China's Wang Jianjiahe breaks Asian record for women's 800m freestyle

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Wang Jianjiahe broke the Asian record for women's 800-meter freestyle with 8:14.64 to win the title on Saturday at the 2019 Chinese National Swimming Championships.

The final of women's 800-meter freestyle was mainly about competition between Wang and her teammate Li Bingjie who kept the previous Asian record of 8:15.46. Wang established a steady lead from the beginning and left no chance for Li before she pocketed her third gold medal at the Championships. Li was runner-up with 8:27.97 while Bi Wenxin came in third with 8:29.35.

Wang Yichun poses for a photo after winning the title of women's 50m butterfly stroke at the 2019 Chinese National Swimming Championships, March 30. /VCG Photo

In the final of women's 50-meter butterfly stroke, Wang Yichun, Zhang Yufei and Lin Xintong finished the first half following the national record closely, but all slowed down in sprinting. In the end, Wang triumphed with 26.04, faster than Zhang's 26.30 and Lin's 26.56.

In the final of men's 50-meter freestyle, Yu Hexin (22.17) defeated Zhu Sunxiao (22.41) and Zhao Xianjian (22.61) to claim the gold medal. Men's 100-meter freestyle champion He Junyi missed the victory rostrum by 0.01 second (22.62).

Li Zhuhao poses for a photo after winning the men's 100m butterfly stroke at the 2019 Chinese National Swimming Championships, March 30. /VCG Photo

The final of men's 100-meter butterfly stroke became a "civil war" of East China's Zhejiang Province as five athletes – Li Zhuhao, Wang Shun, Hong Jinquan, Shen Jiahao and Zheng Xiaojing – are from this province. In the end, Li began to accelerate in the second half of the competition and won the title with 51.81, followed by Wang (52.03) and Zheng (52.28).

The gold medal of women's 200-meter backstroke went to Liu Yaxin who claimed the title of the same event at the 2018 Asian Games. Though she fell behind in the first 50 meters, Liu managed to come back and finished the race with 2:08.44. Peng Xuwei and Zhang Wenwen came in as second and third with 2:10.21 and 2:11.79 respectively.