China's swimming stars expect to carry Hangzhou momentum to Paris
Members of China's swimming team pose with their medals at the end of the swimming events at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on September 29, 2023.
Host China demonstrated its power in the pool as its team bagged an Asian Games record high 28 gold medals in swimming in Hangzhou, nine more than what they got at the Jakarta Games five years ago.
South Korea claimed six golds, six silvers and 10 bronzes while Japan, who tied China with 19 gold medals in Jakarta, suffered a low form and ranked third in the medal tally with five golds, 10 silvers and 15 bronzes.
China's swimming aces are in their top form who also clinched 21 silver and nine bronze medals in Hangzhou. As the Paris Games is only 10 months to go, they took the Asian Games as a trial and have already set their sights on the Olympic Games.
Electric Zhang Yufei collected six gold medals while Qin Haiyang and Xu Jiayu both completed hat-trick in their signature events.
Despite having a cold, Olympic champion Zhang grabbed her sixth gold in the Games on Friday, winning the women's 50m butterfly with a new Games record of 25.10 seconds, surpassing the previous mark of 25.55 set by Japan's Rikako Ikee at the Jakarta Asiad.
"It was the first time that I competed with an illness, so it affected my performance a bit," admitted 25-year-old Zhang.
"I will give myself 95 points out of 100 for my performances at these Games," she said, adding that she hopes to do better in Paris.
Qin kept his top form, matching his unprecedented world championships exploits by sweeping the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke titles in Hangzhou. He swam a 26.25 in the 50m heats, the 10th fastest time ever only behind British world record holder Adam Peaty who owns the first nine fastest swims in the history of men's 50m breaststroke.
"Before the Asian Games, I didn't think about how many golds I will get, I just wanted to do what I can in every event. It was more about letting nature take its course," Qin said.
Qin jumped to fame this summer when he became the first man in history to sweep all three breaststroke titles at a world championships in Fukuoka. He also shattered Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook's world mark in the 200m breast with a blistering 2:05.48.
"Now it's just a start. I believe I can perform at a higher level at the Paris Olympics," he declared.
Teen sensation Pan Zhanle, 19, proved himself by winning the men's 100m freestyle and became only the fifth man ever below 47 seconds in 100m.
Veteran swimmers also delighted the home crowd. London Olympic double champion Ye Shiwen is expecting another peak in her career after winning the women's 200m breast in the first time at a major competition. The 29-year-old Wang Shun swam the seventh fastest 200m medley in history. Backstroke specialist Xu collected five gold, just the same with Jakarta Games.
South Korea surpassed Japan in the medal tally. Kim Woo-min won the men's 400m freestyle on Friday, becoming only the third swimmer from the country to win three titles at a single Asiad. Baek In-chul shocked the swimming world with his 50m butterfly gold medal with an Asian record time of 23.29.
Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong, China showed she is the world top freestyler by winning the women's 100m and 200m free.
Japan's swimming star Ikee Rikako, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2019, took a bronze in the women's 50m fly and helped Japan claim a silver in the women's 4X100m free relay.
