BEIJING, China, February 1. THE second finals session of the Good Luck Beijing China Open began with another set of morning finals for swimming fans. The meet is taking place as the test event for the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube).
Swimming World will also compare side-to-side how morning finals impact the top eight. The first time listed will always be finals.
Women's 50 free
Germany's Britta Steffen dipped under 25 for a strong in-season swim when she claimed the title in 24.93. Brazil's Flavia Delaroli finished with a silver-winning time of 25.44, while Germany's Daniela Goetz took third in 25.51.
Morning Finals Impact
1. Britta Steffen; 24.93; 25.70; Faster
2. Flavia Delaroli; 25.44; 26.01; Faster
3. Daniela Goetz; 25.51; 25.54; Faster
4. Martina Moravcova; 25.70; 26.06; Faster
5. Xu Yanwei; 25.81; 25.65; Slower
6. Li Zhesi; 25.85; 25.83; Slower
7. Yu Ning Chan; 26.50; 26.57; Faster
8. Joe Young Lee; 26.51; 26.13; Slower
Men's 100 breast
Japan went 1-2 in the shorter-distance breaststroke event. Ryo Tateishi won the event in 1:01.58, while teammate Yuta Suenaga finished second in 1:02.10. Brazil's Henrique Barbosa took third in 1:02.36.
Tateishi led from the get-go with a 29.31 first-50 split before coming home in 32.27 – the fastest backhalf.
Morning Finals Impact
1. Ryo Tateishi; 1:01.58; 1:01.81; Faster
2. Yuta Suenaga; 1:02.10; 1:01.66; Slower
3. Henrique Barbosa; 1:02.36; 1:02.96; Faster
4. Xue Ruipeng; 1:03.37; 1:03.25; Slower
5. Daniel Gyurta; 1:03.66; 1:03.15; Slower
6. Slawomir Kuczko; 1:04.17; 1:03.98; Slower
7. Yevgeniy Ryzhkov; 1:04.27; 1:03.28; Slower
8. Su Jong Sin; 1:04.46; 1:03.81; Slower
Women's 200 breast
Following Japan's lead in the men's 100 breast, Korea swept the top two spots in the women's 200 breast. Seul Ki Jung won in 2:25.16, while Darae Jeong grabbed silver in 2:28.32. China's Sun Ye wrapped up the podium with a third-place 2:28.97.
Jung never trailed as she clocked splits of 33.50, 1:10.54 and 1:47.71 en route to the victory.
Morning Finals Impact
1. Seul Ki Jung; 2:25.16; 2:25.85; Faster
2. Darae Jong; 2:28.32; 2:27.78; Slower
3. Sun Ye; 2:28.97; 2:30.76; Faster
4. Megumi Taneda; 2:29.35; 2:29.56; Faster
5. Su Yeon Back; 2:29.41; 2:29.09; Slower
6. Nanaka Tamura; 2:30.48; 2:31.56; Faster
7. Birte Steven; 2:33.45; 2:31.51; Slower
8. Qi Hui; 2:36.32; 2:27.11; Slower
Men's 400 free
For the third event in a row, a 1-2 finish came from a single country. This time, hosting China provided the gold and silver medals. Zhang Lin crushed the competition with a winning 3:45.04, while Sun Yang took second in 3:49.34, just beating Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski's 3:49.94.
Sun hung tough with Zhang through the initial 250 meters with Zhang leading 2:21.38 to 2:21.97 at the mark. However, Zhang dropped splits of 28.61 and 28.08 to close out the win over Sun's 29.17 and 29.07.
Zhang time also stands as a Chinese national record. The record was "well beyond his expectation," he told Xinhua.
Morning Final Impact
1. Zhang Lin; 3:45.05; 3:48.84; Faster
2. Sun Yang; 3:49.34; 3:47.33; Slower
3. Pawel Korzeniowski; 3:49.94; 3:55.36; Faster
4. Dragos Coman; 3:50.66; 3:54.62; Faster
5. Xin Tong; 3:53.36; 3:52.20; Slower
6. Mateusz Matczak; 3:57.11; 3:58.17; Faster
7. Fabio Pereira; 3:57.20; 3:55.67; Slower
8. Christian Kubusch; 4:00.59; 3:57.39; Slower
Women's 200 free
China's Zhu Qianwei overtook Germany's Annika Lurz to give a partisan crowd something to cheer about. Zhu clocked a winning effort of 1:58.90 against Lurz's second-place 1:59.55. Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak completed the top three with a time of 2:00.79.
Zhu trailed Lurz at the 150 mark, 1:28.80 to 1:29.13, before dropping the hammer with a 29.77 final 50 compared to Lurz's 30.75.
Morning Finals Impact
1. Zhu Qianwei; 1:58.90; 2:00.45; Faster
2. Annika Lurz; 1:59.55; 2:01.12; Faster
3. Otylia Jedrzejczak; 2:00.79; 2:03.23; Faster
4. Zhu Yingwen; 2:01.49; 2:03.56; Faster
5. Zheng Yunyun; 2:01.71; 2:01.86; Faster
6. Chin-Kuei Yang; 2:03.07; 2:03.95; Faster
7. Zhu Wenrui; 2:03.24; 2:02.75; Slower
8. Li Mo; 2:03.40; 2:02.10; Slower
Women's 800 free
China's You Meihong captured the distance title with a time of 8:31.18. China's Li Mo grabbed second-place honors with a time of 8:40.36, while Romania's Ionela Cozma took third in 8:43.96.
Complete results of the women's 800 free were unavailable at press time.
Men's 800 free relay
The Chinese contingent of Huang Shaohua (1:51.34), Zhang Zhitao (1:52.71), Xin Tong (1:50.84) and Zhang Lin (1:48.26) won the distance relay event in 7:23.15, while the German team of Paul Biedermann (1:48.76), Christian Kubusch (1:52.97), Steffen Deibler (1:50.98) and Helge Meeuw (1:51.88) took second in 7:24.59. Korea's squad of Seung Yeop Pi (1:52.53), Ji Heun Kim (1:55.05), Kwang Hyong Koh (1:55.90) and Jae Yub Lim (1:53.83) finished third in 7:37.31.
Click here to view event results PDF file (without completely results from women's 800 free).