Wang Jianjiahe is a competitive swimmer who represents China internationally. She is a 2021 Olympian, world champion, and multiple-time Asian champion.
International Competition
2018 Asian Games
At the 2018 Asian Games, with all eyes on her teammate, distance standout Li Bingjie, Wang Jianjiahe stormed onto the international swimming scene at just the age of 16, sweeping the 400-1500 freestyle as well as earning a 4th gold as a part of the 4×200 free relay, all 4 of which set new games’ records. Jianjiahe took the 400 in 4:03.18, the 800 in 8:18.55, and the 1500 in 15:53.68, all 3 of which Bingjie took 2nd in.
2018 World Cup
Jianjiahe carried her dominance into the fall season, where she competed at the 2nd cluster of the world cup in Eindhoven and Budapest. In Budapest, she broke the world record in the 400 (scm) freestyle with a time of 3:53.97. She also broke a world junior record in the 800 scm free with a 7:59.44, and took 3rd place in the 200 free (1:53.31).
2018 Short Course World Championships
Jianjiahe followed up her world cup performances with 3 medals in her home world championships in Hangzhou. In her first race, she earned silver behind Ariarne Titmus of Australia, who also broke Wang’s world record in the process of winning gold. After that race however, Wang came back to dominate the women’s 800 free, going out well under world record pace and holding on to best 2nd place by over 3.5 seconds. She also helped China to best the field in the 4×200 free relay, giving the country their only relay win of the meet.
2018 Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year
For her stellar performances at the Asian Games, World Short Course Championships, and a world record during the world cup to boot, Wang Jianjiahe was named SwimSwam’s 2018 Female Breakout Swimmer of the Year.
2019 World Championships
Jianjiahe continued her improvement, earning her first long course world medal in the 1,500, touching for bronze in a time of 15:51.00. She also finished 5th in the 400 free with a time of 4:03.67, just off of her best time.
