2019 FINA Champions Swim Series – Guangzhou: Day 2 Live Recap

FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #1 – GUANGZHOU

• April 27-28, 2019
• Guangzhou, China
• Guangdong Olympic Sports Centre Swimming Natatorium
• LCM (50m)
• Saturday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET Opening Ceremony, 8:00 start
• Sunday – 7:30 pm local / 7:30 am ET start
• FINA Champions Series Info
• Entry List
• Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
• Live Stream (FINA TV)
• Extended Start Lists
• Live Results (Omega)

The second day of racing will wrap things up from Guangzhou at the first of three stops at the FINA Champions Swim Series, with seven men’s and seven women’s events scheduled along with the mixed 400 medley relay to finish things off.

Like day one, the relay teams were chosen at random by officials, but the teams used today are different from the ones we saw in the 400 free relay (full lineups).

Hometown favorite Sun Yang will notably be in action in both the men’s 200 and 400 free after having no events on the opening day.

Michael Andrew has been added to the men’s 50 free in place of the suspended Andrea Vergani, and Bronte Campbell is out of the women’s 100 free (Li Bingjie steps in her place).

Men’s 400 Free

1. Sun Yang, CHN, 3:42.75
2. Gabriele Detti, ITA, 3:46.45
3. Jack McLoughlin, AUS, 3:47.89
4. Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 3:48.55

Sun Yang broke away from what was initially a tightly bunched field on the back half of the men’s 400 free to win in a very fast 3:42.75, negative splitting the race with 200 splits of 1:51.57 and 1:51.18. His last 50 was also a blazing 26.34.

With that, he becomes the first swimmer to break 3:43 this season, moving past Gabriele Detti (3:43.36) for the top time in the world this year. This is also the fastest he’s been since the 2017 World Championships and is the second fastest he’s ever been at a meet outside the Olympics or Worlds (3:42.70, 2015 Chinese Autumn Nationals).

Detti was the runner-up in 3:46.45.

Women’s 50 Free

1. Cate Campbell, AUS, 24.00
2. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 24.11
3. Pernille Blume, DEN, 24.28
4. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED, 24.47

Cate Campbell threw down a season-best of 24.00 to win the women’s 50 free, edging out world record holder Sarah Sjostrom (24.11). Sjostrom currently leads the world rankings in 23.91, while Campbell improves on her 24.30 from about three weeks ago.

Campbell, Sjostrom, and third place finisher Pernille Blume (24.28) will meet in the 100 free later on in the session. Li Bingjie will be the fourth swimmer racing there, substituting for the original entrant Bronte Campbell.

Campbell, Sjostrom, and Ranomi Kromowidjojo will also contest the 50 fly shortly.

Men’s 100 Fly

1. Andrei Minakov, RUS, 51.44
2. Li Zhuhao, CHN / Chad Le Clos, RSA, 51.66
3. –
4. Michael Andrew, USA, 52.49

Michael Andrew was the leader at the 50 wall in 23.89, but the rest of the field closed significantly quicker than him as Andrei Minakov emerged to pickup the win in a time of 51.44, bumping him up to sixth in the world this year.

Li Zhuhao used the fastest back half in the field (27.00) to move into a tie with Chad Le Clos for second in 51.66, while Andrew faded to fourth in 52.49.

Women’s 50 Fly

1. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 25.55
2. Kelsi Dahlia, USA, 25.95
3. Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED, 26.38
4. Cate Campbell, AUS, 26.40

Sjostrom followed up her 50 free runner-up finish minutes later with a win in the 50 fly, clocking 25.55 for her third victory of the meet. Despite finishing two-tenths off her season-best of 25.34, no one else has been as fast as her swim tonight this year.

Kelsi Dahlia joined Sjostrom under 26 seconds in 25.95 for second, making her the runner-up finisher in all three fly events.

