2018 CHINESE CHAMPIONSHIPS & ASIAN GAMES SELECTION
- Friday, April 13 – Wednesday, April 18, 2018
- Shanxi Sports Center Swimming Pool, Shanxi, China
- Full results
He may be past his prime internationally in the longest Olympic pool race, but World Record holder Sun Yang still finished off his meet at the 2018 Chinese Swimming Championships with a win in the 1500 meter free. He finished in 15:04.92 on Wednesday, which was about 18 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Last year, he was a 15:04.15 in this race at this meet, also resulting in a win, though he wound up missing the podium at the World Championships.
Sun, still the best in the world in the 200 and 400 free (and a chance to be in the 800 free) may swim this event at the upcoming Asian Games, against lighter competition, but he is likely done with the 1500 at global meets like the World Championships or Olympic Games.
National Records were scarce at this meet, but one fell on the final day of competition in the men’s 50 breaststroke. There, Yan Zibei won in 27.16, which broke his own record of 27.25 done in prelims at last year’s World Championships, before ultimately missing the final.
Zibei also won the 100 breaststroke earlier in the meet in 59.26 – the only swimmer under 1 minute.
Liu Xiang added a 2nd win to her meet total, taking the women’s 50 free in 24.55. That’s already faster than her best time of 24.58 in the final at last year’s World Championships, her only race in Budapest. She swam 24.81 at this meet last year, and 24.78 (for 2nd) in 2016.
The 21-year old had an interesting schedule this week, swimming and winning just the 50 free and 50 back (27.40) in what was a hyper-focused competition schedule.
This concludes the meet, which is ostensibly a selection for the country’s focus event, the Asian Games (though China allows some freedom to choose selection results to override).
Day 6 Results
Women’s 50m freestyle:
- Liu Xiang, Guangdong, 24.55
- Wu Qingfeng, Zhejiang, 24.66
- Zhu Menghui, Zhejiang, 24.71
Men’s 50m breaststroke:
- Yan Zibei, Hubei, 27.16 (New National Record)
- Sun Jiajun, Hubei, 27.71
- Wang Lizhuo, Chinese Navy, 27.77
Women’s 400m freestyle:
- Li Bingjie, Hebei, 4:05.37
- Wang Jianjiahe, Liaoning, 4:06.97
- Zhang Yuhan, Chinese Army, 4:08.33
Men’s 1500m freestyle:
- Sun Yang, Zhejiang, 15:04.92
- Ji Xinjie, Shandong, 15.23.09
- Cheng Long, Shandong, 15.29.92
Women’s 200m individual medley:
- Zhou Min, Shanghai, 2:11.48
- Yang Chang, Shanxi, 2:12.90
- Zhang Sishi, Shanghai, 2:13.78
Men’s 4X100m medley relay:
- Chinese Navy, 3:39.69
- Hubei, 3:41.01
- Guangdong, 3:41.18
I’ve found it interesting that still 11 of Chinese records in women swimming (LCM) come from high-tech suits era. Americans have only four of such type of records left.
Li Bingjie.
After spectacular second half of last year that made Bingjie #1Hope in Chinese women swimming there is a big interest about what will follow. This National Championships was expected to say something more about Bingjie, but it actually didn’t. Her performance at this meet was remarkably identical to what we saw in Austin three months ago. Even the racing against her major challenger didn’t affected much her training plans. This consistency in her form being in training is a good sign, but we probably won’t see big results until major meets of the season.
Wang Jianjiahe.
She is only four months junior of Li Bingjie but is already in the position where she must prove… Read more »
Why are they talking about Sun Yang being done with the 1500 when there was recently an article about him going back to his old coach and renewing the focus on the 1500
Isn’t Xiang Liu’s best 50 free time the AR 24.04 from last year?
Yes. 24.04 in semifinals of China’s national games in last September.
24.58 at worlds and 24.04 last September.
Looks like she has missed her taper. Or she swims faster at home with less pressure.
Historically the Chinese National Games are more important than the World Champs to Chinese athletes.
I’m still ,wondering what was the reason for Li Bingjie and Wang Jianjiahe to travel long way to take part in not that much prestigious or strong PSS meets in Austin and Atlanta respectively. Intimidation? 😀