Yu Hexin, Zhang Yufei Take 50 Free Titles on Final Night of Chinese Nationals
The 2021 Chinese Nationals concluded Saturday from Qingdao with the finals of the men’s and women’s 50 free and the men’s 1500 freestyle.
Yu Hexin won the men’s 50 free and got under the A standard with a 21.89 as he was under the 22.01 standard, putting himself tied for 10th in the world with Kliment Kolesnikov and Lorenzo Zazzeri. The time for Yu is also right on his best of 21.79 as he is the national record holder for China and the second fastest Asian man of all-time. He won ahead of Wang Changhao (22.43).
This will be Yu Hexin’s second trip to the Olympic Games at age 25 as he was 20th in Rio in the 50 free and 25th in the 100.
On the women’s side, Zhang Yufei won her third event of the week with a 24.32 in the 50 free, backing up her wins in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Zhang is now the third fastest Asian woman of all-time as she won ahead of Wu Qingfeng (24.37), who also had individual qualification in the 100 free, and Liu Xiang (24.61). Liu is the Asian record holder in this event but did not reach the top two in this event. Zhang and Wu now rank seventh and eighth respectively in the world rankings with 78 days until the Olympic Games.
Cheng Long won the 1500 free final at 15:19.85, well off the 15:00.99 A standard while Ji Xinjie, who is already on the team in the 200 free, was second at 15:23.20.
All swimmers that have achieved the FINA A standard this week:
Men:
- Ji Xinjie – 200 Free
- Qin Haiyang – 200 IM
- Wang Shun – 200, 400 IM, 200 free
- Xu Jiayu – 100, 200 Back
- Yan Zibei – 100 Breast
- Yu Hexin – 50 Free
Women:
- Chen Jie – 100 Back
- Chen Xinyi – 200 IM
- Li Bingjie – 200, 400, 800, 1500 Free
- Liu Yaxin – 200 Back
- Peng Xuwei – 100, 200 Back
- Tang Muhan – 400 Free
- Tang Qianting – 100 Breast
- Wang Jianjiahe – 800, 1500 Free
- Wu Qingfeng – 50, 100 Free
- Yang Junxuan – 100, 200 Free
- Yu Jingyao – 200 Breast
- Yu Liyan – 200 Fly
- Yu Yiting – 200, 400 IM
- Zhang Yufei – 100, 200 Fly, 50 Free