2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – ATHENS
- Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th
- Athens, Greece
- LCM (50m)
- Prelims 9:00am (EEST)/ 2:oo am (EDT)
- Finals 6:00 pm (EEST)/ 11:00 am (EDT)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
- Day 3 Finals Live Recap
China’s Zhang Yufei continued an electric 2023 season with a win and a World Cup Record on Sunday to close the Athens stop of the Athens Swimming World Cup.
Zhang won the race in 56.06, beating out the World Record holder Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden (56.92) and 2022 World Champion Torri Huske (57.12).
The former record was Sjostrom’s from 2018 in Doha when she split 56.46.
Splits Comparison:
| Sarah Sjostrom | Zhang Yufei | |
| Doha 2018 WC |
Athens 2023 WC
|
|
| 50m | 26.24 | 25.98 |
| 100m | 30.22 | 30.08 |
| Final Time | 56.46 | 56.06 |
The 25-year-old Zhang is the 2023 World Champion in the 100 fly and also won the race at the Asian Games in Hangzhou that wrapped up shortly before this World Cup series began. The time was slower than she was when she won the Asian Games title, but faster than when she won the World Championship.
Times Progression:
- World Championship final, July 24 – 56.12
- Asian Games final, September 27 – 55.86
- Berlin World Cup final, October 8 – 56.74
- Athens World Cup Final, October 15 – 56.06
Zhang’s time on Sunday was tied as the 30th best in the history of swimming and also tied as Zhang’s 8th-best personal result.
Along with Canada’s Maggie MacNeil, who was 4th in 57.13, Zhang beat out her three main international rivals in this event. Given that she’s two weeks post-taper, that’s a huge confidence boost for her going into the Paris Olympic Games next year.
It also gives her a chance, if she races and wins in Budapest next week, to complete a ‘crown’ and earn a $10,000 bonus.
Zhang Yufei and Sarah Sjostrom are the most charismatic swimmers at the elite level of our sport. They’re easy to root for, incredibly likable, and supernova talents that give every race 100%.
She has very good energy. Always smiling. I like Yang Zufei 👌🏼
Agreed. She seems to have a very pleasant demeanor.
Agree too, very likable and I love how she takes out all her races fast. Leaves nothing to chance.
Very likeable
She is very talented and consistently competitive against the best in the world.
It amazed me how she swam 2:03.86 in 200 fly final to win in Olympics record and then an hour later split 1:55 to help China to win 4×200 in WR time.
Very tough girl despite sunny and friendly demeanor.
Zhang Yufei, a name to remember