Zhang Yufei Logs 25.32 50 Fly, Chen Juner Clocks 1:54.58 200 Fly In China

2023 CHINESE SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, March 19th – Friday, March 24th
• Qingdao, China
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap/Day 4 Recap/Day 5 Recap
• Results via Asian Media

Olympic multi-medalist Zhang Yufei wrapped up her stellar 2023 Chinese Spring Championships by matching her own national record in the women’s 50m butterfly.

24-year-old Zhang topped the podium tonight at 25.32 beating out Yu Yiting and Zhang Yifan who snagged silver and bronze, respectively. Yu touched in 25.91 while Zhang was well back in 26.65 to round out the top 3.

For Zhang, her 25.32 matched the same time she posted at the 2022 World Championships where she took bronze.

Her effort now checks her in as the 2nd fastest performer in the world this season, sitting only behind Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom.

This 50m fly event represents Zhang’s 3rd gold of these championships, adding to her 100m fly (56.58) and 50m free (24.46) victories.

19-year-old Chen Juner produced a new lifetime best of 1:54.58 to top the men’s 200m butterfly podium to close out his campaign. That effort came within striking distance of the longstanding national record of 1:54.35 Wu Peng put on the books at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Tonight’s runner-up Niu Guangsheng wasn’t too far behind, touching in 1:55.05 as the only other swimmer to delve under the 2:00 threshold.

Entering this meet, Chen had been as fast as 1:54.61 in this event from the 2021 Chinese National Games so he sliced .03 off of that result to remain the nation’s 3rd fastest man in history.

Chen now ranks 3rd in the world.

Additional Winners

• Qin Haiyang clocked a new Chinese national and Asian continental record in the men’s 50m breast, earning a time of 26.63. He ultimately took gold in a result of 26.77. You can read more about his swim here.
• The women’s 800m free saw Olympian Li Bingjie beat the field by just over 8 seconds, with the 21-year-old punching a winning effort of 8:23.42. She now ranks 5th in the world on the season.
• The men’s 200m back saw Wang Gukailai get to the wall first in a mark of 1:59.26.
• Pan Zhanle did some damage in the men’s 400m free, producing a time of 3:47.22 as tonight’s gold medalist. That renders him the 5th fastest performer in the world this season.