Luo is Untouchable in 50 Breast at Chinese Nationals

By John Lohn

HARBIN, China, April 21. CHINA’S queen of the breaststroke continued her reign Wednesday, thanks to a victory in the 50-meter breast at the Chinese Spring Nationals, the nation’s selection meet for this summer’s World Championships in Montreal.

Luo Xuejuan, the Olympic gold medalist in the 100 breast, destroyed the field in the one-lap sprint, clocking 30.97. She was followed to the wall by Ji Liping (32.12) and Yan Lei (32.58). Aside from being the Olympic champ in the 100, Luo is the defending world titlist in the 50 and 100 distances. Earlier at the Chinese Nationals, she cruised to victory in the 100.

While Luo eased to victory in the sprint breast, Qi Hui wrapped up a double in the individual medley events. Already the winner of the 400 I.M., Qi took first place in the 200 I.M. with a time of 2:13.70. That effort outdistanced the 2:15.43 of Zhou Yafei.

Pang Jiaying was the first-place finisher in the 200 freestyle behind an effort of 1:58.80. That swim was slightly quicker than the second-place mark of Yang Yu, who touched the wall in 1:59.26. Other victories were collected by Chen Zuo in the 100 freestyle (50.38) and Ouyang Kunpeng in the 200 backstroke (1:59.16).

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