Xu Jiayu Nails New 50 Back Chinese National Record

2018 FINA WORLD CUP – BEIJING

Chinese swimmer Xu Jiayu already turned heads at this World Cup stop in Beijing, scoring a new National Record in the men’s 200m back en route to winning his first individual gold here at the Water Cube. This evening, Xu did it again, only this time in the 50m backstroke sprint.

Owning a stellar reaction time of .53, the 23-year-old powered to the wall first in a time of 22.70. That not only checks-in as the fastest 50m back time in the world this year, but it also nails a new Chinese National Record to give Xu his 2nd in as many days.

2018-2019 SCM MEN 50 BACK

EvgenyRUS
RYLOV
12/14
22.58
2Ryan
MURPHY
USA22.6312/14
3Jiayu
XU
CHN22.7011/03
4Shane
RYAN
IRL22.7612/14
5Kliment
KOLESNIKOV
RUS22.77 *WJR12/14
View Top 26»

Xu’s time would have won gold at the 2016 FINA World Championships, setting the Chinese racer up nicely as the man to beat heading into a home-based competition this December in Hangzhou. He now also ranks as the 5th fastest performer of all-time in this short course meters 50 backstroke event.

All-time Men’s 50m Backstroke Performers

  1. 22.22 – Florent Manaudou, France, 2014
  2. 22.61 – Peter Marshall, America, 2010
  3. 22.68 – Guilherme Guido, Brazil, 2018
  4. 22.70 – Xu Jiayu, China, 2018
  5. 22.74 – Stanislav Donest, Russia, 2010

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IM FAN
6 years ago

That Manadou record is insane. Obviously SC records aren’t as strong as LC ones, but he is .4 of a second ahead of everyone else ever in a 50, and he wasn’t even a backstroker…
I think Only Sjostrom’s 50 fly record and Peaty’s 50 breast in LC top that margin for a 50

Fjdjsjn
6 years ago

When did MA go 22.27?

Admin
Reply to  Fjdjsjn
6 years ago

USA Swimming thinks that he did it at the Paris stop of the 2016 World Cup. That appears to be an incorrect result though. Updated above.

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