15-year-old distance phenom Li Bingjie and butterflyer Li Zhuhao have been among the stars of the Chinese national championships in Quindao, and each picked up another win on the penultimate day.
Li Bingjie won the women’s 800 free in 8:20.89, moving all the way up to No. 2 in the world behind Katie Ledecky. Zhang Yuhan finished second in 8:24.18, and third went to Bi Wenxin in 8:24.77. Hou Yawen was just behind in 8:25.19. Those times rank fourth, fifth and sixth in the world, respectively.
Li Zhuhao completed the men’s butterfly sweep, winning the 100 fly in 51.63. He’s actually been as fast as 51.34 this year, ranking No. 2 in the world. Zhang Zhibin took second in 52.57, just ahead of Zhou Jiawei (52.60).
Lu Ying posted the fourth-fastest time in the world to win the women’s 50 fly, touching in 25.85. She was followed by Zhang Yifei (26.09) and Lin Xintong (26.52).
In the men’s 50 free final, Yu Hexin edged out Lin Yongqing, 22.46 to 22.52, and in the women’s 200 back, Chen Jie took the win in 2:09.29, ahead of Liu Yaxin in 2:09.69. Ye Shiwen, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in both IMs, took third in 2:10.55.
Xu Jiayu, coming off extremely impressive efforts in both the 100 and 200 back, led the way into the championship final of the 50 back with his mark of 24.42, moving a tenth ahead of Evgeny Rylov for the top spot in the world rankings. The time also set a new Chinese record in the event. Li Quangyuan finished second in 25.45, and the third seed went to Zhou Yibing in 25.88.
Su Ran took the top spot out of the women’s 50 breast semifinals in 31.17, while Shi Jinglin edged Liu Xiaoyu for second, 31.63 to 31.64. Liu Xiang finished two tenths ahead of the field in the women’s 50 free, clocking 24.82. Taking second and third, respectively, were Zhu Menghui (25.02) and Wang Shengnan (25.16).
Not so sure that all of these chinese swimmers are clean as far as drug usage is concerned.