Yufei Zhang of China put forth a very dominant performance in the heats of the women’s 200m butterfly Wednesday morning in order to take the top seed and break American Katie McLaughlin‘s junior world record.
Clocking in at 2:06.92, Zhang bettered the record McLaughlin set at last year’s Pan Pacific Championships when she finished third overall in the event with a 2:07.08.
Below are a comparison of Zhang and McLaughlin’s junior world record splits:
| Splits | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| McLaughlin 2014 | 28.73 (28.73) | 1:01.39 (32.66) | 1:34.23 (32.84) | 2:07.08 (32.85) |
| Zhang 2015 | 28.96 (28.96) | 1:01.55 (32.59) | 1:34.04 (32.49) | 2:06.92 (32.88) |
Zhang and McLaughlin both swim a very similar 200m fly although McLaughlin is known more for taking the front half of her swim out a little harder.
Zhang had the pleasure of swimming right beside McLaughlin during this morning’s heats when she broke her record, and had to come back from behind on her in order to win the final heat.
McLaughlin was out this morning in 28.36, and led Zhang by half a second at the 100 wall with a 1:00.89 split. Zhang just passed her at the 150 and never looked back, charging for home and touching in for the record.
Even if McLaughlin betters the time in tonight’s semifinal, she won’t be able to regain her junior world record. McLaughlin turned 18 in early July, and is now too old to be legible to break junior world records.
The two are the early leaders in the event however, and are both solid contenders for the gold assuming they qualify for the championship final.
Well done! Proud of Yufei Zhang.
Where does China find these 200 fly studs?