Ning Zetao posts world’s #3 time in 100 free on day 5 of Chinese Nationals

Day 5 of the Chinese National Championships was all about the sprinters, with Ning Zetao putting up a 48.36 to win the 100 free.

That time moves Ning to third in the world for 2015, behind only the Australian duo of Cameron McEvoy and James Magnussen.

Zetao is followed by Youth Olympic Games star Yu Hexin, who went 49.11 and checks in just inside the top 25 for the year.

Also of note was the women’s 200 fly, where the traditionally dominant Chinese swimmers were a bit off their game. 2012 Olympic champ Liu Zige was just 7th overall, and Olympic runner-up Jiao Liuyang didn’t compete. Withouth those two in the mix, the win went to Zhou Yilin at 2:08.02 – that’s still 8th in the world this year, but still far off the 2:04s Liu and Jiao put up at the last Olympic Games.

Top Three in each race

Men 200 IM

Wang Shun 1’58″13
Yang Zhixian 1’59″50
Huang CHaosheng 1’59″82

Men 100 Free

Ning Zetao 48″36
Yu Hexin 49″11
Xu Qiheng 49″86
Lin Yongqin 49″86

Women 200 Fly

Zhou Yilin 2’08″02
Zhang Yufei 2’08″32
Li Shuang 2’08″67

Women 50 Back

Fu Yuanhui 27″61
Liu Xiang 27″81
Chen Jie 28″37

Women 4×200 FR

Beijing 8’04″48
Liaoning 8’08″02
Shanxi 8’09″48