2021 FINA SHORT COURSE SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
- Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- SCM (25m)
- Prize Money
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheet
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- FINA Live Results
- Omega Live Results
Day 5 finals here at these 2021 FINA Short Course World Championships brought the heat, epitomized by the women’s 100m breaststroke event.
Four out of the top five finishers each nailed a new national record as this 4-lap race went down to the touch.
Getting to the wall first was Tang Qianting, the Chinese ace who clinched her first elite international title tonight at just 17 years of age. She stopped the clock in 1:03.47 to beat out runner-up Sophie Hansson of Sweden by just .03.
With Tang’s win, the teen scored not only a new Chinese national record but she also now represents the fastest Asian swimmer of all time. Her 1:03.47 here tonight overtook the previous Chinese national record of 1:04.52 Shi Jinglin put on the books in 2014, while the former Asian Record stood at the 1:04.05 Japan’s Miho Teramura there down in 2016.
As such, Tang now becomes the first Chinese and Asian woman to ever dip under the 1:04 threshold in this women’s 1breast event. She also now ranks as the 9th fastest woman in history.
Tang wasn’t alone in her record-breaking swim, however, as Sweden’s Sophie Hansson also did some damage. The NC State swimmer earned a time of 1:03.50 to dip under the 1:04 threshold for the first time in her career.
Entering this meet, Hansson’s lifetime best was represented by the 1:04.44 she hit last month. However, tonight, splitting 30.09/33.41 she checks in as the first Swede to get under 1:04.
Finally, Tennessee Vol Mona McSharry and 5th place finisher here, Molly Renshaw of Great Britain, each notched national records of their own.
McSharry’s bronze medal-worthy 1:03.92 overtook her previous PB and Irish standard of 1:04.36 registered in 2019. As for Renshaw, the veteran’s 1:04.37 shaved .36 off of her own PB of 1:04.73 entering this meet as a new British national record.