Wu Qingfeng Speeds to 50 Freestyle Title at Chinese Nationals; Wang Changhao Sets NR in 50 Fly
It wasn’t the world record that Kate Douglass unleashed a night earlier, but Wu Qingfeng put together a strong performance in the 50-meter freestyle during Saturday evening’s finals at the Chinese National Championships. The silver medalist in the event at last summer’s World Championships in Singapore, Wu delivered a winning mark of 24.02 to easily reach the wall ahead of Cheng Yujie (24.39) and Zhang Yufei (24.50).
Wu’s time is the third-fastest in the world this year, trailing only the world record from Douglass (23.59) and a 23.78 effort from Gretchen Walsh. Both of those swims were produced on Friday night at the TYR Pro Series stop in Indianapolis. With her victory in the 50 freestyle, Wu will now shift her focus to September, when the Asian Games will be held in Tokyo.
Another impressive sprint showing was supplied by Wang Changhao, who lowered his own national record in the 50 butterfly. Wang checked in with a time of 23.21, which cut .04 off the record he set in 2023. Coming off a Chinese record in the 100 butterfly, Xu Fang was the runnerup to Wang, going 23.42.
Distance standout Fei Liwei added the 800 freestyle title to his earlier victory in the 1500 freestyle when he cruised away from the field in 7:47.29. That mark was more than eight seconds clear of the 7:55.95 of Li Chengyu, who placed second. In other action, Mak Sai Ting Adam won the 200 breaststroke in 2:09.33 to break the Hong Kong record while the women’s version of the event went to Zhu Leiju in 2:25.11.
