The first two days of competition at the Chinese Spring National Championships have been very exciting. Sun Yang won the 200 free in his first meet since his suspension, and Xu Jiayu has turned heads around the world with his newfound sprint backstroke speed. It will be very interesting to see what he can do later in the week during his 200m backstroke. Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen are back in the pool today, Sun swimming the 400m freestyle and Ye Shiwen swimming her best event, the 400 IM.
The first event of the day was the women’s 50 backstroke. Xu Jiayu is not the only backstroker making headlines this week. Fu Yuanhui flew threw her 50 backstroke to win the event with a time of 27.51. The 18 year-old dropped .4 seconds from her 27.91 in Perth to win the event. Prior to this meet, she was ranked third in the world, but her time from today gives her the fastest time in the world this year. Finishing in second place was Cheng Haihua with her time of 28.20. Her time also moves her into the top 10 in the world this year, with the 9th fastest swim. Luan Xiaoxuan finished third with a 28.33, and now has the 13th fastest swim of the year.
The men’s 50 free was not as fast as some might have expected. With the steady stream of drops that we have seen between February in Perth and now, there were not many drops from the sprint freestylers. Zing Zatao swam the 17th fastest time in the world in Perth, at 22.23, but added a little bit, finishing in second this week with his time of 22.36. He was just touched out by Yu Hexin, who won the race with a 22.30. His time elevates him to 22nd in the world this year.
The current 400 IM world record holder, Ye Shiwen, separated herself from the field today to win the 400 IM, dropping more than 1o seconds from her season best. Her time of 4:30.84 now leads the world this year by more than two seconds. Mireia Belmonte Garcia had the worlds fastest time at 4:32.92. Zhou Min added a second place finish with an impressive 4:35.69. That is a three second drop from her time in Perth, which moves her from 8th in the world to 5th.
There was a close race in the men’s 200 breaststroke. Li Xiang touched out Mao Feilian by .18 seconds to win the race at 2:10.81, compared to Feilian’s 2:10.99. The pair are now ranked 13th and 14th in the world, but still have a very large crowd of Japanese breaststrokers ranked ahead of them.
Chen Xinyi won the women’s 100 butterfly with a time of 57.54, the sixth fastest time in the world this year. Finishing second was Liu Lan with a time of 58.27.
Sun Yang picked up his second win of the meet, taking the 400 freestyle with a 3:45.12. That time moves him a second and a half away from the Australian world leader, David Mckeon. Kosuke Hagino and Park Tae-Hwan, two competitors that he will most likely be racing at the Asian Games, are also ranked ahead of him with 3:43’s. Hao Yun finished in second place at 3:49.24.
Day 3 Chinese Spring National Championships
Women 50 Back
- Fu Yuanhui, Zhejiang 27″51
- Cheng Haihua, Beijing 28″20
- Luan Xiaoxuan, Shandong 28″33
Men 50 Free
- Yu Hexin, Guangdong 22″30
- Ning Zetao, Navy 22″36
- Shi Yang, Shanghai 22″59
Women 400 IM
- Ye Shiwen, Zhejiang 4’30″84
- Zhou Min, Shanghai 4’35″69
- Zhang Chenyao, 4’47″01
Men 200 Breast
- Li Xiang, Tianjin 2’10″81
- Mao Feilian, Zhejiang 2’10″99
- Wang Boyu, Tianjin 2’12″47
Women 100 Fly
- Chen Xinyi, Shanghai 57″54
- Liu Lan, Army 58″27
- Jiao Liuyang, Army 58″44
Men 400 Free
- Sun Yang, Zhejiang 3’45″12
- Hao Yun, Hebei 3’49″24
- Wang Kecheng, Hunan 3’49″30
Women 4×200 FR
- Zhejiang, 7’58″93
- Beijing, 8’01″28
- Army, 8’03″36
Ye time is a new jr wr right ?
The girls respect the same age group range(1996 for the boys) at Junior level?
DDias – same cutoffs as Junior World Championships, so a year younger than the boys.
No. Shiwen already turned 18 last March.
Our hope is Ruta and Ledecky to crush the fake junior WRs this summer.
Zhou Min’s 4.35.69 in second place looks like a new WJR. She also swam a 2.10.22 in the 200IM which looks like it might also be an official WJR,
He can take it easy even with 3:45 2012 he went 3:40 14:30 i would not worry about that
I’m a bit worried for Sun Yang. He hasn’t not swum under 3:44 in a championship meet since….. 2009? His training was impeded last year as well, but still did well because of his strong base from the last olympic cycle, but if Sun Yang isn’t putting in the milage this time around, its unlikely he’ll be at his very best by Rio. He can probably get by with a 14:45 this summer, but that’s not going to cut it next year or in Rio. Additionally, his times suggest that he is extremely vulnerable to Park in both the 200 and the 400.
I’m sensing that Ye might be ready to takedown her 400IM WR, and take her 200IM PR… Read more »
Are you sure you’re thinking of Sun Yang? 2009 was the year of the suits, back when he first broke out with the long distance events. His problems outside of the pool have probably set him back a bit, but he’s still got over two years until Rio.
Very impressive by Ye, though my concern is she peaking too early? Remember last year she tore up the national championships with impressive times in the 200 free, 200 back, 200 & 400 IM. But then she imploded up at worlds. It’s hard to predict in general (with the exception of Sun Yang who’s always consistent) what the Chinese will bring on the world stage. I’ve been told it’s cultural because the Chinese takes domestic meets more seriously, but that sucks for us swim fans who wants to see the best compete amongst each other. My other concern is Xu Jiayu (who has already been labeled as the “future of backstroke”). He’s swimming phenomenal right now, but hopefully he can… Read more »
I think Ye Shiwen will be more than ready at the Asian Games. There’s great rivalries between the three countries (China, South Korea and Japan) manifested especially at Asian Games
No Zhao Jing? (World record holder in 50 back). How come?
She has retired.
She got married last month, didn’t know whether to return.
Hm, some good swims, but nothing crazy. It’ll be interesting to see how China and Japan shape up against each other at Asian Games.