Zhang Yufei Delivers World’s Fastest 200 Fly In 12 Years To Earn Olympic Gold

2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
  • Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
• Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
• Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
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Zhang Yufei collected her second medal of the Tokyo 2020 Games in Olympic record time with a 2:03.86 200 butterfly. Her swim is an improvement upon the 2:04.06 mark that Jiao Liuyang used to win the 2012 Olympic title.

Splits Comparison

Yufei was out significantly faster than Liuyang was 9 years ago with a 58.29 opening 100 split, compared to Liuyang’s 1:00.62. While Liuyang had a quick back half, Yufei managed to hold her pace on the back half enough to undercut the record.

What’s also notable about this swim for Yufei is that it’s the quickest time that any woman has produced in the women’s 200 butterfly since October 21, 2009, when Liu Zige produced an incredible 2:01.81 world record. Zige took the record from Australian Jess Schipper who had set it months before at the 2009 World Championships with a 2:03.41.

All-Time Women’s 200 Butterfly Performances

1. Liu Zige (CHN) – 2:01.81
2. Jess Schipper (AUS) – 2:03.41
3. Zhang Yufei (CHN) – 2:03.86
4. Liu Zige (CHN) – 2:03.90
5. Jiao Liuyang (CHN) – 2:04.06
6. Mary Descenza (USA) – 2:04.14
7. Liu Zige (CHN) – 2:04.18
8. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:04.27

Liu Zige‘s 2:01.81 world record is considered to be one of the most untouchable records in the sport as no woman has come close to it in over a decade. While Yufei is still 2.05 seconds away, her swim is a major stride for the event and is the fastest time in the world in 12 years. The former Olympic record set by Jiao Liuyang back in 2012 actually represents the closest that any woman got to Zige’s mark prior to this swim by Yufei.

Yufei has had a pretty incredible trajectory in the 200 butterfly this year, having entered 2021 with a personal best of 2:06.51 from the 2015 World Championships. On May 3, 2021, Zhang got down to a 2:06.18 and then broke 2:06 for the first time 2 days later with a 2:05.73. Zhang’s semi-finals time of 2:04.89 marked her 3rd personal best of the year and her gold medal swim means that she has gone from a 2:06.18 to a 2:03.86 in a matter of months.

Zhang Yufei was joined on the 200 butterfly podium in Tokyo by a duo of Americans in Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger who posted a 2:05.30 and 2:05.65 for silver and bronze, respectively. Both of those swims represent solid drops from their semi-final performances where Flickinger was a 2:06.23 and Smith was a 2:06.64.

All 3 podium finishers in the 200 fly have already collected an individual medal at Tokyo 2020 as Yufei took silver in the 100 fly, Flickinger a bronze in the 400 IM, and Smith a bronze in the 100 backstroke.