Sun Yang of China has consistently been one of the most consistent swimmers in the entire world. He has been up or near the top of the world rankings in the 200 and 400 frees since 2010 and in 2018 he is still the man to beat in the 400 free.
Sun swam a 3:42.92 on Tuesday night in Jakarta to become the number one swimmer in the world for that event for 2018 moving past Australia’s Mack Horton’s 3:43.76 from Commonwealth Games in April. Sun was off the Games Record of 3:41.53 by Park Tae Hwan of South Korea from 2010, but his time is good enough for the win and for the Virtual World title for 2018.
Sun was well out in front of the two Japanese swimmers as they were about four seconds back with Naito Ehara winning silver at 3:47.14 and Kosuke Hagino winning bronze at 3:47.20.
Ehara improved massively on his Pan Pac performance where he was a 3:48 earlier this month in Tokyo. His time here at the Asian Games moved him up to eighth in the Virtual World Championships.
Korea’s Lee Hojoon (3:48.28), China’s Li Xinjie (3:50.06), Vietnam’s Kim Nguyen (3:51.67), Jordan’s Khader Baqlah (3:52.77) and Indonesia’s Aflah Prawira (3:53.01) also swam in the final.
Sun won China its third gold medal in the 400 free at the Asian Games as he joins himself (2014) and Xie Jun (1986) as winners in the event for China. Sun is also just the third man to repeat in this event as he joins two Koreans Park Tae Hwan (2006, 2010) and Cho Oh-yun (1970, 1974) as repeat winners in the event.
- Sun Yang, CHN, 3:42.92
- Naito Ehara, JPN, 3:47.14
- Kosuke Hagino, JPN, 3:47.20
- Lee Hojoon, KOR, 3:48.28
- Li Xinjie, CHN, 3:50.06
- Kim Nguyen, VIE, 3:51.67
- Khader Baqlah, JOR, 3:52.77
- Aflah Prawira, INA, 3:53.01
2018 Virtual World Championships
- Sun Yang, CHN, 3:42.92, Asian Games
- Mack Horton, AUS, 3:43.76, Commonwealth Games
- Jack McLoughlin, AUS, 3:44.20, Pan Pacs
- Mykhailo Romanchuk, UKR, 3:45.18, Europeans
- James Guy, GBR, 3:45.32, Commonwealth Games
- Zane Grothe, USA, 3:45.37, Pan Pacs
- Henrik Christiansen, NOR, 3:47.07, Europeans
- Naito Ehara, JPN, 3:47.14, Asian Games
Amazing talent!
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