China Leads Medal Count after Day One of World Military Games

At the end of the first day of the World Military Games in Mungyeong, South Korea; China sits on top of the medals standings with 12 total medals; four gold, four silver and four bronze. Brazil is second with seven medals; three gold, three silver and one bronze while Russia is in third with five total medals; two gold and three bronze.

Zhang Yuan was responsible for bringing in two peices of hardware, gold in the 800 freestyle and silver in the 200 butterfly. Zhang won the 800 freestyle in a time of 8:29.83 followed by teammate Dong Fuwei who posted a 8:38.41 and Nguyen Thi Anh of Vietnam who recorded a 8:39.91.

Zhang’s time tops the world rankings and broke her own games record of 8:33.20 which she posted last year.

In the 200 butterfly she finished second to teammate Gong Jie who took the event in a time of 2:08.99. Zhang hit the wall in a time of 2:09.63 followed by Russian Svetlana Chimrova who recorded a 2:12.61.

Gong’s time places her fourth in the world rankings.

The Chinese were not the only team to wind up having athletes go one-two in multiple events. Brazil placed athletes on the top two spots on the podium in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Etiene Medeiros took gold in both events posting a 25.21 in the 50 freestyle and a 1:02.20 in the 100 backstroke.

Graciele Herrmann placed second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.48 followed by Ran Suo of China who put up a 25.54.

Natalia de Luccas collected the silver in the 100 backstroke in a time of 1:02.30 followed by Song Yutong of China who recorded a 1:02.46.

The men’s 50 freestyle was missing some star power as French star and World Champion Florent Manaudou bypassed the meet due to a wrist injury. The event was not void of all major names though as 100 freestyle World Champion Ning Zetao took the event in a time of 22.35.

His time puts him second in the world rankings.

He was not the only male athlete to post a top five time on Wednesday evening. Russian Evgeny Koptelov won the men’s 200 butterfly in a time of 1:57.51 which ranks third in the world. The silver and bronze medalists also recorded top five times as Yu Yingbiao of China recorded a 1:58.11, which ranks fourth while his teammate Wang Pudong posted a 1:58.50 which ranks fifth.

Russian Oleg Kostin took the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:10.58 which places him third in the world rankings. He was followed by Choi Kyu-Woong of South Korea who hit the wall in a time of 2:11.30 and Dmytro Oseledets of the Ukraine who finished in a time of 2:12.75.

Tomasz Polewka of Poland won the 100 backstroke in a time of 54.82. He was followed by Alexandr Tarabrin of Kazakhstan who posted a 55.65 and Brazilian Guilherme Guido who finished in a time of 55.88.

The Chinese team made up of Fu Haifeng, Zu Lijun, Qiao Zhongyi and Ning Zetao won the men’s 4 x 200 freestyle in a games record time of 7:20.85 beating the previous record of 7:22.66 set by the Germans in 2010.

The South Koreans finished second in a time of 7:21.74 followed by the Russians who recorded a 7:22.19.

Full results can be found here.