Olympic champion Ye Shiwen comes back to take 200 IM national crown

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China's swimming star Ye Shiwen has won the gold medal of the women's 200m individual medley with ease at the National Swimming Championships in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province.

The 2012 London Olympic champion's winning time of two minutes and 9.24 seconds was the third best in the world this year.

National record holder Yan Zibei collected the gold medal of the men's 100m breaststroke in 59.52 seconds, as Wang Lizhuo from Heilongjiang followed up in 59.75 seconds and Qin Haiyang took the bronze medal.

Zhang Yufei, the bronze medalist of the World Championships, claimed the women's 100m butterfly title in 57.69 seconds. Wang Yichun from Shandong finished second while Zhu Jiaming from Fujian was third.

Olympic champion Sun Yang led the men's 200m freestyle in preliminaries in 1:47.06.

Ye Shiwen in action at the Chinese National Swimming Championships, March 25, 2019. /VCG Photo

Struggling with weight and height for years, Ye did not win any medals from the 2016 Olympic Games as well as other big events. And she even stopped swimming in order to concentrate on her studies at Tsinghua University for about two years.

"After long and deep thoughts, I realized that I still have a dream in swimming. So I came back just before the FINA Short Course World Championships in Hangzhou," said the 23-year-old. "Maybe it's hard to repeat my previous feat, but I'm trying to get back and get stronger. And my dream is to stand at the top of the world."

On her way back to the top, Ye cleared the first hurdle by winning the 200m individual medley national title in 2:09.24, roughly two seconds away from her personal best of 2:07.57 when she set the Olympic record in 2012.

"I did not feel tired with breathing but with my muscles in the final. I hoped to swim around 2:08," Ye said. "I was not to compare it with my previous timing as I just wanted to swim to my best in recent training."

Ye Shiwen at the FINA World Swimming Championships at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo, December 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

As the youngest Golden Slam winner in the history of the FINA World Championships, including long course and short course, and the Olympic Games, Ye said she was still in love with swimming although she felt depressed during those harsh times.

"Swimming is still my priority in life. I feel more relaxed and confident in myself now. I'm happy that I'm back to the pool," Ye said.

Ye will also compete in the 200m breaststroke and 400m IM in Qingdao. "I have fun in breaststroke which was my previous favorite when I was young," Ye said.

Ye finished 6th in the 200m breaststroke, her new battlefield and 9th in the 100m individual medley at the 14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) during December 11-16, 2018.

"The Hangzhou short-course worlds was a new start for me and the 200 IM title today gave a boost to my confidence for the coming World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, in July. I will keep fighting," Ye said.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency