China Crushed new Asian record at both relays

China’s 4×100 freestyle relay teams crushed new Asian records on the first night of racing at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

The Chinese women’s 4×100 freestyle quartet of 17-year-old Cheng Yujie (53.39), 21-year-old Yang Junxuan (53.53), 20-year-old Wu Qingfeng (52.64), and 25-year-old Zhang Yufei (52.84) combining for a 3:32.40, good for the bronze medal behind the United States (3:31.93) and Australia (world-record 3:27.96). It marked China’s first podium finish in the event since they won it nearly three decades ago back in 1994. China won 4×200 Gold at Tokyo Olympics, in 2021. They had also set the Asian record at Tokyo Olympics. All Chines sprint Freestylers looking good and consistent.

China comfortably finished a second and a half clear of Great Britain for the final spot on the podium.

One event later, the Chinese men just barely missed out on their first medal ever in the event, but the 4×100 freestyle relay team’s performance still offered plenty of hope for the future.

Pan Zhanle, 18, fired off the second-fastest leadoff split in the field with a 47.67 to put China in a good spot after the first leg. Chen Juner, 19, split 47.85 as the group dropped slightly to 3rd place after the second leg. China fell back to 6th place after 20-year-old Wang Changhao‘s 48.89 split on the third leg, but 17-year-old Haoyu Wang brought them back to 4th with a blazing 46.97 anchor. Wang’s split was the third-fastest in the field behind only Brazil’s Gui Caribe (46.76) and Kyle Chalmers (46.56) Chalmers powered the Aussies to victory in 3:10.16 ahead of Italy (3:10.49) and the United States (3:10.81).

China missed the podium by just about half a second in 3:11.38, but they did smash the previous Asian record by more than a second. Japan’s quartet of Katsumi Nakamura (48.52), Shinri Shioura (48.19), Katsuhiro Matsumoto (47.61), and Juran Mizohata (48.22) previously held the Asian record at 3:12.54 from the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships.