19-year-old Yang Junxuan put up the world’s top time in the 200 freestyle on Friday at the China Swim Series in Zhaoqing with a 1:55.05. Although we are still fairly early into 2021, Yang’s time is nearly two seconds faster than France’s Charlotte Bonnet (1:56.96) on the world rankings list 141 days ahead of this summer’s Olympics.
Yang made the final in the 200 free at the last major international meet at the 2019 Worlds as she won silver in the 200 free at the 2018 Youth Olympics.
In other action through the first day, Zhang Yufei won the 200 butterfly with a 2:06.25, which is also the fastest time in the world this year ahead of Japan’s Hiroko Makino (2:07.88). Zhang also won the 50 freestyle at 24.49 ahead of 50 back world record holder Liu Xiang (24.52), and she swam an impressive 56.94 in the 100 butterfly heats.
Tang Qianting swam a 1:06.39 to win the 100 breaststroke that puts her second in the world rankings for this Olympic year, while Worlds medalist Yan Zibei won the men’s race at 59.36 ahead of Qin Haiyang (59.51). Another fellow international medalist was competing in Rio bronze medalist Wang Shun, who won his pet event, the 200 IM at 1:57.41, which puts him #1 in the world ahead of Japan’s Kosuke Hagino (1:58.14).
Results can be found by following @fan_swimming on Twitter.