Day two of swimming at the 2016 Asian Swimming Championships saw championship records fall in eight of the nine individual events.
Rikako Ikee of Japan kickstarted the night with a sizzling 25.74 in the women’s 50-meter fly, flirting with her own Japanese national record of 25.50. Ikee’s 25.74 downed the previous championship record of 26.09. China delivered a 2-3 punch to complete the podium with top swims from Lu Ying (26.19) and Zhou Yin (26.53).
Japan continued to down championship records as Masayuki Kishida posted a 23.66 in finals of the men’s 50-meter fly, sliding beneath the previous record of 23.76. China’s Li Zhuhao also snuck beneath the record with a 23.74, good for second overall. Takeshi Kawamoto of Japan turned in a 23.97 for third.
It was a quick turn-around for Ikee as she made her way back to the podium with a gold medal finish in the women’s 50-meter free. Ikee touched a shy .01 seconds ahead of China’s Zhu Menghui to nab the gold medal and a new championship record of 24.90. Zhu settled for second with a time of 24.91, also finishing beneath the previous record of 24.94.
The men’s 100-meter breaststroke final was highlighted by four swimmers sneaking past the previous championship record of 1:01.26. Ippei Watanabe of Japan set the new championship record at a 59.99 to be the only athlete in the field beneath the one-minute mark. Teammate Yasuhiro Koseki picked up silver with a 1:00.02, while China’s Yan Zibei (1:00.14) and Li Xiang (1:00.73) took third and fourth.
Reona Aoki posted a 2:22.74 in finals of the women’s 200-meter breaststroke to blast past the previous championship record of 2:25.37. Shi Jinglin of China finished second overall with a 2:24.19, while Japan’s Misaki Sekiguchi was third with a 2:27.41.
South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan topped the men’s 400-meter free with a 3:44.68, followed by a tight race between Japan’s Tsubasa Amai and China’s Qiu Ziao. The two finished second and third respectively with times of 3:51.09 and 3:51.74.
China turned in a 1-2 finish in the women’s 200-meter free, led by Shen Duo and her new championship record of 1:56.71. Teammate Ai Yanhan also snuck beneath the previous record of 1:58.76 with a time of 1:57.35. Vietnam’s Thi Anh Vien Nguyen grabbed third with a final time of 1:59.31.
China’s momentum continued into the men’s 200-meter backstroke as teammates Xu Jiayu and Li Guangyuan claimed the gold and silver. Xu overturned the championship record of 1:56.38 with a time of 1:55.19, while Li posted a 1:57.47. Japan’s Keita Sunama picked up third with a 1:57.96.
Fu Yuanhui of China posted the only sub-minute time in the women’s 100-meter backstroke to set a new championship record of 59.70. Fu also currently holds the Chinese national record in the 100-meter backstroke with a 58.76 from the Rio Olympic Games. Teammate Wang Xueer finished second overall with a 1:00.03, followed by Japan’s Emi Moronuki’s 1:01.09.
