Chen Xinyi Swims 56.8 100 Fly to Take 2nd in World Rankings in China

2016 CHINESE OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

• April 3rd-10th, 2016
• Foshan, Guangdong, China
• Foshan Century Lotus Swimming & Diving Hall
• Live video

Finals

The Chinese women’s butterfly group has some new faces from the c. 2009 group that dominated the stroke globally, but they remain one of the strongest and deepest groups in the world.

18-year old Chen Xinyi won the Chinese National Championship on Monday evening in Foshan, swimming a 56.82 to beat-out the defending Worlds bronze medalist, almost 10 years her senior, Lu Ying (57.17).

That puts the pair now 2nd and 3rd, respectively, in the world rankings in the 2015-2016 season, behind only the World Record holder and the apparently-unstoppable Swede Sarah Sjostrom. Chen and Lu are training partners with the Shanghai team.

Zhang Yu Fei was 3rd in 57.99, while the Asian record holder Liu Zige finished just 5th – another slip from a legend of Chinese swimming after Ye Shiwen finished 7th in the 400 IM on Sunday.

In the men’s 100 breaststroke final, 18-year old Wang Lizhuo swam 59.69 for the victory and to lock-up his spot on the Olympic Team.

That is the second-best time of his career; however, it was slower than his Chinese and World Junior Record of 59.64 done in the race semi-finals on Sunday. Also adding time from the semi-finals was Yan Zibei, who was under a minute in the semi-finals. That slide could be costly for Yan as it put him in a tie for 2nd place in the final with Li Xiang (though Li was slower in the semi-finals).

In the women’s 400 free, Xin Xin, who wasn’t on the team’s World Championship roster last year, won in 4:05.68 – which would be good enough in August to make an Olympic final. Cao Yue, who missed the final at last year’s World Championships, took 2nd in 4:07.12 (two seconds better than she was in Kazan), with World Championship team member Shao Yiwen not appearing in local news reports of results.

14-year old Li Bingjie swam a 4:08.00 to finish 4th – which would be a head-turning time, were it not for the 4:06 she went in 2015 at just 13 years old.

In the men’s 400 free relay, Beijing won in 3:18.41 after an exciting back-and-forth race with Guangdong (3:18.95).

Semi-Finals

In the second race with the absence of superstar Sun Yang, Wang Shun from the Zhejiang team will take the top qualification into the men’s 200 free final with a 1:48.68 after winning the 400 IM on Sunday. Wang was the 200 IM bronze medalist at last year’s World Championships in his only swim, but this year is expanding his importance for a Chinese team that are the defending Olympic bronze medalists in the 800 free relay but were only 14th at Worlds last year.

Qiu Ziao (1:48.71) and Xu Qiheng (1:48.73) were just behind him.

Yu Jingyao earned a top seed in the women’s 100 breaststroke in 1:07.53 with a second-half burst, beating-out 5th-place finisher from Worlds Shi Jinglin‘s 1:07.68.

Xu Jiayu swam a 53.69 to lead the men’s 100 back semis, which is three-tenths slower than he swam at the Aquatic Super Series in Australia in February; and Cheng Haihua swam 59.55 in the women’s 100 back to lead all qualifiers as the only swimmer under 1 minute.