World University Games, Day 4: Double Gold For Li Bingjie; Qin Haiyang Sets Games 200m Breaststroke Record

LI-Bingjie-CHN 800m Freestyle Women Heats Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates 17/12/2021 Etihad Arena FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Li Beinjie: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

World University Games, Day 4: Double Gold For Li Bingjie; Qin Haiyang Sets Games 200 Breast Record

Li Bingjie won two titles and Qin Haiyang took down the Games 200m breaststroke mark as China maintained its lead at the top of the World University Games medal table in Chengdu. The hosts now have nine golds with Italy claiming a further two on Friday. Here is an event-by-event breakdown of the Day Four evening action.

World University Games Meet Page

Women’s 1500m Freestyle (Final)

Li Bingjie was the clear favourite having won bronze at the World Championships in Fukuoka and she’d opened up a 1.90sec lead over Noemi Cesarano at halfway. She extended that lead to stop the clock in 16:18.48 with Ichika Kajimoto of Japan overhauling Cesarano with a 32.38 final 50 for silver. The Italian – who’d been second for 1350m until the final turn – was third in 16:23.16.

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Men’s 100m Freestyle (Semifinals)

Just 0.51 separated the eight qualifiers headed by Pedro Henique Silva Spajari of Brazil in 49.03. Kamil Sieradzki was second through in 49.29 ahead of fellow Pole Mateusz Jan Chowaniec who clocked 49.33.

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Women’s 200m Individual Medley (Final)

Anita Gastaldi led from start to finish to win in 2:12.74 as Italy claimed its fourth gold medal of the Games. Dalma Sebestyen continued Hungary’s fine IM tradition with second in 2:13.44 with Caroline Thiel of the USA coming from seventh at halfway to propel herself into third at 150 with a 38.14 breaststroke leg before coming home in 32.34 to take bronze in 2:14.28.

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Women’s 100m Backstroke (Final)

Adela Piskorska led throughout to head an all-European podium with the Polish swimmer stopping the clock in 1:00.20. Behind her Camila Rodrigues Rebelo of Portugal moved from fourth at the 50 to take second in 1:00.52 while Federica Toma of Italy sped from seventh at halfway to third in 1:00.65 with a 30.80 second 50.

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Men’s 200m Breaststroke (Final)

Qin Haiyang came into the final as the reigning world champion and world record-holder following his 2:05.48 in Fukuoka. Out in 28.71, the Chinese split 32.93/33.26 before coming home in 33.19 to stop the clock at 2:08.09, 0.28 inside the World University Games record of 2:08.37 held by Andrew Wilson of the United States since 2017. Behind him Yu Hanaguruma overhauled fellow Japanese Yamato Fukasawa with a 33.55 final 50 to touch in 2:10.31 to 2:10.39.

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Women’s 100m Butterfly (Semifinals)

Zhang Yufei will be the overwhelming favourite to add the 100 to her 50 fly and 100 free titles. The Chinese swimmer won gold at the Fukuoka worlds in 56.12 and on Friday split 26.88/30.92 to book lane four for Saturday’s final in 57.80. That was just 0.13 outside Katerine Savard‘s Games record of 57.63 which hs stood since Kazan 2013. Erin Gallagher of South Africa was next through in 58.07 with Italy’s Giulia D’Innocenzo progressing in 58.47.

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Men’s 200m Butterfly (Final)

A 30.24 fourth 50 propelled Takumi Terada from third to first as the Japanese swimmer took the title in 1:55.66, 0.03 ahead of Taiwan’s Wang Kuan-Hung (1:55.69). Chen Juner led until the 150 mark only to swim the slowest final split of the field in 31.68 for third in 1:56.16.

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Men’s 50m Backstroke (Final)

Simone Stefani led home an Italian 1-3, the only man inside 25 in 24.98 with Andrei-mircea Anghel of Romania (25.06) and Michele Lamberti (25.09).

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Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay (Final)

Li Bingjie claimed her second gold of the evening as she anchored the China quartet to victory in 7:58.77, the only sub-8min time in the field. Led off by Liu Yaxin, whose 1:57.45 was the quickest overall split of the final, China dropped to second at halfway after Erin Gallagher (1:59.77) steered South Africa into the lead with Jing Shangbeihua going 2:04.18. Zhang Yufei reclaimed the lead in 1:58.71 with Li steering them home in 1:58.43. The USA (8:02.28) and Japan (8:04.29) completed the podium.

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