Men’s 200 Breast

1. Anton Chupkov, RUS, 2:07.48
2. Qin Haiyang, CHN, 2:08.31
3. Ippei Watanabe, JPN, 2:09.33
4. Dmitriy Balandin, KAZ, 2:09.37

If you’d never seen Anton Chupkov race before, you would’ve thought he was out of it at the halfway mark. But, as he does, he turned on the jets on the second 100, splitting 31.97 on the third 50 to erase most of Qin Haiyang‘s early lead and then closed it off in 32.54 for a winning time of 2:07.48.

At the 100, Chupkov was in fourth in 1:03.06, while Qin was up front in 1:01.35.

The 22-year-old Russian currently leads the world rankings with a time of 2:07.00 from their National Championships.

Qin had a strong performance to take second in 2:08.31, improving on his season-best time of 2:08.66 and moving up one spot to seventh in the world.

World record holder Ippei Watanabe held off Olympic champion Dmitriy Balandin for third by just .04 in 2:09.33.

Women’s 200 Back

1. Katinka Hosszu, HUN, 2:09.05
2. Peng Xuwei, CHN, 2:09.61
3. Liu Yaxin, CHN, 2:10.73
4. Emily Seebohm, AUS, 2:12.73

After racing four times back-to-back to open yesterday’s session, Katinka Hosszu finally hit the water on day two in the women’s 200 back. She executed her race well, moving past China’s Peng Xuwei on the back half to win in a time of 2:09.05, improving on her season-best of 2:09.63 and putting herself ninth in the world.

Peng was just over half a second back in the runner-up position (2:09.61), while Emily Seebohm, who revealed on social media that she was dealing with food poisoning prior to the first session, was back in fourth in 2:12.73.

Men’s 50 Free

1. Ben Proud, GBR, 21.48
2. Vladimir Morozov, RUS, 21.60
3. Michael Andrew, USA, 21.97
4. Anthony Ervin, USA, 22.90

Ben Proud threw down a very quick 21.48 to win the men’s 50 free, improving on his season-best set just last week at British Nationals (21.50), while leaving himself just .01 shy of Bruno Fratus for the top spot in the world rankings.

Vladimir Morozov was a few one-hundredths shy of his fastest time this year as well for second in 21.60, and Michael Andrew also slipped under 22 seconds for third. 37-year-old veteran Anthony Ervin was fourth in 22.90.

Women’s 200 Breast

1. Ye Shiwen, CHN, 2:22.53
2. Yu Jingyao, CHN, 2:25.85
3. He Yun, CHN, 2:27.51
4. Molly Hannis, USA, 2:31.02

Ye Shiwen dominated the women’s 200 breast over the final three lengths to win easily in a time of 2:22.53, improving on her best time set last month of 2:23.46 and moving her past Sydney Pickrem (2:22.63) for the top spot in the world this year.

Yu Jingyao finished second in 2:25.85 in what was a 1-2-3 sweep for China.

Men’s 50 Back

1. Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS, 24.58
2. Robert Glinta, ROU, 24.59
3. Michael Andrew, USA, 24.95
4. Vladimir Morozov, RUS, 25.50

Kliment Kolesnikov narrowly out-touched Robert Glinta to win the men’s 50 back in a time of 24.58, ranking him second in the world for the year behind only Xu Jiayu (24.47). Glinta was .01 back in 24.59 and moves into third.

Michael Andrew cracked 25 seconds in his third race of the night for third in 24.95, and Vlad Morozov was out of it after a bad start and touched fourth in 25.50.

Women’s 100 Free

1. Sarah Sjostrom, SWE, 52.82
2. Cate Campbell, AUS, 53.00
3. Pernille Blume, DEN, 53.68
4. Li Bingjie, CHN, 55.26

After Cate Campbell took it out in the lead with an opening 50 split of 25.49, Sarah Sjostrom stormed home with a closing 50 of 26.94 to steal the win in the women’s 100 freestyle, clocking a final time of 52.82. Her season-best stands at 52.76.

