China Shows Strength as Wang Earns WJR on Night One in Beijing

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Photo Courtesy: Melissa Lundie

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Familiar names are seen in their usual spots on the podium this evening as we begin the final cluster of FINA World Cup competition. Beijing plays host to fast swimming and few broken records too. Here is everything you need to follow along with day one finals of the 2017 FINA World Cup in Beijing.

Finals start at 7:30 local time.

The schedule of events for tonight’s finals is:

  • Women’s Backstroke 100m
  • Men’s Freestyle 200m
  • Women’s Breaststroke 50m
  • Men’s Breaststroke 200m
  • Women’s Freestyle 400m
  • Men’s Backstroke 50m
  • Women’s Medley 100m
  • Men’s Medley 400m
  • Women’s Butterfly 200m
  • Men’s Butterfly 100m
  • Women’s Freestyle 50m
  • Mixed Medley 4x50m

For live event-by-event coverage, read below. Hit “refresh” for the latest coverage.

Women’s 100m Backstroke 

Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu came in as the top seed in the women’s 100m backstroke tonight with her preliminary time of 58.03. Hosszu won the event in the finals with a time of 56.34. She was closely followed by Australia’s Emily Seebohm who turned in a 56.55.

Japan’s Sayaka Akase turned in a 57.99 for the bronze.

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Men’s 200m Freestyle

Chad le Clos continued his successful World Cup run in the 200m freestyle with a 1:41.81, which earned him a gold tonight in Beijing. Le Clos took it out fast with Australia’s Cam McEvoy about a half a second behind at the 100m mark. McEvoy would fade to eighth which allowed for China’s Xinjie Ji and New Zealand’s Matthew Stanley to sneak in the top three with a 1:42.49 and a 1:43.68 respectively.

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Women’s Breaststroke 50m

Next up was the women’s 50m breaststroke where we saw Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson win the gold with a time of 29.57, about a second off her world record in the event and the only swimmer in the field to break the 30-second barrier. Following closely behind her was Junyang Feng from FINA’s International Club with a time of 30.40. China’s Ran Suo rounded out the podium in 30.44.

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Men’s Breaststroke 200m

Yasuhiro Koseki out of Japan took the gold with the time of 2:03.43. Russia’s Kirill Prigoda earned the silver with a 2:04.08 while China’s Haiyang Qin placed third in 2:04.18. Notably, Russian world champion in the long course version of this event Anton Chupkov, was fourth with a time of 2:04.23.

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Women’s Freestyle 400m

China continued their momentum into the distance freestyle events tonight with their own Jianjiahe Wang winning the event in a World Junior record time of 3:59.69. This betters the previous record of 4:00.56, which makes her the first junior swimmer to ever break 4:00 in the 400m freestyle. Her teammate Bingjie Li came in second with a 4:01.75 while Hungarian Boglarka Kapas earned bronze with a 4:03.07.

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Men’s Backstroke 50m

Once again showing their preparedness for tonight’s finals, China sends another swimmer to the top of the podium.

This time it was Jiayu Xu who posted a 23.09 to win the gold. Belarus swimmer and FSU graduate Pavel Sankovich earned the silver with a time of 23.11. Japanese veteran Junya Koga rounded out the field in 23.34.

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Women’s Medley 100m

Hungary’s Hosszu and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom were back at it again, this time racing all four strokes in the same race. Hosszu touched first in 57.50, about a second off her world record set in August of this year in Berlin. Closely behind her was Sjostrom who posted a 57.78.

Rounding out the podium was Australia’s Seebohm in 58.86.

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Men’s Medley 400m

Flanked by two Hungarians, Japan’s Daiya Seto came in as tonight’s top seed in this timed final event. Seto came out on top, posting the only sub-4:00 time in the entire field by a landslide in 3:58.20. That time earns Seto a championship record. Hungary’s David Verraszto earned himself a silver with the time of 4:04.31 while his teammate Gergely Gyrta posted a 4:10.74 for the bronze position.

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Women’s Butterfly 200m

China solidified itself as the country to beat at this stop on the World Cup circuit by placing yet another swimmer atop the medal podium. This time around it was Yufei Zhang who posted a 2:05.02, earning her a gold medal in the event. German counterpart Franziska Hentke came in about a second behind in 2:06.30, earning her the silver while Aussie Christina Licciardi swam a 2:08.75 to round out the podium.

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Men’s Butterfly 100m

RSA’s Le Clos was back in the pool for a second time tonight, earning another gold medal in the process. Le Clos’ time was 49.18, about a second outside of any record but two seconds faster than the man behind him. Getting silver was Belarusian Yauhen Tsurkin, who swam a 51.18. Jiayu Xu earned his second medal of the night, this time a bronze with a time of 51.52.

Le Clos’ rival, USA’s Tom Shields, was seventh in the field with a 52.67.

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Women’s Freestyle 50m

To not much surprise Sjostrom and Ranomi Kromowidjojo from the Netherlands duked it out in the splash n’ dash. Sjostrom emerged victorious, as she did at the Doha World Cup, with her time of 23.40. Kromowidjojo was just .07 behind in 23.47 to earn the silver. Australian sprint star Cate Campbell rounded out the podium with her time of 23.67.

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4x50m Mixed Medley Relay

China, once again proving they came to represent in their home country, wins the relay in a time of 1:39.10. It made sense for China to put three individual medalists, Xu, Zhang and Liu, on the relay in attempts to edge Australia who posted a 1:40.08, which was good enough for silver. The Netherlands put Kromowidjojo on the fly leg and earned bronze with the time of 1:40.99.

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Mary-Helen
Mary-Helen
6 years ago

Just visited China – does this take place at the Water Cube? I wonder if air quality is a concern.

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