2025 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- May 17-24, 2025
- Shenzhen, China
- LCM (50 meters)
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap/Day 6 Recap
- Results
We saw the penultimate night of racing unfold at the 2025 Chinese National Swimming Championships with a national record being produced in the men’s 50m backstroke.
Racing in the semi-final of the event, 29-year-old Xu Jiayu fired off an effort of 24.38 to take the top slot in his bid to complete a sweep of the discipline at these championships.
The next-closest swimmer this evening was Wang Zicheng who snagged the 2nd seed in 25.01 followed by Wang Gukailai who earned the 3rd seed in 25.05.
Xu’s 24.38 outing matches his best-ever result, the same time that represents the national record he produced at the 2022 Asian Games, held in 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The time rendered him the 20th-fastest performer in history.
The Asian record remains at the 24.24 Japanese ace Junya Koga put on the books at the supersuited 2009 World Championships.
We’ll see if Xu has more in the tank for tomorrow night’s 50m backstroke final as he already checks in as the 4th-speediest swimmer in the world this season.
As a reminder, the stroke 50s have taken on additional significance for swimmers as they will be included in the LA 2028 Olympic Games program.
2024-2025 LCM Men 50 Back
KOLESNIKOV
23.90
| 2 | Pavel Samusenko | RUS | 24.01 | 04/16 |
| 3 | Shaine Casas | USA | 24.23 | 03/06 |
| 4 | Xu Jiayu | CHN | 24.38 | 05/23 |
| 5 | Myron LIFINTSEV | RUS | 24.40 | 04/15 |
In the meantime, the Olympic medalist has already qualified for this summer’s World Championships in the 100m back (52.49) and the 200m back (1:57.56).
Xu Jiayu is most likely up to win four medals in this year’s World Championships. The men’s medley relay remains the event with the highest probability for him to win the gold medal. As an athlete who is about to turn 30, he is truly amazing! His persistence is truly touching, especially considering that he is the only top-level backstroke swimmer in China for a long time.
He’s been holding out for 13 yearsðŸ˜
So why ss put him at 58th in top 100？
Ridiculous ranking. He’s doing better than Murphy in 2024. In that rank, SS is like ESPN similarly, the credibility of placing Phelps at the top of the 100 greatest athletes of the 21st century is disputed.
After the 200 backstroke yesterday, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He wants to retire! But without a successor, the Chinese swimming team can’t live without him ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
He is willing to compete in LA, if possible, but he really wants someone to take over 200m backstroke.
He said after he won 100 back that he wanted someone to make him more determined to abandon 200m back.