Sun Yang Headlines Day 1 of China Student Games

13TH ANNUAL REPUBLIC OF CHINA STUDENT GAMES

The 13th annual Republic of China Student Games kicked off this morning at the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, following the conclusion of the 2017 National Games of China on Friday.

Today’s event lineup featured prelims and finals for the 400IM, 100 breast, 200 fly, 200 free, and 4×200 free relay.

2016 Rio Olympic Games and 2017 FINA World Championships bronze medalist Wang Shun led off finals with a 4:19.38 in 400IM, obliterating Shi Shi, who came in second at 4:22.05. Shi narrowly beat out An Jiabao, who clocked in at 4:22.29.

On the women’s side, Zhao Min took the win in 4:42.22.

In the 100 breast, Chinese Worlds team member Yan Zi Bei was the only man to break 1:00, going 59.15.

From the province of Liaoning, Xue Ching Tong nabbed the top spot on the women’s side with a 1:08.74, over two seconds ahead of Li Yiyi, who was second with a 1:10.92.

For the city of Tianjin, Mu Xinxu took the win in the men’s 200 fly with a 2:03.91. Teammate Cai Xuechun won the women’s race with a 2:17.99, nearly five seconds ahead of Yuyue Yang (2:22.77).

In the 200 free, Asian record holder and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang cruised to a 1:45.56, way ahead of teammate Xu Qiheng‘s second place 1:49.11. Yang was over a second off his impressive 2017 FINA World Championships time (1:44.39), but only slightly off his time from last week’s National Games (1:45.15).

For the women, rising star Shen Duo narrowly beat out Cao Yue, going 1:58.30 and 1:58.50, respectively.

The teams from Beijing took first in the 4×200 free relays in both the men’s and women’s races. The men went 7:40.95, leaving Tianjin’s second place 7:49.51 in their wake. The women went 8:42.11.

The Games will continue through September 15th, with prelims beginning at 9 a.m. and finals at 2 p.m. everyday.

In This Story

3
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

3 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
DMacNCheez
6 years ago

Sun Yang being very consistent with the fast times. 1:44.3 in Budapest, 1:45.1 at the Chinese national games, and now a 1:45.5. Probably at the end of a long taper. But add that to a 1:44.6 gold medal swim in Rio and Sun has really made himself a powerhouse in the 200 free.

I really wish he’d stuck to his distance swimming roots though; his 1500 in London was something special. Also, many people seem to forget how close he was to the 400 free world record in London; .07 off with a lazy finish. He was 3:40.2 in 2011 and 3:40.1 in London. I’ve been hoping for a sub 3:40 from him, and he’s been 3:41 four times since… Read more »

Hanna
Reply to  DMacNCheez
6 years ago

As far as I know, he’s working on 400fr WR recently, the Asian Games of next year might be a good chance. As for 1500m fr, I would say it is a pity but his done with that.

Wallaby
6 years ago

I wouldn’t call Shen Duo a rising star. Last year she went 1:55 a few times in the 200 free and this year her best was 1:56.7, which she wasn’t even close to at the National Games

About Torrey Hart

Torrey Hart

Torrey is from Oakland, CA, and majored in media studies and American studies at Claremont McKenna College, where she swam distance freestyle for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps team. Outside of SwimSwam, she has bylines at Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation, and The Student Life newspaper.

Read More »