Wang Jianjiahe Throws Down 400 Free World Junior Record In Eindhoven

2018 FINA WORLD CUP – EINDHOVEN

• Friday, September 28th – Sunday – September 30th
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In the first event on night 1 of the 2018 FINA World Cup Series stop in Eindhoven, Chinese teenager Wang Jianjiahe crushed a new World Junior Record in the women’s 400m freestyle.

After establishing herself as the top seed with a morning swim of 4:01.61, Wang turned on another gear to throw down a monster winning mark of 3:54.63, beating American Olympic medalist Leah Smith by over 6 seconds. Smith settled for silver in 4:01.31, while Russia’s Anna Egorova took bronze in 4:04.65.

With her effort this evening in Eindhoven, Wang established a new WJR, taking over the previous time of 3:59.14 set by her domestic teen rival Li Bingjie at last year’s World Cup in Tokyo. Prior to November 2017, FINA had only listed the record with a ‘benchmark’ time of 4:00.56, meaning technically no one held that World Junior Record.

Below are the splits for Wang’s 3:54.63 history-making swim tonight:

56.03/59.42/1:00.26/58.92

Wang, who already holds the SCM 800 free WJR with the 8:12.30 she set at that same World Cup in Tokyo last year, came painstakingly close to collecting a new Senior World Record as well. Tonight’s 400m swim was just .11 shy of breaking Spaniard Mireia Belmonte’s 3:54.52 WR set back in 2013.