If there were two swims from the entirety of the 8-day Chinese National Long Course Championships that fans were awaiting with great anticipation, it was the men’s 1500 with World Record holder Sun Yang and the women’s 400 IM with World Record holder Shiwen Ye.
The wait finally came to an end on Monday evening, with both races coming on the meet’s last day.
First, Sun won the men’s 1500 free in 14:48.10, twenty seconds ahead of Hao Yun. That is a ways better than the number two time in the world of 14:58 done by Canadian Ryan Cochrane at their Worlds Trials over the weekend. That shows an interesting dichotomy of the training of the two international rivals; Cochrane actually had a better 800 than Sun did, but the Chinese Olympic champion blew Cochrane’s time away in this 1500.
In the very next race, the last individual event of the meet, Shiwen Ye swam a 4:34.27. That’s not the best swim she’s had in this meet, though it does rank her 2nd in the world (just .06 behind Britain’s Hannah Miley as the best time in the world). After her race, Ye said “I was very tired. I took part in too many races which made me exhausted. I need time to take some rest.”
That’s an indicator that the young Chinese star won’t make the addition of several unusual events for her (200 free, 200 back, 400 free) a permanent part of her schedule.
In other finals, Wang Shun won the men’s 400 IM in 4:13.85. Despite breaking the National Record in the 200 IM earlier in the meet, Shun was far short of his record in this 400 IM.
In the women’s 50 free, Tang Yi won in 25.16, followed by Yin Fan in 25.47. Tang, since winning triple freestyle gold at the 2010 Youth Olympics, has struggled to get over the hump and be a consistent top-of-the-world freestyler. That’s even after dropping the 200 free from her schedule to focus entirely on the sprints.
Sun Xiaolei won the men’s 50 back in 25.38, followed just behind by Cheng Feiyi in 25.41; the women’s 50 breaststroke went to Suo Ran in 31.33, as that race was without the big Chinese breaststroke stars like Ye Sun.
What’s that? Ye Shiwen is tired? Maybe she should try doping her way through the meet. Oh wait, SHE ALREADY DID.
yeah, yeah, yeah…
If you were not fully recovered from a cold and already had a more than 3 seconds lead at 300 metre, to win gold medal with minimal effort in the last 100 fr was a smart choice. Her last 100 was about 1:05, which means she could easily swim a 4:30 or better. Shame on your mean slander.
I thought that Ian Thorpe answered this question in a very eloquent way, stating that we must always remember that while some of these athletes are world class, they are also age group aged swimmers making age group style time drops. These aren’t veteran sprinters that have been juggling the same tenths and hundredths of a second for five years. Like Ledecky and Franklin and even Mary T. Meagher, it is so unbelievable to accept that Ye Shiwen really did put in the work and simply accomplished something that she was too young, too hopeful, and too naive to “understand” couldn’t be done? No one accused Lezak of doping for his 46.06 anchor leg in Beijing. And considering he never… Read more »
When’s the last time Sun finished a 1500 slower than 14:50?
2009 World Prelims?
Prelims of the East Asian Games in December 2009 I think. Discounting training :p
Another day in the office for Sun.
It’s weird Yi Shiwen doesn’t swim the 200 or 400 free. If she can finish a 400 IM in 58 she probably would be able to finish a 400 free a the same time, if anything faster.
I’d have to say its much harder to finish a 4 free that fast. In the 4 free your using the same muscles the whole time where as in the im those same muscles are a little more fresh. I also want to point out I’m not saying the 4 im is an easier race or anything like that…. Just that the last 100 of a 4 im is different then the last 100 of a 400 free.
Good point, but she would still probably be world class.
She did win the 200 free with a 1:57.5 at this meet.
Yeah, mabye she’ll swim it at worlds, I think she should.
If you watch Ye in London she didn’t appear to be trying particularly hard on either stroke in the middle of the race. She wasn’t even using a dolphin kick for her breaststroke turns. I think that’s the secret to her success, She uses minimal effort up to the freestyle leg and then scorches home. Most of the Chinese athletes do it – Look how Jiao, Sun and Xuanxu finished off their races in London.
You can pace a 400 free but one can’t really hold back on the 400 I’m waiting for the free. Unless one really was so superior to just hang out at the front .
Specifically in that race she outdid the 800 free silver medallist by about 5 secs over the free. Mirela is no slouch on the fly with another silver.
It will always be a mystery.
Breaking news! Yannick Agnel will not swim the 400 free this week at the French nationals. All for the 200 free and the 100 free. He wants to be the most possible fresh in the 100 free in Barcelona.
A shame. hopefully he picks it up in the next couple of years.
Looks like Sun Yang is going to win the 400 race by about 4 or 5 seconds this summer. Its a shame Yannick won’t step up to this challenge
Smart Agnel knew that “A bird in hand (200M) is better than two in the bushes (200, 400 Free)”
yes, it was after dropping the 400 that made him go so much faster in the 200. He knew that.
Cochrane was just pacing his teammates in that 1500 in an effort to get one of them on the team, and it worked.
Any word on how zhang Lin did in the longer distances?
George – he didn’t swim them. Stuck to the 100-200.