2026 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, June 16 – Sunday, June 21, 2026
- Hangzhou, China
- LCM (50 meters)
- Live Results
- Daily Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
The 2026 Chinese National Swimming Championships saw day four unfold from Hangzhou, with the country’s top performers putting up their best in the hopes of making the Asian Games squad. The top two finishers in each event qualify, with the nation hoping to once again top the overall swimming medal table against rivals such as Japan and South Korea once that prestigious competition begins in September.
Making some noise in the men’s 100m butterfly final was Xu Fang, with the 23-year-old putting up a new lifetime best and Chinese national record en route to reaping the gold medal.
Xu stopped the clock at a super swift result of 50.73 to beat his competitors by a healthy margin, overtaking the former Chinese benchmark of 50.96 Li Zhuhao established at the 2017 World Championships. In doing so, Xu became just the 2nd-ever Chinese athlete to clear the 51-second barrier in the event.
The next-closest swimmer tonight was represented by Wang Xizhe, who touched in 51.41, followed by Wang Changhao, who earned the bronze in 51.54.
Xu opened in 24.06 and closed in 26.67 to establish the fastest time of his career, erasing his former best-ever performance of 51.38 from last November’s Chinese Games. That former outing rendered him China’s 5th-fastest man in history.
Comparing Xu’s and Li’s records, the former was more conservative on the way out, but that meant he had more in the tank to bring it home.
| Xu Fang‘s New 50.73 100 Fly National Record | Li Zhuhao’s Old 50.96 100 Fly National Record |
| 24.06 | 23.76 |
| 26.67 | 27.20 |
With tonight’s outing, Xu is now the #2 Asian man in history, sitting only behind Singapore’s Olympic champion Joseph Schooling.
Top 5 Asian Men’s LCM 100 Butterfly Performers All-Time
- Joseph Schooling (SGP) – 50.39, 2016
- Xu Fang (CHN) – 50.73, 2026
- Naoki Mizunuma (JPN) – 50.81, 2022
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN) – 50.96, 2023 & Li Zhuhao (CHN) – 50.96, 2017
- –
Additionally, Xu enters the season’s world rankings in the 6th slot as a lead-in to the aforementioned Asian Games.
2025-2026 LCM Men 100 FLY
MILAK
50.22
| 2 | Shaine CASAS | USA | 50.24 | 12/05 |
| 3 | Ilya KHARUN | CAN | 50.40 | 12/05 |
| 4 | Matthew Temple | AUS | 50.50 | 06/09 |
| 5 | Noe PONTI | SUI | 50.59 | 06/26 |
| 6 | Dare ROSE | USA | 50.70 | 04/19 |
| 7 | Xu Fang | CHN | 50.73 | 06/19 |
| 8 | Kaii Winkler | GER | 50.92 | 06/18 |
| 9 | Maxime GROUSSET | FRA | 50.95 | 01/15 |
| 10 | Ben Armbruster | AUS | 51.00 | 06/09 |
This individual event has long been the biggest gap where Chinese male athletes have struggled to achieve good results in the men’s 100m in recent years. The legend of this event in China used to be Li Zhuhao, who had impressive performances in 2016 Rio and 2017. It’s really not easy for someone to break the national record again after 9 years. Although this result is still far from competing for individual medals, it is quite encouraging for the relay events.
China now have a strong and solid butterflier. This will be a good sign for them in the Men’s 4x100m medley relay in 2027 World championship and 2028 Olympic games.
1. Xu Jiayu – backstroke
2. Qin Haiyang – breastroke
3. Xu Fang – butterfly
4. Pan Zhanle – freestyle
if they had a perfect relay, they’re almost a second under the WR
1. Xu Jiayu – 52.02 (flat start PR)
2. Qin Haiyang – 57.25 (fastest (mixed) relay split)
3. Xu Fang – 50.73 (flat start PR)
4. Pan Zhanle – 45.92 (fastest relay split)
final time: 3:25.92 WR
Xu’s PR is 51.86 and he swam 51.9 in 2023 Asian Games
oops. I used his time from Tokyo.
even faster than the wr
At a prime age, 23-year-old Xu Fang delivered a historic, record-breaking swim to become China’s #1 100m butterflyer, leaving top competitors like Wang Changhao in his wake.
Schooling was really ahead of his time for asian men wow
In general too, 50.39 is still world class to this day