Day 1 of the Beijing World Cup saw a pair of swimmers break national records in their home country in back-to-back events.
Lu Ying struck first, lowering her own national mark in the 100 (SCM) fly. Lu went 55.95 to become the first Chinese woman under 56 seconds in the race. It took just a tenth off her old national mark of 56.05, set at the 2011 World Cup meet in Beijing.
That also stands up as the overall Asian record in the event.
Lu also notably knocked off Inge Dekker in that race. Dekker is running 2nd in the overall point standings and hadn’t lost the 100 fly yet on this year’s tour. Lu will have a shot to do the same thing in the 50 fly, where Dekker is still undefeated.
Meanwhile rising backstroker Xu Jiayu continues to impress, breaking the nation’s 100 back record one event later. Xu, who became a long-course star for China this spring and summer, now extends his dominance into the short pool, going 50.14 to chop eight tenths off the old national mark of 50.99. That time was set by Sun Xiaolei, also at the Beijing World Cup in 2011.
Jiayu had to win a tight race with Australian Mitchell Larkin and American Eugene Godsoe.