Chinese swimmers Tang Qianting and Qin Haiyang shattered two short course Asian records at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Shanghai on Saturday, marking a significant achievement for China’s swimming community.
Tang Qianting, 20, clinched the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke, setting a new Asian record with a time of 1:02.53. “I believe records are meant to be broken,” Tang expressed after her victory. “I want to become the world record holder in the future.” Her performance was just 0.17 seconds shy of the world record held by Alia Atkinson of Jamaica.
Tang acknowledged a bit of disappointment for not breaking the world record. “It’s a little pity because I was going after the world record,” she said. “I didn’t have systematic training recently. After I finish the events here, I will go back to practice. I hope I can perform my best and break the world record in Budapest.”
In the men’s 50-meter breaststroke, Qin Haiyang set a new Asian record by winning the event in 25.38 seconds. He narrowly edged out silver medalist Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus by 0.13 seconds and bronze medalist Sun Jiajun by 0.41 seconds.
Home favorite Pan Zhanle delivered a strong performance but fell just short of victory in the men’s 100-meter freestyle final. Thomas Ceccon of Italy secured the gold with a time of 46.32 seconds, with Pan close behind at 46.35 seconds. Pieter Coetze of South Africa took the bronze.
In the women’s 50-meter butterfly final, China’s Zhang Yufei and Yu Yiting added to the medal tally, earning silver and bronze respectively. Zhang finished the race in 24.94 seconds, while Yu clocked in at 25.07 seconds. Kate Douglass of the United States won the gold medal in 24.54 seconds.
The achievements at the World Cup have boosted the morale of China’s swimming team, with athletes expressing optimism for future competitions. Tang remarked, “I want this win to be a start, not an end to a more glorious journey.”
Reference(s):
Chinese swimmers break two short course Asian records at World Cup
cgtn.com
