2023 CHINESE SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, March 19th – Friday, March 24th
- Qingdao, China
- LCM (50m)
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
- Results via Asian Media
While competing on day 5 of the 2023 Chinese Spring Championships, 23-year-old Qin Haiyang put up a monster effort of 2:07.60 to take the men’s 200m breaststroke.
After powering his way to the top seed out of the morning with a heats swim of 2:09.35, Qin dropped over a second and a half to produce a time within range of his own lifetime best of 2:07.35 clocked way back at the 2017 Chinese National Games. Splits are unavailable at time of publishing.
Qin’s 2:07.60 result also would have nabbed the silver at the 2022 World Championships, joining gold medalist Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia as the only 2:07-zone swimmers. There in Budapest, Qin registered a disappointing time of 2:13.35 to place just 22nd.
Finishing behind Qin in tonight’s domestic race, however, was 17-year-old Dong Zhihao.
Dong scorched a result of 2:08.83 for silver and was the only other swimmer behind Qin to get under the 2:13 threshold.
With a birth date of March 31, 2005, Dong’s effort checks in as a new World Junior Record. The previous mark was actually held by Qin with the 2:09.39 he posted in the heats at the 2017 World Championships.
Dong’s 2:08.83 brings that WJR into entirely new territory as the first junior male to have dipped under the 2:09 threshold.
We will publish a subsequent post once splits and race video are available.
Qin now becomes the world-leader in the men’s 200m breast on the season, with his 2:07.60 dethroning Japan’s Ippei Watanabe and Shoma Sato who each own a season-best of 2:08.55. Dong now checks in as the 4th fastest swimmer at just 17 years of age.
2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Breast
Haiyang
WR 2:05.48
| 2 | Zac Stubblety-Cook | AUS | 2:06.40 | 07/28 |
| 3 | Leon Marchand | FRA | 2:06.59 | 06/11 |
| 4 | Kirill Prigoda | RUS | 2:07.47 | 04/19 |
| 5 | IPPEI WATANABE | JPN | 2:07.55 | 06/03 |
Why does a U.S. swimming team recruit Chinese swimmer anyway? Can’t they just give these opportunities to other college students in need? We are literally feeding our rivals.
The best time for a junior swimmer is that of the Japanese Yamaguchi 2.07.01 established in 2012. Followed by the Chinese Qin Haiyang 2.07.35 established in 2017.
I’m not going to lie, I forgot Qin Haiyang is only 23 years old.
“Qin dropped over a second and a half to produce a time within range of his own lifetime best of 2:07.35 clocked way back at the 2017 Chinese National Games”
“The previous mark was actually held by Qin with the 2:09.39 he posted in the heats at the 2017 World Championships.”
WJRs are a mess. Same person, same event, 5 weeks apart. The time that is 2 seconds slower is a WJR, the faster time is not.