2018 FINA WORLD CUP – BUDAPEST
- Thursday, October 4th – Saturday, October 6th
- SCM
- Cluster 1 Results
- Entry List
- Results
After narrowly missing the mark at the last World Cup stop in Eindhoven, China’s Wang Jianjiahe got the job done in Budapest as she smashed the women’s SCM 400 free world record in a time of 3:53.97. That swim knocks off Mireia Belmonte‘s mark of 3:54.52, set back in 2013 at a World Cup stop in Berlin. In Eindhoven, Wang fell just 0.11 off the record in 3:54.63, which was a new junior world record until her swim today.
Wang commanded the lead from the get-go, opening up a 1.5 second advantage on the field after just 100 metres, and then only increased her lead on every 50 as she held all her splits sub-30.
As evidenced by her splits, the difference between this and her previous swim really came on the back-half, as she closed things off on the final 200 in 1:58.39 compared to her 1:59.18 from Eindhoven. It was really the 5th, 6th and 7th 50s where the difference was made, as her final lengths were near identical at 28.8. Check out the splits of both of her races below:
| Wang, Eindhoven | Wang, Budapest |
| 27.00 | 26.97 |
| 29.03 (56.03) | 29.34 (56.31) |
| 29.67 (1:25.70) | 29.59 (1:25.90) |
| 29.75 (1:55.45) | 29.68 (1:55.58) |
| 30.05 (2:25.50) | 29.76 (2:25.34) |
| 30.21 (2:55.71) | 29.83 (2:55.17) |
| 30.10 (3:25.81) | 29.91 (3:25.08) |
| 28.82 (3:54.63) | 28.89 (3:53.97) |
Leah Smith of the U.S. repeated as the runner-up in the event, though she made a significant improvement on her swim from last week with a time of 3:58.94 after going 4:01.31 in Eindhoven. Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands had an impressive swim herself to take 3rd in 4:00.03, while the previous world record holder Belmonte was back in 6th in 4:07.43.
We all said a few years ago Ledecky will force the standards upwards – And I think we are starting to see that. We have seen sublime Chinese teens come and go before, but Wang seems different, and I fully expect her to revise her LC best substantially in 2019. Titmus showing no signs of slowing down just yet either. We *might* just get a race in Tokyo.
Congratulations to her on the WR
I was there to see this, and her stroke is beautiful. It is not the short quick cadence you see from most distance swimmers, but reminds me instead of Franziska van Almsick’s stroke. She doesn’t look like she’s going as fast as she actually is.
Krisztina Egerszegi was there to present medals tonight. I think I was almost as excited to see her there as I was to witness a world record.
That was at least $60,000 worth 4 min race for Wang Jianjiahe. Good earnings I would say. Well deserved.
I’m interested in Chinese swimming federation policy regarding World Cup participation. Why wasn’t Wang swimming in Kazan/Doha? Will she swim all Asian stops? Will we see Li Bingjie? Should Wang swim third cluster she can earn additional $150,000($50,000 cluster + $100,000 being the second in total count) bonus awards.
Wang is only 16 years old, so she also have school to consider. Though, if she keeps dominating the World Cup like this, she might be tempted to travel the world and earning some cash instead. How much freedom do chinese students have and does the chinese swimming federation have any say in that department?
i think she didn’t have classes any more, in one of li bingjie’s interview she was training all the day and read some books or having a rest after supper. In china, they usually stop learning after graduated from school（about 12 years old）.
If they can read Mandarin they are all geniuses .
haha it’s about environment.
Mid & long distance swimmers cannot keep.up the mileage with constant travel . If Wang is going to OJs then the scam is maybe a warm up. Whatever, she us on a roll.
It’s honestly kinda crazy that record is only 2.5 seconds faster than the long course record. The men’s difference is like 7 or 8 seconds.
The previous record was broken by 0.5 second only and this record belonged to Mireia Belmonte who never was a leader in 400LCM event. This new SCM world record is still relatively soft. That gives Wang Jianjiahe huge advantage in World Cup competition allowing her to get high FINA score. In contrast Sarah Sjostrom’s performance is measured against Sarah Sjostrom’s personal bests in fly and Cate Campbell’s personal bests in free.
For same reason Katie Ledecky may not succeed in World Cup competition should it done in LCM format. Because her records are too tough to swim next to them even for herself.
That causes some unfairness in World Cup’s awarding system. It should consider for base time… Read more »
Vlad and Wang will win this cluster. Vlad is also the clear favorite to win overall title right now. Michael Andrew is a little disappointing in SCM.
Wang has a beautiful stroke, definitely going sub 4 in LC next season. In Tokyo, who knows..
Wang Jianjiahe isn’t of Ariarne Titmus type, but a classic long distance swimmer. Her 200 isn’t that impressive. To be under 4min at 400 event a female swimmer has to be around 1:55.0 in 200. Unless of course she is another Katie Ledecky who had pb 1:56.32 in 200 when she broke 4min barrier for the first time.
Wang is a 4:03 LCM swimmer by far. But so was Titmus a year ago at WC.
Something lets me think that her progress curve may being not that steep as Li Bingjie’s one but will be much longer.
Her personal bests in long course are:
200 – 1:57.31 (6/2018)
400 – 4:03.14 (3/2018)
800 – 8:18.09 (3/2018)
1500 – 15:53.01(4/2018)
Wang Jianjiahe split 1.55.35 swimming 2nd leg in the 4×200 at Asian Games. I wouldn’t use her 200 PB as the sole indicator of her PB.
This one I missed. So she is at the same level in 200 as Ledecky was at her age. But still 4:03 at the same meet.
In two years Katie became the world champion in this event however. So she was on the move and 1:55.0 may was already in her not revealed yet.
From my point of view it is still a question if this girl can improve her raw speed. I still don’t see indications that she can be better than Lotte Friis on long side of the spectrum and better than Rebecca Arlington in the middle distance events.
Not to take anything away from Wang, but I’m so curious as to what Ledecky could do in the 200-1500 in SCM. She hasn’t swam it since the duel in 2013 where she was ill.
In her Rio shape KL would have swum around 3.48 in the SCM 400 free.
Same here with having a heart attack for a second. Please make it clear that it is a 400sc and not 400lc in the title. For the sake of the readers, make it clearer in the title. Thank you.
well , its true what u are saying but most know that those World cup stops are LC & SC now .