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Tokyo 2020, Asia Recap Day 5: Zhang Yufei Pulls Brutal Double

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

Double Gold for China’s Zhang Yufei

Day 5 saw China’s Zhang Yufei nail a new lifetime best in the women’s 200m fly, taking gold in a mark of 2:03.86. That ranks the 23-year-old as the 3rd fastest performer of all time.

But Zhang wasn’t done, as she had a quick turnaround time to dive back as the 3rd leg of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay for China. And her contribution helped edge the squad to a new World Record, with the team registering a collective mark of 7:40.33.

As a nation, China now ranks 4th in the overall medal table with the swimming competition over halfway over.

Quick Hits

  • 31-year-old Ryosuke Irie sneaked into the men’s 200m back final in 8th place. The Japanese swimming icon is competing in his 4th Olympic Games, having medaled in both the 100m and 200m at the 2012 edition in London.
  • Hwang Sunwoo of Korea, just 18, placed 5th in the men’s 100m freestyle, nailing a time of 47.82. He earlier went 47.56 in the semi-final to notch a new Korean and Asian record.
  • The Japanese partners in IM crime, Daiya Seto and Kosuke Hagino, both made it into the 200m final. They’ll deal with the likes of Duncan Scott of Great Britain and Michael Andrew of the United States, among the competitors. For Seto, he disappointingly missed out on both the 400m IM and 200m fly finals, so this represents his last chance to make a podium happen at this home-based Games.

Continental & National Records Through Day 4

  • Chinese Record in women’s 4x100m free relay – 3:34.76
  • Chinese Record and Asian Record for Li Bingjie in 400m free 4:01.08
  • World Junior Record and Korean Record for Hwang Sunwoo in the men’s 200m free heats – 1:44.62
  • Taipei Record for Eddie Wang in men’s 200n fly heats – 1:54.44
  • Korean & Asian Record for Hwang Sunwoo in the men’s 100m free semi-final – 47.56
  • Hong Kong & Asian Record for Siobhan Haughey in women’s 200m free final – 1:53.92
  • Chinese & Asian Record for Wang Jianjiahe in women’s 1500m free final – 15:41.49
  • Hong Kong & Asian Record for Siobhan Haughey in women’s 100m free heats – 52.70

Overall Swimming Medal Table Through Day 5

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Hypocrite
3 years ago

Hypocrite

Andy
3 years ago

according to chinese media, she wasn’t told she was on the relay until after her 200 fly. wow.

Aquajosh
Reply to  Andy
3 years ago

I don’t know how true that is. Relay lineups have to be in well before that.

Andy
Reply to  Aquajosh
3 years ago

yeah relay lineups have to be in, but your coach tells you if you’re on a relay. she wasn’t told until after so she could focus on the 200 fly.

Jordan
Reply to  Aquajosh
3 years ago

They only have to inform FINA 2 hours before schedule start and by then most of the swimmers have already been in the warm up pool so Zhang did not know about it. She mentioned that one of the other 3 swimmers wished her good luck and that had caught her by surprise since she was so confident about the 200m butterfly that she thought she did not need any luck. But of course her team mate was referring to good luck in swimming the relay so soon after the butterfly event.

Jordan
Reply to  Andy
3 years ago

That was not what she said during the interview. She was told while warming up in the pool for the 200m butterfly by the coaching panel and she remarked that 200m freestyle was not part of her training regimen and suddenly they were expecting her to swim in the final. It seemed that the coaching panel has a lot of faith in her endurance and it had paid off.

Rain Xiang
Reply to  Jordan
3 years ago

yeah, this is true, she was told when she started warming up for 200FY

Michael L
3 years ago

Okay 1) covid which is irrelevant to anything else you said and 2) Ye Shiwen who has not tested positive for anything and was accused for seemingly no reason besides “she’s chinese and young”
There are legitimate criticisms of national system style of athletic training in both Russia and China. This is not that criticism. This is just bigotry.

Michael L
3 years ago

China caused covid to… increase their medal total at they olympics? That’s a new one.

Last edited 3 years ago by Michael L
Rain Xiang
Reply to  Michael L
3 years ago

worst comment so far in swimswam, I thought people read story here are very professional

anon
3 years ago

seems pretty cowardly for you to assume an athlete is cheating solely because you’re mad they won

Njones
3 years ago

3:59 for 400m of racing…
203 for the first 200 fly
Then 155 an hr later for a 4×2 split
👏👍

MKW
3 years ago

Major respect, 2fly/2free is no joke in a regular meet let alone the Olympics AND most impressively she broke the SwimSwam cover curse!

jeff
3 years ago

that double is probably the most impressive thing i’ve seen this meet

Samesame
Reply to  jeff
3 years ago

Ledecky was pretty awesome too but this double was both finals and both gold. Plus a WR.

jeff
Reply to  Samesame
3 years ago

yeah for sure, I think I’ve been desensitized to Ledecky just because of the insane standards she’s set but even at these games, her times from the 200 (in the relay) to 1500 have just been insane by anyone else’s standards.

Tom Dean Boxall
Reply to  jeff
3 years ago

she did the MP double and managed to do both at a very high standard

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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