Yuanhui Fu, who is just 19 years old, pushed herself to a very quick time to win the 50 back at the Kazan World Championships, taking the title in 27.11 over silver medalist Etiene Medeiros (27.26) of Brazil.
Fu was very close to the world record, set at 27.06 by China’s Jing Zhao at the 2009 World Championships. In her interview, she says she’ll try to snag that record the next opportunity she gets.
Fu was just 27.66 in the prelims of this race, then turned it up a notch with a 27.18 to sail through to finals. She was 1st after prelims, 1st after semifinals, and then 1st in finals. Medeiros collected the silver, while Fu’s teammate Xiang Liu grabbed bronze with a 27.58 in finals.