those records
I feel bad for those who didnt get a gold because of him.
Why do you even give him one bit of press? He’s a cheater who has been allowed to skate with little or no punishment.
Because it’s a swim news website, they are not judge and jury of Sun Yang
As of right now, he’s going to be at competitions and he’s going to be a factor for gold. As long as he is allowed to swim, his times are relevant, regardless of legitimacy. We’ll see what happens at the CAS.
Cause you will come here and click and comment. That’s how websites work.
Cheater.