2026 CHINESE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, June 16 – Sunday, June 21, 2026
- Hangzhou, China
- LCM (50 meters)
- Live Results
- Day 1 Recap
- Day 2 Recap
Over two days of the Chinese National Swimming Championships, Xu Jiayu is responsible for undoubtedly one of the most impactful swims thus far, as he swam to a new Asian record in the 50 backstroke with the continent’s first-ever sub-24-second performance in 23.92.
The swim moves him into a tie with Justin Ress for the 3rd fastest performer ever in the event, and climbs the seasonal rankings to #2, only behind Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in 23.86.
2025-2026 LCM Men 50 BACK
Kolesnikov
23.86
| 2 | Xu Jiayu | CHN | 23.92 | 06/17 |
| 3 | Pavel Samusenko | RUS | 24.12 | 06/07 |
| 4 | Oliver MORGAN | GBR | 24.36 | 04/18 |
| 5 | Georgy Yakovlev | RUS | 24.38 | 04/20 |
All-Time Performers, Men’s 50 Backstroke (LCM)
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 23.55 – 2023
- Hunter Armstrong (USA), 23.71 – 2022
- Justin Ress (USA) / Xu Jiayu, 23.92 – 2022 / 2026
- –
- Shaine Casas (USA), 24.00 – 2022
- Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 24.01 – 2025
- Liam Tancock (GBR), 24.04 – 2009
- Camille Lacourt (FRA), 24.07 – 2010
- Robert Glinta (ROU), 24.12 – 2018
- Pieter Coetze (RSA), 24.17 – 2025
Jiayu is among the world’s most elite backstroke talents, though over the last year, he has been experimenting with and refining his technique. In an interview with CCTV 5 in November, after his 100 backstroke win at the National Games of China, Xu said that the biggest change he is making to his stroke is his rotation.
“The biggest change is that I’m cutting down on how much my body rotates,” Xu said in an interview with CCTV 5. “I’d say I’m about 80% there… but in actual races, I need to keep refining it, and get it more ingrained, to make the technique come together.”
Entering this meet, Jiayu’s best time came at the National Games of China in November, at 24.36, when the interview was conducted. Clearly, the efforts made to improve his stroke have already had a positive impact.
His race can be watched in this video courtesy of The Light of Sports on YouTube.
As mentioned, Xu is among the elite talents ever to race backstroke; in addition to his #3 all-time ranking in the 50 back, Jiayu is the 6th-fastest performer ever in the 100 back (51.86) and the 10th-fastest ever in the 200 back (1:53.99).
