China’s Xu Jiayu completed the backstroke hat trick with a gold medal in the 100 back on Thursday night from the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Xu swam a 1:53.99, bolting him up to third in the Virtual World Championships, sitting only behind Russia’s Evgeny Rylov and American Ryan Murphy. Despite this fast time, Irie’s Games Record of 1:53.26 still stands from 2014.
Japan’s Ryosuke Irie finished with the silver at 1:55.11. He was going for his fourth straight gold medal in the 200 back, but the 28-year-old fell short and settled for fourth place in the Virtual World Championships. Irie did swim faster than he did at Pan Pacs earlier this month so he is still improving even at 28.
Japan’s Keita Sunama picked up the bronze medal at 1:55.54 as he moved up to fifth in the Virtual Worlds. Those three shut out China’s Li Guangyuan (1:57.13) who was the top seed out of prelims.
Xu is just the third Chinese man to win the 200 back at the Asian Games, joining Fu Yong (1998) and Wu Peng (2002) as gold medalists for China. Xu is also the first man to complete the backstroke hat trick since the 50 was first introduced to the Asian Games in 2006.
The time was also a new best time and Chinese Record for Xu, breaking 1:54 for the first time in his career.
- Xu Jiayu, CHN, 1:53.99
- Ryosuke Irie, JPN, 1:55.11
- Keita Sunama, JPN, 1:55.54
- Li Guangyuan, CHN, 1:57.13
- Lee Juho, KOR, 1:59.88
- Srihari Nataraj, IND, 2:02.83
- Ricky Anggawijaya, INA, 2:04.60
- Francis Fong, SGP, 2:06.16
Virtual World Championships
- Evgeny Rylov, RUS, 1:53.36, Europeans
- Ryan Murphy, USA, 1:53.57, Pan Pacs
- Xu Jiayu, CHN, 1:53.99, Asian Games
- Ryosuke Irie, JPN, 1:55.11, Asian Games
- Keita Sunama, JPN, 1:55.54, Asian Games
- Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS, 1:55.83, Europeans
- Austin Katz, USA, 1:56.00, Pan Pacs
- Mitch Larkin, AUS, 1:56.02, Pan Pacs
Congratulations
Phenomenon!