2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- SCM (25m)
- Prelims: 9:30 am local, 8:30 pm ET / Finals: 7:00 pm* local, 6:00* am ET
- *The final night of finals will be one hour earlier, starting at 6:00 pm local and 5:00 am ET
- Live Results (Omega)
The Chinese women triumphed for gold in the 800 free relay to close out the penultimate finals session from Hangzhou, setting a new Asian Record by close to two seconds in 7:34.08. This was the host nation’s third gold medal of the competition.
Li Bingjie, Yang Junxuan, Zhang Yuhan and Wang Jianjiahe teamed up to break the old Continental mark of 7:35.94, set by the Chinese team at the 2010 World Championships in Dubai. That team also won gold, and their swim at the time was also a world record. They remain the 3rd fastest country in history behind the Netherlands (7:32.85) and Canada (7:33.89).
Take a look at a split comparison below:
| China, 2010 SC Worlds | China, 2018 SC Worlds |
| Chen Qian – 1:54.73 | Li Bingjie – 1:54.56 |
| Tang Yi – 1:53.54 | Yang Junxuan – 1:53.06 |
| Liu Jing – 1:53.59 | Zhang Yuhan – 1:53.94 |
| Zhu Qianwei – 1:54.08 | Wang Jianjiahe – 1:52.52 |
| 7:35.94 | 7:34.08 |
Wang, the 2nd fastest performer in history in both the 400 and 800 free, fended off a push from American Erika Brown on the anchor leg, and ended up with the fastest flying split in the field in 1:52.52. Brown was 3rd fastest in 1:52.86, as the U.S. broke the American Record and won silver in 7:35.30. Federica Pellegrini had the #2 flying split in 1:52.66 for 6th place Italy.
Ariarne Titmus was the fastest swimmer in the field on the lead-off leg in 1:52.22, as both her Australian team (7:36.40) and the Russias (7:36.64) set new National Records as well in 3rd and 4th.