Wang Jianjiahe Hits 4:04 400 Free To Open Military World Games

7TH CISM MILITARY WORLD GAMES

• Saturday, October 19th – Wednesday, October 23rd (swimming portion)
• Wuhan, China
• LCM
• Games website
• Entries
• SwimSwam meet preview
• Results

China exerted dominance on day 1 of the 7th CISM Military World Games, taking 50% of the medals up for grabs in their home nation. France, Russia, and Brazil were among the countries also in the mix, but they’ll need to step up their games in order to make a dent in China’s medal lead through day 1.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – WANG JIANJIAHE (CHN) – 4:04.42 *MEET RECORD
• SILVER – ZHANG YUHAN (CHN) – 4:07.29
• BRONZE – ANNA EGOROVA (RUS) – 4:11.40

17-year-old World Championships medalist Wang Jianjiahe of China led this women’s 400m free race wire-to-wire, knocking down her teammate’s Championships Record en route to gold.

After clocking a morning swim of 4:12.53 to claim lane 4 for the final, Wang busted out a big-time swim of 4:04.42 to beat the field by almost 3 seconds and overtake Zhang Yuhan‘s previous meet mark of 4:06.70 that’s been on the books since 2015.

For Zhang’s part, the 24-year-old member of China’s 4th-place 4x200m freestyle relay in Gwangju this summer, stopped the clock in 4:07.29 for silver behind Wang.

Russian swimmer Anna Egorova rounded out the top 3 in 4:11.40. Egorova was the 800m free bronze medalist at last year’s European Championships.

Wang owns both the SCM 400 and 800 free World Junior Records and took bronze in the 1500m free at this year’s World Long Course Championships. Prior to that, the teen collected 800m free gold and 400m free silver at the 2018 World Short Course Championships.

For the early-season rankings, teenager Wang now tops the world with her outing this evening in Wuhan.

MEN’S 100 BACK – FINAL

• GOLD – LI GUANGYUAN (CHN) – 54.50
• SILVER – GUILHERME BASSETO (BRA) – 54.70
• BRONZE – ROMAN LARIN (RUS) – 54.90

China continued its gold medal streak with Li Guangyuan‘s podium-topping effort of 54.50 in the men’s 100m back race.

The 22-year-old split 26.47/28.03 to get on top of the podium, holding a .2 advantage over runner-up Guilherme Basseto of Brazil who touched in 54.70. Russia’s Roman Larin was also under the 55-second threshold in 54.90 to round out the top 3 finishers.

Guangyuan placed 22nd in this event in Gwangju, registering a prelims time of 54.29 to render himself out of the final. He earned 2 relay medals at the 2018 Asian Games. He is now ranked 6th in the world this season.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – ZHU MENGHUI (CHN) – 24.81 * MEET RECORD
• SILVER – MELANIE HENIQUE (FRA) – 25.88
• BRONZE – ZHANG YUFEI (CHN) – 25.32

Chinese sprint maestro Zhu Menghui did major damage in this women’s 50m free event, blasting a time of 24.81 in tonight’s final to beat the field by an astonishing 1 second.

Zhu already established herself as the woman to beat in the heats, taking down Brazilian Graciele Herrmann’s Championships Record time of 25.08 that was recorded in 2014. Zhu shaved .07 off that record to lower it to 25.01 in the morning before getting well under the 25-second threshold with her gold medal-worthy 24.81.

French swimmer Melanie Henique produced a mark of 25.88 for silver, while Zhu’s teammate, Zhang Yufei, logged another medal for China with her 25.32 time, good enough for bronze.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK – FINAL

• GOLD – LIU YAXIN (CHN) – 2:09.92
• SILVER – DARIA USTINOVA (RUS) – 2:10.64
• BRONZE – GIULIA RAMATELLI (ITA) – 2:13.95

China collected yet another gold medal on the night, this time courtesy of Liu Yuxin. Stopping the clock in 2:09.92, Liu’s time was well off her 2:07.65 effort in Jakarta, which won her 2018 Asian Games gold in this event. But, it was enough to hold off Russia’s Daria Ustinova, who touched in 2:10.64 for silver.

Italy got on the board with its first medal in the form of bronze, with Giulia Ramatelli getting her hand on the wall in a time of 2:13.95.

MEN’S 100 BREAST – FINAL

• GOLD – ANTON CHUPKOV (RUS) – 59.17 *MEET RECORD
• SILVER – YAN ZIBEI (CHN) – 59.27
• BRONZE – QIN HaiYANG (CHN) – 59.94

Russian dynamo Anton Chupkov denied China its 5th gold medal in a row on the night, beating both Yan Zibei and Qin Haiyang in the men’s 100m breast to close out the sessions’ individual events.

Yan put Chupkov on notice by breaking the meet record this morning, logging the only sub-minute effort of the prelims. Yan touched in 59.49 to take lane 4 and enter the final in the pole position

Tonight, however, Chupkov played it cool, opening in 28.39 to Yan’s 27.93, and closed hard in 30.78 to Yan’s 31.34. The result was a 59.17 gold medal-worthy effort by Chupkov to get his hands on the wall .10 ahead of Yan’s 59.27 time which made him settle for silver. He lost his newly-minted meet record in the process.

Chinese IM ace Qin Haiyang got it done for bronze in 59.94.

Going back to Yan, the man nailed a new Chinese and Asian Record in this 100m breast event at this year’s World Championships, producing a lifetime best of 58.63 en route to bronze in Gwangju.

WOMEN’S 400 IM – FINAL

• GOLD – FANTINE LESAFFRE (FRA) – 4:37.91
• SILVER – ANH VIEN NGUYEN (VIE) – 4:44.62
• BRONZE – YANG CHANG (CHN) – 4:46.77

French national record holder in this 400m IM event, Fantine Lesaffre, showed this final who was boss, busting out a 4:37.91 performance to top the podium.

The 24-year-old routed the field by almost 7 seconds, with Vietnamese national record holder Anh Vien Gguyen coming in for silver with a time of 4:44.62, followed by Chinese swimmer Yang Chang‘s time of 4:46.77, which was good enough for bronze.

Lesaffre holds a lifetime best mark of 4:34.17 in this event, which was set when she won gold at the 2018 European Championships. She didn’t fare as well at this year’s World Championships, where she finished 8th in the final in a much slower effort of 4:39.68. In fact, her time here tonight would have bumped her up to 6th place in that Gwangju final.

Lesaffre’s outing tonight now checks the French swimmer in as #5 on the current world rankings in the event.

RELAYS

• In the men’s 4x200m free relay, China obliterated the former meet record time of 7:17.92 held by Brazil, clocking a collective effort of 7:13.35 instead. The combination of Wang Shun, Liu Shaofeng, He Junyi and Ji Xinjie beat the field by over 4 seconds, with Brazil checking in with silver in a time of 7:17.84, while Poland collected bronze in 7:20.91. The quickest split on the Chinese squad came from anchor Ji, who logged a leg of 1:47.01. Brazil’s quickest split came from 2nd swimmer Fernando Scheffer, who produced 1:47.88 for his squad.
• Chinese women followed suit in terms of relay gold, with the 4x100m medley combination of Chen Jie, Yu Jingyao, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan hitting the wall in a collective time of 4:00.16. That checked in as a new meet record, highlighted by a 53.62 anchor by Yang. Russia finished in 4:02.74 for silver, while Poland snagged its 2nd relay bronze in 4:05.95.