2025 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- May 17-24, 2025
- Shenzhen, China
- LCM (50 meters)
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap
- Results
We saw day five unfold at the 2025 Chinese National Swimming Championships with the nation’s best vying for slots on the World Championships roster.
12-year-old Yu Zidi stole the show with a mind-blowing time of 2:06.83 to take the women’s 200m butterfly.
We reported how the monster talent handily defeated her seasoned peers, with Ma Yonghui settling for silver in 2:08.04 and Gong Zhenqi earning bronze in 2:08.61.
Yu’s time would have placed 4th at the 2024 Olympic Games and she now represents the 5th-swiftest performer in the world this season. You can read more about her groundbreaking performance here.
2024-2025 LCM Women 200 Fly
McIntosh
2:04.00
| 2 | Regan Smith | USA | 2:05.38 | 05/01 |
| 3 | Alex Shackell | USA | 2:06.13 | 05/01 |
| 4 | Audrey Derivaux | USA | 2:06.46 | 05/01 |
| 5 | Yu ZIDI | CHN | 2:06.83 | 05/21 |
The men’s 100m freestyle was one of the most highly anticipated races of the night, with world record holder and reigning Olympic champion Pan Zhanle front and center in lane 4.
20-year-old Pan punched a result of 47.77 (22.85/24.92) to handily beat his competitors and rank 5th in the world this season, although we’ve seen him as fast as his world record 46.40 from Paris.
He was the sole man of the pack to dip under the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut of 48.34 needed for Singapore, as Wang Haoyu was next to the wall in 48.36 followed by Liu Wudi who snagged bronze in 48.42. He Junyi placed 4th in 48.55.
Of note, Pan had already produced a swift relay split of 47.23 on last night’s mixed medley relay.
2024-2025 LCM Men 100 Free
CARIBE SANTOS
47.10
| 2 | Kyle Chalmers | AUS | 47.27 | 04/04 |
| 3 | David POPOVICI | ROU | 47.30 | 04/12 |
| 4 | Egor KORNEV | RUS | 47.42 | 04/17 |
| 5 | Pan Zhanle | CHN | 47.77 | 05/21 |
Wan Letian was the top women’s 50m backstroker in this evening’s medal-contending contest, putting up a gold medal-worthy 27.56.
Although that got the job done in the sole sub-28-second time of the field, Wan has been quicker already this season, courtesy of the 27.09 logged at March’s Spring Championships.
Lu Xingchen was tonight’s silver medalist in 28.01 and Qian Xinan rounded out the podium in 28.10.
A minimum of 28.22 was needed to qualify for the World Championships, therefore, both Wan and Lu made the grade.
Finally, the men’s 200m IM saw Olympic bronze medalist from Paris Wang Shun take the top spot in decisive fashion, getting to the wall nearly 3 seconds ahead of his competitors.
Wang stopped the clock at 1:56.58 to check in as the 5th-best performer in the world this season. His outing was only .58 away from the 1:56.00 he established last year in Paris to land on the podium.
2024-2025 LCM Men 200 IM
MATSUSHITA
1:56.35
| 2 | Hubert KÓS | HUN | 1:56.40 | 04/09 |
| 3 | Duncan SCOTT | GBR | 1:56.44 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Shaine CASAS | USA | 1:56.52 | 05/03 |
| 5 | Wang Shun | CHN | 1:56.58 | 05/21 |
Additional Notes
- The women’s 100m freestyle semi-final saw two swimmers dip under the 54-second barrier. Wu Qingfeng led the charge with a solid 53.36 (25.27/28.09) followed by Cheng Yujie who hit 53.75. Yu Yiting (54.39) and 3-time gold medalist here already, Li Bingjie (54.50) are also among the contenders.
- Qin Haiyang has positioned himself as a potential breaststroke sweeper, topping the men’s 200m breast semi-final in 2:10.35. Dong Zhihao, the reigning world champion in this event, will be one to watch, cruising to 2:11.92 tonight.
- Lv Qinyao earned lane 4 rights in the women’s 200m breast semi-finals, posting 2:25.63 to hold a narrow advantage over Yi Shiwen‘s effort of 2:26.04.
- The men’s 100m backstroke and 50m backstroke victor, Xu Jiayu, outperformed his peers with a time of 1:58.23 to lead the pack into tomorrow night’s 200m backstroke final contest.
World Championships Qualifiers Through Day 5
- Li Bingjie – women’s 400m free, 1500m free, 200m free
- Yang Peiqi – women’s 400m free, 1500m free
- Pan Zhanle – men’s 400m free, 200m free, 100m free
- Fei Liwei – men’s 400m free
- Qin Haiyang – men’s 100m breast, 50m breast
- Dong Zhihao – men’s 100m breast
- Yu Yiting – women’s 100m fly, 200m IM
- Zhang Yufei – women’s 100m fly
- Yu Zidi – women’s 200m IM, 200m fly
- Zhang Zhanshuo – men’s 200m free
- Wan Letian – women’s 100m back, 50m back
- Peng Xuwei – women’s 100m back
- Xu Jiayu – men’s 100m back
- Tang Qianting – women’s 100m breast
- Liu Yaxin – women’s 200m free
- Xu Fang – men’s 200m fly
- Chen Juner – men’s 200m fly
- Ma Yonghui – women’s 200m fly
- Lu Xingchen – women’s 50m back
- Wang Shun – men’s 200m IM
Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but the 100 freestyle rankings should be updated with Chen Juner’s 48.00 relay leadoff from day 1, will be easier to do relay math later.
Zhanle is going through a tough period . Before Paris season, his confidence came from daily progress in training, but he expressed a lack of confidence in a recent interview.
(Large scale COVID infection is indeed a factor that influences many players, however Zhanle attribute the results to his lack of ability.)
Waiting for him to move to a new state.
IM runner-up Xie Yichen, 14 years old, clocked 1:59.44—although three seconds shy of Wang and with rather sloppy turns—was still over four seconds faster than the U.S. age group record. His 100 breast (1:01.54) and 200 free (1:49.01) were also better than the corresponding records. All three performances came from this National Championship.
47.7, in the final?
Not important—Pan was actually in Lane 3, not Lane 4. He doesn’t appear to be in top form. Like many other swimmers, he seems to have been affected by the recent virus outbreak in Shenzhen.
I saw a video on insta…Pan looks not so good it looks like he has a fever?
Not sure if he’s got a fever, but he’s coughing.
He said in an interview that he was ill.
Oddly this makes his 200 seem like it could be a lot better
Yes, I think most of us believe a 1:43 is in play for Pan.
If Popovici didn’t get injured we might’ve already had our first sub 47 this season. Waiting for monsters times at U23 Euros and Worlds.
The results of the W 4 x 200 FR-R?