Fu Yuanhui & Etiene Medeiros, Champions Past & Present, Set The Pace In 50 Back Heats

Fu Yuanhui - Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

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World Swimming Championships (Fu Yuanhui)

Gwangju 2019

Day 4 Heats (Women’s 50m backstroke)

China’s Fu Yuanhui is back for more. World champion in 2015 and silver medallist in 2013 and 2017, the 23-year-old got her 2019 campaign started with a smooth 27.70 ahead of defending champion Etiene Medeiros, of Brazil, on 27.85 in the last of five heats.

The two top contenders have traded places at the past two championships, Medeiros the silver medallist in 2015.

It was heat 3 before podium contenders got going. American Olivia Smoliga stopped the clock at 27.96 a touch ahead of Anastastia Fesikova, nee Zueva, on 28.02, Poland’s Alicja Tchorz on 28.04. As Zueva in 2011, the Russian claimed the title in 27.79.

The heat saw Britain’s Georgia Davies, Commonwealth champion for Wales back in 2014, take the helm of pace with a 27.92, Finland’s Mimosa Jallow following in 28.04, American Kathleen Baker on 28.17 and Australian Kaylee McKeown on 28.23.

The last heat was the fastest, up top and through the ranks, Fu, who started swimming when talent spotted at 5 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Medeiros followed by a 27.86 from Dutch challenger Kira Toussaint, Denmark’s Julie Kepp Jensen, 27.95, and the Czech Republic’s Simona Kubova, on 28.00.

Into semis – Top 16 qualifiers:

1	FU	Yuanhui	CHN	27.70
2	MEDEIROS	Etiene	BRA	27.85
3	TOUSSAINT	Kira	NED	27.86
4	DAVIES	Georgia	GBR	27.92
5	JENSEN	Julie Kepp	DEN	27.95
6	SMOLIGA	Olivia	USA	27.96
7	KUBOVA	Simona	CZE	28.00
8	FESIKOVA	Anastasiia	RUS	28.02
9	JALLOW	Mimosa	FIN	28.04
10	TCHORZ	Alicja	POL	28.14
11	BAKER	Kathleen	USA	28.17
12	CHEN	Jie	CHN	28.19
12	DE WAARD	Maaike	NED	28.19
14	MCKEOWN	Kaylee	AUS	28.23
15	PILHATSCH	Caroline	AUT	28.28
16	VASKINA	Daria	RUS	28.29

Fu – a pioneer for Chinese women

yuanhui-fu-china-100bk-podium-bronze-rio

Fu Yuanhui, who took bronze in the 100m backstroke at Rio 2016 – Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Fu made headlines around the world at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when she broke a Chinese sporting taboo when explaining that menstruation had contributed to her being below best form on the day China finished fourth in the 4x100m medley relay.

“I don’t think I performed very well today. I feel I let my teammates down,” said a distraught Fu to state-broadcaster CCTV.

Asked whether she was suffering from stomach pains, Fu said that her period had started the previous day.

“It’s because my period came yesterday, so I felt particularly tired – but this isn’t an excuse, I still didn’t swim well enough,” she said.

Fun was roundly praised on Chinese social media for breaking the silence surrounding the menstrual cycles of female athletes. Many said they had not realised it was possible for a woman to swim during her period.

Eight decades after tampons first went on sale in the United States, a deep-rooted cultural resistance and inadequate sex education in China were blamed for the fact that only 2% of Chinese women use them, according to a 2015 study.

China’s first domestically produced tampon – named Crimson Jade Cool – went on sale after the Rio 2016 Games, sport centres high on the target audience.

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Anonymous

4 years ago

She is a great girl.