Hwang Sunwoo Comes Within 0.01 Of Sun Yang’s Asian 200 Free Record; China Rattles Mixed Medley WR At Asian Games
Hwang Sunwoo underlined his credentials as a contender at Paris 2024 as he came within 0.01 of Sun Yang’s Asian 200 free record at the Asian Games in China.
Hwang, of South Korea, split 24.33/26.36/26.92/26.79 to stop the clock at 1:44.40 and slice 0.40secs from the previous Asian Games record that had stood to two-time Olympic silver medallist Park Tae-Hwan since the 2010 edition.
It was another national record for the 20-year-old, taking 0.02 off his previous mark set en-route to bronze at the World Championships in Fukuoka in July.
And it was just a whisker outside the Asian mark of 1:44.39 set by Sun at the 2017 worlds, the disgraced Chinese swimmer now serving a ban for a doping infraction that excludes him from competing in his hometown in Hangzhou.
Hwang followed it up by anchoring the Korean mixed medley relay to bronze as he collected his fifth medal of the meet so far as China set an Asian record of 3:37.73 to claim gold with Japan second.
The Chinese quartet’s performance was second-fastest all-time and only 0.15 outside Great Britain’s WR from the Tokyo Olympics.
Xu Jiayu – Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Xu Jiayu led off in 51.91 – the second-swiftest effort of his career and fifth all-time – followed by Qin Haiyang (57.25), Zhang Yufei (56.05) and Yang Junxuan (52.52).
Japan enjoyed a successful night in the pool with two golds among a seven-strong haul.
Katsuhiro Matsumoto led the way with victory in the 100 fly, overhauling Wang Changhao to stop the clock in 51.13 to 51.24 with Kazakhstan’s Adilbek Mussin taking bronze in 51.86.
That was followed by a Japan 1-2 in the women’s 100 breaststroke with Reona Aoki claiming gold in 1:06.81 ahead of Satomi Suzuki who came home in 1:06.95.
Yang Chang of China claimed bronze in 1:07.01.
Zhang Yufei set a Games record of 55.86 in the 100 fly, splitting 25.81/30.05, to open the evening programme which she ended by swimming the fly leg on the mixed medley.
Behind her came Japan’s Ai Soma (57.57) with Wang Yichuan third in 57.83.
A thrilling women’s 400IM saw Yu Yiting hold off a freestyle charge by Ageha Tanigawa, the Chinese winning gold in 4:35.44 to the Japanese swimmer’s 4:35.65.
Mio Narita made it a Japan 2-3 in 4:38.77.
At the end of the fourth night at the Asian Games, China leads the medal table with 19 golds, 16 silvers and six bronze medals for a total of 41.
Japan is second (3, 8, 10) with Korea third (3, 2, 8).