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October 22, 2009

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Home » Sports » Swimming

Liu sets new mark in 200m fly

Olympic champion Liu Zige set a world record en route to her 200m butterfly title at the National Games in Jinan, Shandong Province, yesterday.

The Chinese sensation powered home in an amazing 2:01.81, shaving 1.6 seconds off the previous world mark of 2:03.41 set by Australian Jessica Schipper at the Rome World Championships last summer.

She was almost four seconds clear of her long-time arch rival Jiao Liuyang, runner-up at the Beijing Olympics, who posted 2:05.87 to settle for silver.

The bronze medal went to Gong Jie who finished 2:06.18. Both Jiao and Gong compete for the Chinese army team.

Liu's splash of speed lit up the Jinan Natatorium. Liu, who is competing for Shanghai at the Games, seized the lead immediately off the pad and roared through the water to secure the victory, leaving the rest of her rivals lamenting the unreachable gap.

At the Beijing Olympics last year, Liu clocked 2:04.18 seconds in the 200m butterfly final to win China's only swimming gold, wiping over one second off the then world best set by Schipper in 2006.

In the men's 200m butterfly, upcoming talent Ma Xiang erased the national record yesterday.

The 18-year-old Ma from Tianjin municipality powered home in 2:12.37, ripping off the national record - 2:12.75 - set by national champion Xie Zhi at the 2009 National Swimming Championships six months ago.

Newly crowned Huang Chaosheng, winner of the 400m individual medley, claimed the silver in 2:12.67, which was also inside the previous national record. Xue Ruipeng from Shanxi Province placed third in 2:13.51. The world record for the event stands at 2:07.31.

Xie, champion in the men's 100m breaststroke, finished fourth in 2:13.95.





 

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