Day three of the swimming competition at the 2016 Asian Swimming Championships continued to see championship records fall as another four were overturned.
China’s Xu Jiayu kickstarted the record-breaking with a 24.65 in the men’s 50-meter backstroke, sliding past the previous record of 25.03. Japan’s Shunichi Nakao took second overall with a 25.17.
Rikako Ikee of Japan garnered her first gold of the night with a top showing in the women’s 100-meter fly. Ikee posted a 57.46 to flirt with the championship record of 57.12 and be one of two swimmers to post sub-minute swims. Hong Kong’s Kin Lok Chan posted the only other sub-minute swim at a 59.82.
Japan’s Masato Sakai turned in a 1:54.53 in the men’s 200-meter fly final for the gold. His time overturned the previous championship record of 1:56.71, while teammate Daiya Seto finished second, also underneath the previous record, with a 1:55.45.
The women’s 400-meter free was highlighted by a tight field of swimmers led by China’s Li Bingjie. Li posted a 4:07.16 to grab China’s second gold medal of the day, while teammate Zhang Yuhan picked up third with a 4:08.80. Sandwiched in between was Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi and her time of 4:08.69.
Park Tae Hwan of South Korea added a championship record to his accomplishments accompanied by a gold medal in the men’s 100-meter free. Park stopped the clock at a 48.57 to dash past the previous record of 49.27. Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura and China’s Yu Hexin also finished below the previous record with times of 48.77 and 48.81 respectively.
Park added a second win in timed finals of the men’s 1500-meter free, finishing more than six seconds ahead of the competition with a 15:07.86.
Japan delivered a 1-2 finish in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke led by Misaki Sekiguchi. Sekiguchi turned in a 1:07.86, while teammate Reona Aoki was second with a 1:07.99. Shi Jinglin of China added a third place finish of 1:08.00.
Ippei Watanabe of Japan ended the session on a high note as one last championship record fell. Watanabe pulled away from the competition in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke and never looked back, posting a final time of 2:08.19. His time was well under the previous record of 2:12.13, which China’s Mao Feilian (2:11.95) also finished under.
