2017 CHINESE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Monday, April 10 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017
- Qingdao, China
- Live Results
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
- Day 3 Recap
On day 3 of the 2017 Chinese Nationals, backstroker Xu Jiayu put on a historic show in the 100 back final. Jiayu threw down a 51.86, clearing the former Asian Record of 52.24 done by Japan’s Ryosuke Irie in 2009.
He’s now the 2nd fastest performer in history, missing Ryan Murphy‘s World Record of 51.85 by just a hundredth of a second. The shortlist of people who have broken 52 seconds in the event now includes 3 men: Murphy, Jiayu, and Aaron Peirsol.
Splits Comparison: Xu Jiayu vs. Ryan Murphy vs. Aaron Peirsol
| Swimmer | 1st 50 Split | 2nd 50 Split | Final Time |
| Ryan Murphy (USA) 2016 | 25.13 | 26.72 | 51.85 |
| Xu Jiayu (CHN) 2017 | 24.99 | 26.87 | 51.86 |
| Aaron Peirsol (USA) 2009 | 25.35 | 26.59 | 51.94 |
Jiayu was already the fastest man in the world this year with a 53.04 from the Arena Pro Swim at Indianapolis. He’s now the only man in the world this year to have broken 53 seconds, taking it up a notch to skip the 52-second range entirely. In today’s final, he was almost 2 seconds faster than anyone else, as Li Guangyuan finished in 2nd place with a 53.61.
You can check out the video of Jiayu’s race below. Shoutout to commenter wusalu32 for the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg4xrMWcOpI
let’s not forget, murphy broke the record on his last swim at the Olympics, and was dead tired.
Michael Phelps, Sarah Sjostrom, Katie Ledecky, Penny Oleksiak and Emma mcKeon respectfully disagree.
So it’s not possible for Jiayu to do this in China’s national event? what’s the logic here?
Great swim for Xu Jiayu. The Chinese tend to point to their nationals as the biggest meet of the year. If he can repeat the swim, or even improve on it, he will be a major contender this summer.
I was wondering if anyone else thought that he got away with a rolling start. Thoughts?
Perhaps. The first 50 almost seemed like it was all out. He was ahead of the WR line till the last few meters. He did look very strong at the Indy meet last month. Maybe this meet was his focus for the year, like some else pointed out above that the Chinese swimmers peak for the nationals or the Asian games depending on the year
Is there confirmation the pool is 50 meters long? I say this only half tongue-in-cheek, as the times from this meet across the board (not just the winning times, look at the women’s 200Fr finals for example) seems…almost too good to be true for an entire meet….
This is a FINA sanctioned meet, equivalence of our summer national meet, and serves as trials for the Worlds. I travel to Qingdao frequently for business and it’s one of most beautiful, affluent and developed cities in the world. Why so many negative reactions? Global success and popularity are good for our sport. Let’s celebrate their success in stead of trying to find a way to discredit or belittle them without evidence.
Yes, there are Fina representatives at this competition…
Is this a FINA sanctioned meet? Would times here count as world records? I know Chinese Nationals for weightlifting are this week as well and they don’t bother with IWF sanctions for that meet so they can’t break world records regardless of the weights they lift.
It,s FINA sanctioned. Dude these are the Chinese trials for the world championships.
I wonder what his 50 time will be. 24.99 to the feet is fast, assuming he turned in around .7 seconds, thats about a 24.3 to the touch in the first leg of the 100. He has speed.
It’s fast time, but he’s not getting that kind of clear water at worlds.
Murphy will be on his shoulder, but no one else is getting remotely close to 24.99 on the first 50
It’s possible he’ll get clear water.
Murphy did get super clear water during his Kazan mixed relay prelims swim.
Statistically, the Chinese should have already dominated all Olympic sports like they do diving. Most past predictions had the Chinese dominating the Olympic medal count in 2012 or 2016. With 1.3 billion people and a burgeoning middle class it will eventually happen.
The sad part is that great performances by Chinese athletes will have a dark cloud over them for some time. When nations like Russia recently and China about 15 years ago, systematically dope athletes, trust has been destroyed. .
I hope the politicians leave the drug testing agencies and let the athletes have more say so we can appreciate great performances with more confidence.
Wow!! What a time! 🙂
He already did 52.31 in Rio, so he’s not a guy coming out of nowhere, please…
2016 Rio 52.31
2015 Kazan: 52.89
2014 Asian Games 52.81
2013 Kazan 53.63
2012 Asian swimming Champs 54.34
His PB progressions look much much more natural and believable than most other top swimmers.