SWIMMING AT THE 2018 ASIAN GAMES
- August 19th-24th, 2018
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- Schedule & Results
China’s Wang Jianjiahe broke the Asian Games Record in winning the women’s 800 freestyle in Jakarta, posting a time of 8:18.55 to take Li Xuanxu‘s mark of 8:23.55 from 2010 off the books.
That swim is just off of Wang’s season and personal best of 8:18.09, done at the TYR Pro Swim Series stop in Atlanta back in March. That swim ranks her 5th in the world for 2018.
Her teammate Li Bingjie, the Asian Record holder and 2017 World Championship silver medalist with her 8:15.46 last summer, was almost ten seconds back for the silver in 8:28.14, and Japan’s Waka Kobori rounded out the medals in 8:30.65.
With Wang’s win, China now has three straight victories in the event, and eight of the last nine. The silver for Li also gives them their third consecutive 1-2 finish in the women’s 800.
This win gives Wang, who is just 16, her third gold medal of the event, having also won the 1500 and the women’s 4×200 free relay. In the mile, she became the first-ever Asian Games champion as the event was being contested for the first time. Li took silver there as well, finishing much closer to Wang than she did here in the 800 (just 0.12 back).
That much anticipated race between Li Bingjie and Wang Jianjiahe in 800 at Asian Games and nothing has happened. What a waste of expectations.