2017 CHINESE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Monday, April 10 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017
- Qingdao, China
- Live Results
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
On day 7 of the 2017 Chinese National Championships, backstroker Xu Jiayu took down his 3rd national record of the week. In the semifinals of the 50 back, Jiayu popped off a 24.42 to set the mark. That makes him the fastest 50 backstroker in the world this year as he surpasses Russia’s Evgeny Rylov (24.52). Jiayu will have a chance to lower the record even further in tomorrow’s final.
Li Zhuhao successfully completed his sweep of the butterfly races. He was the only man to break the 52-second barrier, winning gold in 51.63 by almost a second ahead of Zhang Qibing (52.57). That’s a few tenths shy of his season best, as Zhuhao is currently ranked 2nd in the world with a 51.34 from the Arena Pro Swim at Indianapolis back in February.
Distance free standout Li Bingjie rocketed to #2 in the world with her peromance in the 800 free. Bingjie raced to the wall in 8:20.89, while Zhang Yuhan (8:24.18) and Bi Wenxin (8:24.77) battled closely for the silver behinnd her. With that time, the only person to have swum faster than Bingjie this year is the USA’s Katie Ledecky (8:15.44).
DAY 7 MEDALISTS
- Women 200 Back Final- Chen Jie 2:09.29, Liu Yaxin 2:09.69, Ye Shiwen 2:10.55
- Men 50 Free Final- Yu Hexin 22.46, Lin Yongqing 22.52, Ban Bao 22.55
- Women 50 Fly Final- Lu Ying 25.85, Zhang Yufei 26.09, Lin Xintong 26.52
- Men 100 Fly Final- Li Zhuhao 51.63, Zhang Qibing 52.57, Zhou Jiawei 52.60
- Women 800 Free Final- Li Bingjie 8:20.89, Zhang Yuhan 8:24.18, Bi Wenxin 8:24.77
DAY 7 SEMIFINALS TOP 3
- Women 50 Breast Semi- Suo Ran 31.17, Shi Jinglin 31.63, Liu Xiaoyu 31.64
- Men 50 Back Semi- Xu Jiayu 24.42, Li Guangyuan 25.45, Zhou Yibing 25.88
- Women 50 Free Semi- Liu Xiang 24.82, Zhu Menghui 25.02, Wang Shengnan 25.16
wpDiscuz
Day 7? And since there were semis there will be at least 8 days. How come the Chinese nationals are so much longer than all the other trials meets so far? Is it because they have semis and the others didn’t or have they included less events (which doesn’t seem to be the case since quite a few events were swum today as per above)?
Chinese spring nationals typically follow the format of that year’s most important international meet. In the Olympic year, that is the Olympic games. In the even non-Olympic year, that is the Asian games. In the odd year, that is the World Championship. Fall nationals are typically much shorter.
Unless Murphy gets back to his absolute best, imo, Jiayu is the favorite to win 100 back. Even if Murphy revisit his Rio’s level in Budapest, it may not be enough to beat Jiayu.
Jiayu is a big event performer, his yearly fastest times have always been recorded at each year’s major meet, be they Asian Games, World Championships and the Olympics.
There’s strong reason he can go even faster in Budapest.
The good news is that he’s putting up these times early enough for Murphy to do something about it. So *if* Murphy has been getting complacent (which I doubt), you can bet he’ll be back at it with a vengeance on Monday.
Ai Yanhan is only 14. Li Bingjie is only 15. China has some crazy fast juniors.
Ai Yanhan also has beautiful technique.
The question is, will these two young freestyler phenoms break the Chinese pattern, and continue to swim faster or at least as fast when they grow older 2-5 years from now?