ABU DHABI, December 17 (Xinhua) – Chinese Olympic champion Zhang Yufei won the FINA World Championships in short track swimming for the first time by winning the women’s 200m butterfly on Friday.
On the second day of competition in Abu Dhabi, Zhang finished first in two minutes and 3.01 seconds, followed by American Charlotte Hook and Lana Pudar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who both touched the wall more than a second later.
“The gold medal is exactly what I expected. I was actually going to break the world record. If I was in the good shape I had been in at the Olympics in Tokyo, it would be possible. But I took a break after the Olympics and now I feel a little disappointed with the result, says the 23-year-old.
Zhang’s result is 3.40 seconds behind the Spaniard Mireia Belmonte’s world record from 2014, which is still the only less than two minute achievement in the competition.
In the men’s 200m freestyle, 18-year-old South Korean Hwang Sunwoo repeated her compatriot Park Taehwan’s victory in the competition five years ago and won the hard-fought race in 1: 41.60.
Russia’s Aleksandr Shchegolev was just 0.03 behind Hwang and Danas Rapsys from Lithuania came third in 1: 41.73.
Ilya Shymanovich from Belarus broke the championship record in the men’s breaststroke in 55.70 seconds.
Louise Hansson not only triumphed in the women’s 100 m backstroke in 55.20 seconds but also took the gold in the women’s 4×50 m medley relay when Sweden finished the race with a time of one minute and 42.38 seconds, which corresponded to the world record from USA three. several years ago.
Source: sn.dk