Ye Shiwen Cruises to Breaststroke Title at Chinese National Swimming Championships

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Ye Shiwen won the 200 breast title on day six at the Chinese National Swimming Championships Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
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The 2019 Chinese National Swimming Championships continued on Tuesday with the sixth day of finals as this nine day meet is simulating the Olympic schedule for next year with morning finals to get the athletes acclimated to what the atmosphere might be like in Tokyo next summer. Some of China’s best athletes are not in attendance including Sun Yang, Li Bingjie and Fu Yuanhui.

Women’s 200 Breast

Ye Shiwen took care of business in the 200 breast final as she swam a solid 2:25.79 to win the event which was not far off her 2:23.1 from the World Championships where she finished in fourth place. Ye has enjoyed a nice resurgence in her career as she won two silver medals at the World Championships to win her first individual medals on the world level since she won both IMs at the 2012 Olympics. Ye finished well ahead of He Yun (2:28.32) and Yu Jingyao (2:28.41). Yu was 17th at Worlds in this event with a 2:26.

Men’s 200 Back

Wang Yutian took advantage of a Li Guangyuan disqualification in the 200 back final as Wang won with a 1:59.14. Wang finished ahead of Jin Yan (1:59.77) and Xu Jiayu (2:02.39) as Li ended up disqualified. Xu would have been a big favorite but was well off his lifetime best of 1:53. Xu was a 1:57 at the World Championships before pulling out of the semi finals to focus on the 4×200 free relay as he was also the gold medalist in the 100 back at Worlds. Xu could be the first non-American to win an Olympic gold medal next summer since 1992.

Men’s 200 IM

Cong Yu took advantage of no Wang Shun in the 200 IM final as he won the event at 2:01.64 just ahead of Qian Zhiyong (2:01.79). China only had one participant in this event at the World Championships and that was Wang, who was sixth in the final. Cong had a solid time today but it won’t be good enough to make the Tokyo team next year. For now, he will still be able to call himself the national champion.

Deng Ziqi (2:02.30) finished in third place.

Women’s 100 Free

Zhu Menghui won the women’s 100 free final with a 54.34 as she was right on her World Championships time of 54.0. She was 14th at the World Championships in this event and did not advance past the semi finals and she showed she was still in good enough shape here over a month later. Zheng won handily ahead of Wang Yichun (55.07) and Wu Qingfeng (55.17). China is looking to develop a 4×100 free relay to be competitive enough to win a medal at the Olympics next year. They were fifth at the World Championships this year and were four seconds away from winning a medal. They have some work to do to get on the podium in Tokyo.

Semi Finals Wrap

There were only two semi final events on day six as Wang Jiayin is leading the women’s 200 back field with a 2:11.68 while Wang Shun (53.91) is on top of the men’s 100 fly final. Wang elected not to swim his better event tonight, the 200 IM.

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