Wang Jianjiahe Doubles on Night Four of Chinese National Swimming Championships

Wang Jianjiahe
Wang Jianjiahe won the 200 and 1500 free on night four of the Chinese National Swimming Championships. Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

The 2019 Chinese National Swimming Championships from Anshan City reached its halfway point on Saturday with Wang Jianjiahe claiming two titles on the fourth day of finals. The meet is serving as a prep for the swimmers since it emulates the Olympic schedule for next year with morning finals in all. But some of China’s best swimmers elected to not swim in this meet including Xu JiayuLi Bingjie and Fu YuanhuiSun Yang is also notably not in attendance as he has a hearing in October with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Women’s 200 Free

Wang Jianjiahe won the 200 free final to start the fourth day of finals as she swam a 1:58.24 ahead of Qiu Yuhan (1:58.72) and Liu Xiaohan (1:59.45). Wang did not swim this event at the World Championships with Yang Junxuan and Li Bingjie carrying the flag for China, but Wang is only 17 and could be the one to beat in China over the next few years. She split a 1:56 on China’s fourth place 4×200 free relay team at Worlds. However, she might elect not to swim this event at Worlds to ensure she is 100% for the 1500 final on the same day.

Men’s 200 Fly

Yu Yingbiao won the 200 fly final with a 1:57.97 as he finished ahead of Wang Zhou (1:58.89) and Chen Chaoqi (1:59.61). Yu swam faster than both of China’s butterflyers at the World Championships as Wang and Li Zhuhao didn’t break 2:00 in Gwangju. Yu has the third fastest time in China this year as Wang was a 1:56 in March.

Women’s 200 IM

Yu Yiting took advantage of Ye Shiwen electing to swim the 200 free over the 200 IM as Yu was a 2:12.69 to win the IM by two seconds. Ye was fifth earlier in the night in the 200 free, leaving the door wide open in the 200 IM. Ye won the silver medal at the World Championships in July, winning her first major international medal in the 200 IM since taking the Olympic gold medal in 2012 at age 16.

Yan Xin (2:14.99) finished in second in Ye’s absence while Qian Xinan (2:15.99) was third.

Women’s 1500 Free

Wang Jianjiahe won her second title of the day with a 16:19.71 in the 1500 free as she only won by a second over Hou Yawen (16:20.44). Wang notably won the bronze medal at the World Championships with a 15:51 but she was quicker earlier in the year, swimming a 15:46 in Des Moines at the TYR Pro Swim Series in March. Zhang Ke, who was the other entrant at the World Championships for China, placed third at 16:25.52, a much better showing than her 16:50 at the World Championships.

Semi Finals Wrap

Hou Yujie is leading the 100 free finalists for day five as he was a 49.68 in the semi finals. Zhang Yifan is leading the women’s 200 fly field with a 2:09.60 while Zhang Ruixuan (2:12.88) is on top of the men’s 200 breast field.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x