Campbell, who notably split 51.94 on the 400 free relay on day one, couldn’t quite hold off the Swede and takes second in 53.00 about an hour after winning the 50 free. She holds the #1 time in the world this year at 52.35. It is worth noting that her relay swim was her only event of the day, while this was her third race of the session.

Pernille Blume swam a solid 53.68 to finish third.

Men’s 200 Free

1. Sun Yang, CHN, 1:46.12
2. Danas Rapsys, LTU, 1:46.28
3. Wang Shun, CHN, 1:48.08
4. Chad Le Clos, RSA, 1:50.24

After building momentum on the third 50, it appeared Sun Yang was going to run away with the win in the 200 free. However, Danas Rapsys pushed back, closing in a scintillating 26.16 to make it a tight race. Sun would not be denied, however, earning the victory in 1:46.12 less than 90 minutes after his 3:42.75 in the 400 free. He wasn’t far off his season-best of 1:45.73.

The performance for Rapsys was his fastest of 2019, now moving into eighth in the world.

Women’s 50 Breast

1. Imogen Clark, GBR, 30.71
2. Molly Hannis, USA, 30.94
3. Feng Junyang, CHN, 31.70
4. Ye Shiwen, CHN, 32.10

Imogen Clark emerged with the win in the women’s 50 breast, edging out American Molly Hannis by just over two-tenths in a time of 30.71. Her season-best stands at 30.68 from February.

The race proved to be a little short for Ye Shiwen, winner of the 100 and 200, placing fourth in 32.10 (which is presumably a best time considering she doesn’t have one listed).

Men’s 100 Breast

1. Fabio Scozzoli, ITA, 59.74
2. Anton Chupkov, RUS, 59.83
3. Arno Kamminga, NED, 1:00.23
4. Michael Andrew, USA, 1:02.78

The early speed of Fabio Scozzoli got the job done against the back half push from Anton Chupkov, as the Italian held on for the win in a time of 59.74.

Chupkov, who was a full second back of Scozzoli at the halfway mark in 28.62, closed in 31.21 to make it close but ultimately misses out by less than a tenth in 59.83.

Women’s 200 IM

1. Katinka Hosszu, HUN, 2:08.72
2. Kim Seoyeong, KOR, 2:10.35
3. Zhou Min, CHN, 2:16.93
4. Zhang Sishi, CHN, 2:20.07

After Kim Seoyeong opened up a lead by over a second at the 100m wall, Katinka Hosszu answered the bell with a massive 37.08 breaststroke split to regain control of the women’s 200 IM. She closed it off in the free to finish in a time of 2:08.72, her third win of the meet and just off her fastest time of the season set a month ago (2:08.55).

Kim was second in 2:10.35, elevating her to eighth in the world.

Mixed 400 Medley Relay

1. Team 3 (Kromowidjojo, Gomes, Dahlia, Proud), 3:48.55
2. Team 2 (Sjostrom, Andrew, Santos, Campbell), 3:48.90
3. Team 4 (Seebohm, Balandin, Minakov, Clark), 3:49.03
4. Team 1 (Hosszu, Lima, Kamminga, Hannis), 3:58.53

What was a massive lead for Team 4 turned into a chaotic three-way sprint to the wall, as Ben Proud erased a seven-second gap to come from behind and win in for Team 3 with a freestyle split of 48.62.

He was joined by Ranomi Kromowidjojo (1:02.62), Joao Gomes (59.46) and Kelsi Dahlia (57.85), as they finished in a final time of 3:48.55.

Team 2 had a strong anchor from Cate Campbell (53.10) which got them by Team 4 to claim second in 3:48.90, as she out-touched Imogen Clark (56.08) who was just 0.13 back. It originally appeared the race was coming down to these two until Proud stormed through to edge out both at the final touch.

Also notable was the quick breaststroke legs from Felipe Lima (59.26) for Team 1 and Dmitriy Balandin (59.35) for Team 4.