Fu Yuanhui led a handful of top-five times with a strong women’s 50-meter back at the Chinese Nationals.
Fu Yuanhui cruised to victory in the women’s 50-meter back with a time of 27.61. Only Etiene Medeiros (27.38) and Emily Seebohm (27.47) have been faster as Fu has continued to shave time off her third-ranked spot throughout this week. Liu Xiang placed second tonight in 27.87, off her fourth-ranked 27.73 from yesterday. Chen Jie snared third tonight in 28.37.
Zhou Yilin hit the wall in 2:08.02 to win the women’s 200-meter fly. That swim put her eighth in the world. Zhang Yufei claimed second tonight in 2:08.32 for 10th in the rankings as well. Li Shuang rounded out the top three in 2:08.87. The rest of the championship finale proved to be fast as well with Chen Xinyi (2:09.11) and Gong Jie (2:09.37) also putting up swift times for fourth and fifth.
Ning Zetao, who jumped to fourth in the world rankings with a 48.34 during the men’s 100-meter semis, won the finale in 48.36. Lu Zhiwu earned second in 49.11 with Xu Qiheng and Ling Yongqing tying for third with 49.86s.
Wang Shun won the men’s 200-meter IM in 1:58.13 to vaulte to third in the world. Only Kosuke Hagino (1:56.30) and Daiya Seto (1:56.82) have been faster. Yang Zhixian touched second in 1:59.50 with Huang Chaosheng earning third in 1:59.82.
Zhumeng Hui paced the women’s 100-meter free semis in 54.71, with Shen Duo qualifying second in 54.90. Yi Fang qualified third in 55.06.
Shi Jinglin clocked a 2:24.74 to lead the women’s 200-meter breast semis with He Yun touching second in 2:28.24. Qing Wenyi put up a third-seeded time of 2:30.51. Yan Zibei led the men’s 200-meter breaststroke qualifying in 2:13.25.
Xu Jiayu put up a 1:57.64 in the men’s 200-meter back semis, just missing his sixth-ranked season best of 1:57.18. Li Guangyuan qualified second in 1:58.37.