Records tumble as China’s swimmers hit Olympic qualifying times at national championships
- Asian gold medallist Tang Qianting sets regional best twice in women’s 100m breaststroke event
- Pan Zhanle clocks third sub-47 second in men’s 100m freestyle, but time is 0.17 seconds slower than own world record
China’s elite swimmers have been in the pool all week at the National Championships putting up 36 Olympic qualifying times, breaking two Asian records and ripping through numerous personal bests.
The championships in Shenzhen began just days after news of a doping scandal surrounding the China swim team at the Tokyo Olympics became public.
It was reported that 23 members of the squad had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ), a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has since called for an independent investigation by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier to look at the case.
China said it would cooperate with the investigation after Wada also said it would send a compliance audit team to assess the nation’s anti-doping programme.
The first regional record fell when Asian Games gold medallist Tang Qianting won the semi-final of the women’s 100m breaststroke with a time of one minute, 04.68 seconds.
In the final a day later, she broke the record again, shaving 0.29 seconds off her own time. She was also two seconds faster than second place Yang Chang.
Tang is coached by Pierre Lafontaine, formerly of Team Canada and was not one of the athletes who tested positive for TMZ.
Nor was Pan Zhanle, who won the 100m men’s freestyle with a time of 46.97, 0.17 seconds slower than his world-record time.
It was also the third time Pan had swam a sub-47 second 100m in his career.
The 19-year-old also competed in and won the 50m, 200m and 400m free, setting a personal best time of 3:45.58 in the latter.
Wang Shun, the first Asian male swimmer to win gold in the men’s 200m individual medley at the Olympic Games, smashed through that event in 1:55.35, his third best-ever time.
Just behind him was Zhang Zhanshuo, who touched in 1:58.97. However, his stand-out performance came in the men’s 800m freestyle, where the 16-year-old came first with a time of 7:47.84, a national record.
Yang Junxuan swam the women’s 100m freestyle final in 52.68 seconds to win gold and set a new national record.
Four-time world champion and holder of six Asian Games gold medals, Qin Haiyang won the 100m breaststroke in 58.24.
Qin was one of those caught up in the positive test results.
Another one who tested positive for TMZ was triple Asian Games gold medallist, 18-year-old Yu Yiting.
Yu touched the wall first in the final of the 200m individual medley, her favoured competition, with a time of 2:09.73, one second slower than her bronze medal win at the World Aquatic Championships in Qatar in February.
Olympic champion Zhang Yufei completed the women’s 100m butterfly in 56.36 to take first place and qualify for the Olympics.
Zhang was about half a second ahead of Yu, who swam a 56.82, a personal best.
One of the highlights of the 10-day event was Yu Zidi, an 11-year-old who fell two seconds short of the Olympic qualifying time in the 400m individual medley.
However, she did nail nine personal bests in the 10 events she competed in, swimming distances ranging from 50m to 1500m in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and individual medley.
