Yang Junxuan Breaks Asian Record in 200 Freestyle With 1:54.70 Marker
During the second day of finals at the Chinese Swim Series, Yang Junxuan established an Asian record in the women’s 200-meter freestyle, thanks to a performance of 1:54.70. The time, reported by the Chinese Swimming News and Results Twitter feed, erased the previous record of 1:54.85, set in 2018 by Japan’s Rikako Ikee. There was a sign Yang might break the record after recording a prelim swim of 1:55.05.
Yang’s previous best was a 1:54.98 in January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to racing for the better part of a year and forced the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from last summer to this summer.
Yang’s effort was one of several solid times produced at the domestic meet, which is designed to provide high-level racing opportunities for China’s elite. In the women’s 100 butterfly, Zhang Yufei continued to produce stellar times when she touched in 56.40. On the men’s side, Ji Xinjie was the winner of the 200 free, as his time of 1:46.94 was a little more than a second quicker than the 1:47.97 of Wang Shun.
Peng Xuwei was the victor in the women’s 100 backstroke, her mark of 59.82 the only sub-minute performance. Also standing on the top of the podium was Qin Haiyang, who won the men’s 200 breaststroke in 2:09.95. He was followed by Yan Zibei in 2:10.39.
A new star