The final day of the 2016 Chinese Nationals was highlighted by the shortest and longest events on the books.
Kickstarting the meet was the final of the women’s 50-meter freestyle where Chen Xinyi powered to a final time of 24.53. Xinyi’s time boosts her to sixth in the world rankings for 2016 behind Sarah Sjostrom (24.17), Fran Halsall (24.23), Cate Campbell (24.32), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (24.36), and Bronte Campbell (24.37). In addition to moving up in the world rankings, Xinyi also came dangerously close to uprooting Le Jingyi’s China mark of 24.51 which she set in Rome in 1994.
Liu Xiang grabbed second overall with a time of 24.75, while Wu Yue and Zhu Menghui shared the bronze medal with matching times of 25.31.
Despite Sun Yang’s absence from the Chinese Nationals the men’s 1500-meter free had a clear winner on display. Qiu Ziao of Shanghai outlasted the competition to post a final time of 14:58.34, finishing more than twelve seconds ahead of the competition. Ziao’s time earned him a ticket to Rio in the 1500 along with the absent Yang.
Picking up second in the 1500 was Shanghai teammate Wang Zhou with a final time of 15:10.86, just ahead of third-place finisher Qiao Zhongyi (15:12.29).
