Zhang Yufei Outduels Siobhan Haughey in Asian Games 50 Free Final; Qin Haiyang Adds Another Title

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Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Zhang Yufei Outduels Siobhan Haughey in Asian Games 50 Free Final

Zhang Yufei clocked in a championship record 24.26 in the women’s 50 freestyle at the Asian Games, winning a thrilling final over Siobhan Haughey.

Zhang had set the mark in the morning prelims, clipping three hundredths off Rikako Ikee’s 2018 record in sealing the top seed in 24.50.

At night, both she and Haughey were under that mark. Zhang got the win by .08 seconds, Haughey grabbing silver in 24.34. Cheng Yujie added to China’s medal total with bronze in 24.60.

Zhang’s time is .11 off her best time, set at Worlds this summer on the way to a bronze medal. It’s Zhang’s third individual gold of the meet, go to with the 100 butterfly and 200 fly. Haughey won the 100 free and 200 free.

Zhang’s gold was one of five for China out of seven events on the penultimate day of swimming competition Thursday. Other action from the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatics Sports Arena:

Men’s 50 butterfly

South Korea’s In-chul Baek set a pair of meet records on the way to gold. He clocked in at 23.29 in the final to edge Teong Tzen Wei of Singapore by .05 seconds. Adilbek Mussin added a second bronze medal of the meet for Kazakhstan.

Baek went 23.39 in the morning, downing the meet mark set in 2014 by China’s Shi Yang (23.46). He was a tenth faster at night, needed to get past Teong. Mussin was third in 23.44, edging Wang Changhao of China by .02. Takeshi Kawamoto nearly sprung a surprise from the outside lane but landed fifth in 23.54.

Baek’s medal is the fourth for South Korea in the pool, tying its most ever at a single Asian Games.

Teong’s silver is a long-awaited first medal of the meet for Singapore.

Women’s 200 breaststroke

Ye Shiwen dominated the field to swim away with gold in the 200 breast. The silver medalist in the 200 individual medley finished in a time of 2:23.84, more than two seconds clear of the field.

Sehyun Kwon of South Korea beat a crowd of finishers clustered within .35 seconds to silver. The South Korean touched in 2:26.31, .10 up on Runa Imai of Japan. Letitia Sim, who was second at the 150-meter wall, slid to fourth. Japan’s Reona Aoki was a surprise nonfactor, finishing sixth, more than four seconds back.

Men’s 200 breaststroke

Qin Haiyang’s breaststroke dominance continued, the triple World Champion adding a second Asian Games title to go with silver in the 200 IM. He was the wire-to-wire winner in 2:07.03, 1.6 seconds clear of countryman Dong Zhihao.

Qin downed the meet record that had since 2014 belonged to Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Balandin (2:07.67).

Ippei Watanabe of Japan finished third, the only other swimmer under 2:10.

Men’s 800 freestyle

Another Sun Yang record goes by the wayside at this meet, with Kim Woo-Min of South Korea going 7:46.03 to win gold. The time is nearly 2.5 seconds quicker than Sun’s time from the 2018 meet (7:48.36).

Woo-Min was almost four seconds clear of the field. Fei Liwei earned another silver for China in 7:49.90. That duo reverses its placements from the 1,500 free.

Huy Hoang Nguyen garnered Vietnam’s first swimming medal with bronze in 7:51.44.

Men’s 400 freestyle relay

The Chinese men left little doubt, swimming away with gold in 3:10.88, a Games record, an Asian record and 2.08 seconds ahead of a very fast South Korean relay that clubbed two seconds off its national record.

China’s foursome of Pan Zhanle, Chen Juner, Jinquan Hong and Wang Haoyu went 3:10.88. That downs the games record set by Japan in 2018 by 1.8 seconds and is a half-second quicker than their Asian mark from Worlds this year. Pan nearly downed his national and continental record in the 100 by going 47.06 off the front.

South Korea (Ji Yu-Chan, Lee Ho-Joon, Jim Ji-Jun and Hwang Sun-Woo) went 3:12.96. Japan was third in 3:14.26.

Women’s 200 freestyle relay

The Chinese women finished the session in relatively tame fashion, but there was never a doubt as to where gold was going. They won in 7:49.34, nearly nine seconds behind the Asian mark China had set at the last Olympics but still 6.5 seconds ahead of second-place Japan.

They were first all the way from the midpoint of Liu Yaxin’s leadoff leg, with Chung Yujie, Li Bingjie and Li Jiaping following.

Japan got silver in 7:55.93. South Korea earned bronze in 8:00.11. Hong Kong was fourth despite Haughey splitting 1:54.21.

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