Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch
INCHEON, South Korea, September 26. China closed out a strong run at the Asian Games with four more gold medals, including several Games records in the process, on the final night of swimming here in Incheon.
Scheduled Events
- Women’s 50 free
- Men’s 50 breast
- Women’s 200 back
- Men’s 1500 free
- Women’s 200 IM
- Men’s 400 medley relay
Medal Standings
[table “” not found /]Women’s 50 free
After already taking down the FINA World Junior Record in the 100-meter fly earlier this week with a 56.61, China’s Chen Xinyi took down another one with a 24.87 to top the women’s 50-meter free tonight. That swim beat Li Zhesi’s Games record of 24.97 from the 2010 edition of the event, while also beating Rosaliya Nasretdinova’s 24.88 from the Youth Olympic Games.
In the way of the FINA World Junior Records, with only some times being recognized, that’s not Chen’s personal best. Her top time is a 24.61 in the event, but that swim happened before the World Junior Records were officially observed in April of this year.
Japan’s Miki Uchida raced her way to a silver in 25.11 with China’s Tang Yi picking up third in 25.17.
South Korea’s Jaeyoung Lee (25.48), Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (25.53), Japan’s Yayoi Matsumoto (25.72), Singapore’s Xiang Qi Lim (25.73) and Singapore’s Nur Chan (25.91) also put up times in the finale.
Men’s 50 breast
Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin completed a remarkable meet with a breaststroke sweep as he clocked a Games record time of 27.78 in the sprint breaststroke this evening. That time clipped the 27.80 set by China’s Xie Zhi at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.
Balandin has had a shocking meet, setting a Games record in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke events. First, he made a huge mark by dropping his personal best from 2:13 to 2:07 in the 200 for the first gold medal of the meet. Then, he firmed up that he wasn’t a fluke as he became the first man in meet history to break 1:00 in the 100. Tonight, he accomplished the breaststroke trifecta with his swift time.
Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki finished second in 27.89 with India’s Sandeep Sejwal claiming his country’s first medal of the meet with a third-place 28.26.
Uzbekistan’s Vladislav Mustafin (28.57), South Korea’s Myunghwan Kim (28.76), China’s Wang Shuai (28.79), China’s Ma Xiang (28.80) and Hong Kong’s Chun Yan Wong (28.94) closed out the finale.
Women’s 200 back
Japan’s Sayaka Akase did just enough work in the first 150 meters to overcome a sizzling 32.75 closing split from China’s Chen Jie, 2:10.31 to 2:10.53, in the finale. The times weren’t all that fast compared to other times this year as Akase is the eighth-ranked swimmer in the world with a 2:08.76 from the Japan Open, but it was enough to win tonight.
Vien Nguyen claimed Vietnam’s second medal of the meet with a bronze-winning time of 2:12.25, while Japan’s Marie Kamimura placed fourth in 2:13.14.
Hong Kong’s Claudia Lau (2:14.23), South Korea’s Doryun Lee (2:14.69), South Korea’s Dalin Lee (2:15.54) and China’s Fu Yuanhui (2:20.46) rounded out the finale.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Men’s 1500 free
Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch
No one could touch China’s Sun Yang as he raced his way to a 14:49.75 to win the men’s metric mile. That time moved him to fourth in the world with only Gregorio Paltrinieri (14:39.93), Ryan Cochrane (14:44.03) and Mack Horton (14:48.76) having finished ahead.
That’s Sun’s third gold medal of the meet to go with his men’s 400 free individual win as well as his 400 free relay title. He also took silver in the 200-meter free to start the meet for a total tally of four medals. His win was China’s 20th of the meet as China will finish the meet with the top gold medal tally by far.
Japan’s Kohei Yamamoto cruised to silver with a 14:54.86, just off his 10th-ranked 14:54.80 from the Japan Open earlier this year. China’s Wang Kecheng finished third in 15:06.73 to round out the podium.
South Korea’s Tae Hwan Park had a difficult time as the pressure of swimming at home and in a pool named after him seemed to get to him as Park wound up fourth in 15:12.15.
Japan’s Shogo Takeda (15:18.46), Malaysia’s Kevin Yeap (15:31.67), Vietnam’s Quang Nhat Lam (15:33.21) and South Korea’s Seokhyun Park (15:36.52) picked up the rest of the top eight finishes in the timed final event.
Sun Yang’s Splits
56.16, 1:55.50, 2:54.80, 3:54.18, 4:53.70, 5:53.33, 6:53.04, 7:53.15, 8:53.29, 9:53.78, 10:53.62, 11:53.42, 12:53.39, 13:53.73, 14:49.75
Women’s 200 IM
Photo Courtesy: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
China’s Ye Shiwen retained her Asian Games title with a Games record performance of 2:08.94. That swim beat her 2:09.37 from the 2010 edition of the meet for the Games record, but she obviously wasn’t happy with the effort after looking at the clock. Her performance moved her from eighth in the world with a 2:10.49 from the Australian Aquatic Super Series to fourth. She stands behind Katinka Hosszu (2:08.11), Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (2:08.21) and Alicia Coutts (2:08.89) as only the fourth to break 2:09 this year.
Ye added the victory to her swift 400 IM from earlier in the meet to accomplish an IM sweep, and earn her third gold medal of the meet along with her 400 free relay title.
Japan’s Kanako Watanabe (2:10.58) and Miho Teramura (2:11.24) placed second and third, while China’s Zhou Min wound up fourth in 2:13.16.
South Korea’s Seoyeong Kim (2:14.08), Uzbekistan’s Ranokhon Amanova (2:15.27), South Korea’s Yoosun Nam (2:15.48) and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (2:15.63) made up the rest of the championship heat.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Men’s 400 medley relay
Photo Courtesy: Bestswimming
Ning Zetao, fresh off an Asian record, turned in a stunning 46.91 anchor leg to capture the men’s 400-meter medley relay for the Chinese as the foursome of Xu Jiayu, Li Xiang, Li Zhuhao and Ning posted a Games record time of 3:31.37. That swim demolished the previous Games record of 3:34.10 set by Japan back in 2010 and challenged Japan’s Asian record of 3:30.74 from the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Ning represents Asia’s first shot at a men’s sprint freestyle Olympic medal since Hiroshi Suzuki took silver behind Clarke Scholes of the U.S. during the 1952 Helsinki Games, and he certainly continues to impress in relay duty as well. Ning finished the Asian Games with four gold medals after taking victories in the 50 and 100 free as well as in the 400 free relay and the 400 medley relay.
Japan’s squad of Ryosuke Irie, Yasuhiro Koseki, Hirofumi Ikebata and Shinri Shioura wound up with a close second-place time of 3:31.70 after leading by nearly a second at the 300-meter mark. Ikebata and Shioura, however, were unable to hold off their Chinese counterparts for the win.
South Korea’s Seonkwan Park (54.80), Kyuwoong Choi (1:01.13), Gyucheol Chang (53.44) and Tae Hwan Park (49.81) took third in 3:39.18.
Uzbekistan (3:43.54), Indonesia (3:43.81), Singapore (3:44.17), Taipei (3:44.77) and Hong Kong (3:44.83) also competed in the finale.
China’s Splits: 3:31.37
[table “” not found /]Japan’s Splits: 3:31.70
[table “” not found /]Twitter Coverage
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Baladin won! AGAIN! 27.78 and games record.
Amazing effort by Balandin this week!
Thanks for your lighting fast update on twitter!
You are welcome, Matahari! It’s been a fun week!