Photo Courtesy: Tobiuo Japan
INCHEON, South Korea, September 22. China dominated the third night of finals at the Asian Games with a near gold-medal sweep. That’s reminiscent of what usually happens in diving, not usually swimming.
Scheduled Events
- Women’s 50 back
- Men’s 50 free
- Women’s 400 IM
- Men’s 200 breast
- Women’s 100 fly
- Men’s 400 free
- Women’s 800 free relay
Medal Standings
[table “” not found /]Women’s 50 back
Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch
China’s Fu Yuanhui, the world leader with a 27.51 from the Chinese Nationals, did what she had to do to win tonight in 27.66. That’s all she needed as she was the only swimmer to clear 28 seconds tonight.
Yekaterina Rudenko won Kazakhstan’s first medal of the meet with a silver-medal winning 28.04, while Japan’s Miyuki Takemura snared bronze in 28.27. Rudenko jumped up to 11th in the world rankings with that swim.
South Korea’s Hanbyeol Park (28.32), China’s Cheng Haihua (28.37), Hong Kong’s Stephanie Au (28.67), Japan’s Sayaka Akase (29.18) and Uzbekistan’s Yulduz Kuchkarova (29.31) also competed tonight.
Men’s 50 free
Photo Courtesy: Bestswimming
China’s Ning Zetao was unable to replicate his Games record of 21.94 from this morning, but he had enough in the tank to win the finale in 21.95.
Asian-record holder Shinri Shioura of Japan, meanwhile, took second in the event with a 22.11, while teammate Kenta Ito placed third in 22.16.
China’s Yu Hexin (22.37), South Korea’s Jungdoo Yang (22.60), Hong Kong’s Geoffrey Cheah (22.91), Taipei’s Kuo Chi Chang (22.93) and Hong Kong’s Jeremy Wong (23.11) rounded out the finale.
Women’s 400 IM
Photo Courtesy: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
China’s Ye Shiwen made a run at her incredible world record of 4:28.43 through 300 meters, but could not replicate her unreal freestyle leg as she settled for a Games record time of 4:32.97 in the distance medley this evening for China’s third straight gold medal of the night. The time beat Ye’s 2010 meet record of 4:33.79, but wasn’t even close to her top-ranked time of 4:30.84 from Chinese Nationals earlier this year.
Japan’s Sakiko Shimizu turned in a silver-winning time of 4:38.63, more than five seconds back of Ye’s impressive outing. Meanwhile, Vietnam scored its first swimming medal of the meet with a 4:39.65 for bronze from Thi Anh Vien Nguyen.
South Korea’s Seoyeong Kim (4:42.92), Japan’s Miho Takahashi (4:43.61), China’s Zhou Min (4:44.49), South Korea’s Yoosun Nam (4:44.61) and Uzbekistan’s Ranokhon Amannova (4:48.99) picked up the rest of the finishes in the 400 IM.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Men’s 200 breast
Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Balandin had an ascendant day, moving from a top seed of 2:11 this morning before blasting the Games record tonight in a sizzling time of 2:07.67. That swim crushed Kosuke Kitajima’s time of 2:09.97 from the 2002 edition of the event to jump into third in the world rankings. Only Ross Murdoch (2:07.30) and Marco Koch (2:07.47) has been faster this year.
That’s an amazing night for Balandin considering his previous best international 200 breast finish was sixth in the event at the World Junior Championships, and his Kazakhstani record had been a 2:13.53 from last summer’s World Championships.
Japan’s Kazuki Kohinata (2:09.45) and Yasuhiro Koseki (2:09.48) closed out the rest of the podium with second and third-place finishes. Koseki had been out fast in 1:02.11, but faded badly down the stretch as he was unable to duplicate his sixth-ranked 2:08.34 from the Japan Open.
China’s Mao Feilian (2:11.31), China’s Li Xiang (2:12.05), South Korea’s Kyuwoong Choi (2:12.53), Thailand’s Nuttapong Ketin (2:14.29) and Uzbekistan’s Vladislav Mustafin (2:14.97) finished fourth through eighth.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Women’s 100 fly
China’s Chen Xinyi produced her country’s fourth gold medal of the night with a scorching Games record 56.61 tonight. That swim vaulted her to third in the world behind only Sarah Sjostrom (56.50) and Jeanette Ottesen (56.51). Her time smashed the Games record of 57.76 set by Jiao Liuyang back at the 2010 event.
Chen’s time also stands as a World Junior Record, beating the 57.54 she set at Chinese Nationals earlier this year.
Her teammate Lu Ying turned in a silver-winning 58.45 with Singapore’s Li Tao placing third in 59.08.
Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi (59.21), South Korea’s Sehyeon An (59.22), Japan’s Miyu Nakano (59.48), Kazakhstan’s Elmira Aigaliyeva (1:00.87) and Hong Kong’s Kin Lok Chan (1:01.83) also put up times in the championship finale.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Men’s 400 free
Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch
Sun Yang rode the momentum of Chinese swimming tonight to a blistering time of 3:43.23 for the men’s middle-distance victory tonight following a hand injury earlier in the meet. That time is now second in the world behind Tae Hwan Park’s 3:43.15 from the Pan Pacific Championships, and gave China a fifth gold this evening.
Sun had released a spate of television commercials talking trash to Park heading into the meet, and has now finished ahead of his rival twice in a row in the 200 and 400 free.
Japan’s Kosuke Hagino earned his fifth medal of the meet, and first silver with a 3:44.48. He already won a trio of golds and a bronze in the first two nights, and added a second-place silver tonight. His time was a bit slower than his fifth-ranked 3:43.90 from the Japanese Nationals, but was still enough to top Park. Park, meanwhile, finished a distant third in 3:48.33 as he could not come close to his top-ranked effort from Pan Pacs.
China’s Hao Yun (3:50.38), Japan’s Kohei Yamamoto (3:51.09), Singapore’s Kai Quan Yeo (3:55.39), Malaysia’s Kevin Yeap (3:55.52) and Malaysia’s Vernon Lee (3:57.29) also did battle in the finale.
Top Splits
[table “” not found /]Women’s 800 free relay
Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Ding Xu
China finished up a near gold-medal sweep tonight as Guo Junjun, Tang Yi, Cao Yue and Shen Duo raced their way to a win in 7:55.17. That’s not nearly the fastest China has gone here at this meet, considering the nation set the Games record with a 7:51.81 at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou. But, the time was still plenty fast enough to win this evening.
Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi, Yasuko Miaymoto, Yayoi Matsumoto and Aya Takano finished second in 7:58.43 with Hong Kong’s Camille Cheng, Stephanie Au, Hang Yu Sze and Siobhan Haughey earning bronze in 8:04.55.
South Korea (8:11.55), Singapore (8:12.09), Thailand (8:16.56), Taipei (8:23.77) and Macau (8:48.53) closed out the third night of finals.
China’s Splits: 7:55.17
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