Yang Junxuan Ekes Out Victory Over Li Bingjie In 200 Free At Chinese World Trials

2023 CHINESE WORLD TRIALS

  • Sunday, December 10th – Friday, December 15th
  • Jinan, China
  • LCM (50m)
  • Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
  • Results via Asian media

The 2023 Chinese Nationals/World Championships Trials rolled on from Jinan with the likes of Qin Haiyang, Yang Junxuan and Tang Qianting all taking to the pool.

We reported how World Record holder Qin fired off a time of 26.25 to take the men’s 50m breast, registering an effort just .05 off his own Asian Record.

He got the edge over Sun Jiajun who touched in 26.91 for silver while Zheng Yinghao logged 27.47 for bronze.

For her part, Yang topped the women’s 200m free podium in a tightly contested race with Li Bingjie.

Yang was able to get to the wall first, clocking a winning effort of 1:55.67. Li, who already won the women’s 400m free (4:03.39) and 1500m free (15:56.04) events here, settled for silver only .06 back in 1:55.73, Liu Yaxin was tonight’s bronze medalist in 1:56.71.

Liu was the top Chinese finisher in this women’s 200m free event at this year’s World Championships, although she placed 8th in 1:56.97. Later on at the Asian Games, Li produced 1:56.00 for silver and Liu took bronze in 1:56.43 behind winner Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong (1:54.12).

Yang and Li now respectively rank 4th and 5th in the world this season.

2023-2024 LCM Women 200 Free

2Siobhan
HAUGHEY
HKG1:54.0810/21
3Summer
MCINTOSH
CAN1:54.2104/10
4Junxuan
Yang
CHN1:54.3704/21
5 Katie
LEDECKY
USA1:54.9704/12
View Top 31»

The men’s 200m fly saw Niu Guangsheng come within striking distance of his lifetime best en route to claiming gold.

Niu registered a time of 1:55.34 to eke out the victory over Asian Games bronze medalist Chen Juner who touched in 1:55.79. Wang Xizhe also landed on the podium in 1:56.05.

Niu’s career-quickest effort remains at the 1:55.05 turned in at his year’s Chinese Spring Nationals. That performance ranks him as the 4th-swiftest Chinese performer of all time.

Chen is the national record holder in this men’s 200m fly event, having posted a time of 1:54.16 at a domestic meet in May.

Additional Notes

  • Tang was tonight’s winner of the women’s 50m breast, striking gold in 30.31. She’s already been under the 30-second threshold this season, owning a season-best of 29.92 from the Asian Games to rank 3rd in the world. Tonight, Yu Jingyao (30.81) and Yang Chang (30.91) joined her on the podium.
  • Xu Jiayu ranks #1 in the world in the men’s 50m back with his season-best 24.38 from the Asian Games but the Olympic medalist did not race in the sprint tonight. In his absence, it was Wang Gukailai who got it done for gold in 25.07. Wang Yutian was the runner-up in 25.24 and Jiang Chenglin bagged bronze in 25.50.
  • Zhang Zhanshuo was the swiftest swimmer in the men’s 400m IM, putting up a time of 4:15.71. That beat the field by over a second, with Tao Guannan earning silver in 4:17.33 and Li Yifeng taking bronze in 4:20.24.
  • The Chinese National Team of Wan Letian, Tang Qianting, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan scored the victory in the women’s 4x100m medley relay. Splits included 1:00.61 for Wan, 1:06.16 for Tang, 56.65 for Zhang and 53.23 for Yang.
  • Fei Liwei topped the men’s 800m free podium in 7:52.79, about 3 seconds off his season-best of 7:49.90 from the Asian Games. Silver went to Liu Pexin in 7:53.95 and bronze to Li Huajun in 7:59.00.

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OldNotDead
4 months ago

Is Ye Shiwen actively training?

chip
Reply to  OldNotDead
4 months ago

Yes, she set a PB in the 100 BR earlier.

chip
4 months ago

Yu Zidi swam 2:02.48 in the W 200 FR, making her the fastest 11U of all time. Also, forgot to mention this earlier, but Dong Zhihao swam 59.73 in the 100 BR, breaking 1:00 for the first time. This is faster than the USA NAG.

Swim Alchemist
Reply to  chip
4 months ago

Is there a listing of the Chinese records by age and gender?

swimswamswum
4 months ago

This is a very random place to put this but I thought of it because of Li Bingjie. Is there any consensus thoughts on why women freestylers are able to be elite in broader ranges of events than men? On the women’s side Ledecky (100-1500), Titmus (100-800), McIntosh (100-800), Sims (100-800/1500), Weinstein (200-1500/OW), Grimes (200-1500/OW), Bingjie (200-1500), Haughey (50-400), and Sjostrom (50-400) (probably others) have all shown elite times in 3-5 races whereas the most versatile men are only spanning 3 races (e.g., Dressel, Hafnoui, Short).

nuotofan
Reply to  swimswamswum
4 months ago

Lukas Martens spans at least four races: from 200 to 1500, but also Samuel Short, considering your examples on the women side. Thomas Neill as a junior was a great mid-distance freer ( at Junior Worlds19 he was second in the 400 free in 3.46.2, third in the 800 in 7.48.6 and second in the 1500 in 14.59.1), now is more focused on the shorter distances (100-200): no doubt he could be elite from 100 to 1500. Generally speaking, men swimming is very competitive and has great depth, so the best athletes need to focus on a few events to optimize their results.

Last edited 4 months ago by nuotofan
Hannover
Reply to  nuotofan
4 months ago

Lukas Märtens will not swim the 1500m at international championships next year.

Davide
Reply to  Hannover
4 months ago

Ledecky won’t swim 100-200 at international championships either lol, the point was being potentially elite at many distances

Coach
Reply to  swimswamswum
4 months ago

I think you’re being very generous on those elite ranges for women. Are Ledecky, Titmus & McIntosh really elite in the 100? Sjostron in 400? Sims in 1500 or 100? Even Houghey in 400?

Noah
Reply to  Coach
4 months ago

Depends what you want to call elite – Summer has split 53 low and Bella’s flat start is 53.7. Haughey’s 4:05 would final at every Worlds and Olympics.

Troyy
Reply to  Coach
4 months ago

53 is still elite for women.

Sapiens Ursus
Reply to  Coach
4 months ago

She dropped a 52.64 split in 2016 and probably could’ve swum 53 low in 100 which was pretty competitive back then, though not “elite”. Her raw peed has since fallen off quite a bit.

Davide
Reply to  swimswamswum
4 months ago

Hackett 200-1500? Thorpe 100- potentially 1500? Martens 200-1500? The Chinese you know who 200-1500? Tae-hwan Park 200-1500?

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