{"id":458666,"date":"2021-01-02T10:53:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T17:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=458666"},"modified":"2021-01-02T10:53:44","modified_gmt":"2021-01-02T17:53:44","slug":"zhang-yufei-impresses-again-li-bingjie-hits-1552-at-china-swim-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/zhang-yufei-impresses-again-li-bingjie-hits-1552-at-china-swim-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhang Yufei Impresses Again, Li Bingjie Hits 15:52 at China Swim Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

The China Swim Series continued with its second night of finals with some of the country’s best opening the new year in strong form.<\/p>\n

Zhang Yufei\u00a0<\/strong>continued her impressive roll with a 56.06 in winning the 100 butterfly final, not far off her 55.6 from September where she moved to third all-time. Zhang has established herself as a medal favorite in both butterfly distances ahead of the Tokyo Games as the 22-year-old won bronze in the 200 fly in the 2015 Worlds.<\/p>\n

Yang Junxuan<\/strong>, who holds the world junior record in the 200 freestyle, won her best event at 1:55.65. The 18-year-old was a 1:54.9 in January of last year before the pandemic and also made the final at the World Championships where she was fifth overall. China has always had a strong 4×200 free relay and Yang could push them to a podium spot in Tokyo – a place they haven’t been in that relay at the Games since 2008.<\/p>\n

Wang Jianjiahe<\/strong>, another of China’s strong teenagers, won the 800 freestyle at 8:21.32, off her 8:14 best time from last year. Nonetheless it is a strong swim to open the new year.\u00a0Li Bingjie<\/strong>, who won 800 free silver at the 2017 Worlds, swam an impressive 15:52 in the 1500 freestyle heats as she lowered her best time in the process. That swim put her 23rd all-time in the 1500 freestyle.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/fan_swimming\/status\/1345378608164925441<\/p>\n

Yu Yiting\u00a0<\/strong>swam a 4:35.94 in the heats of the 400 IM which put her third in the world rankings for the last 12 months. She improved on her lifetime best of 4:40 from September 2020. Yu is just 15-years-old.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 4:32.53,\u00a0Melanie Margalis<\/strong>, USA<\/li>\n
  2. 4:32.73,\u00a0Kaylee McKeown<\/strong>, AUS<\/li>\n
  3. 4:35.94,\u00a0Yu Yiting<\/strong>, CHN<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. 4:36.02,\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong>, HUN<\/li>\n
  5. 4:36.77,\u00a0Sakiko Shimizu<\/strong>, JPN<\/li>\n
  6. 4:37.54,\u00a0Aimee Willmott<\/strong>, GBR<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    China’s two-time reigning World champ in the 100 back,\u00a0Xu Jiayu<\/strong>, won the 100 back final at 53.35 as he is one of the few members of the sub-52 club and the gold medal favorite heading into the Olympics. Xu also leads the 200 back heats at 1:56.96, and also swam on the mixed medley relay team with\u00a0Yan Zibei<\/strong>, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan with a 3:45.65. That quartet set the world record earlier this summer for the only long course world record of 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    \n

    #CHNSwimSeries<\/a> day 3 heat
    Mixed Medley Relay
    Team Suzhelu'e 3:45.65
    Xu Jiayu 52.97
    Yan Zibei 59.60
    Zhang Yufei 58.18
    Yang Junxuan 54.90     pic.twitter.com\/dpWxF41BLd<\/a><\/p>\n

    — Chinese Swimming News and Results (@CHNswim_fan) January 2, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n