BEIJING -- Chinese top breaststroker Qi Hui powered through the water to win the women's 100 meters breaststroke at Swimming China Open here on Sunday, declaring her comeback after a long period of downturn.
Qi Hui of China competes in the women's 100m breaststroke final at Swimming China Open in China's newly-opened National Aquactics Center, or "Water Cube", Feb. 3, 2008. [Xinhua] |
Qi, 23, led the final since the beginning and finished first in one minute 9.24 seconds with a strong dash.
"I expected to swim faster today than I did in the heats, but my thigh strained a little during the race last night," said Qi, who led the heats Saturday evening in 1:08.22, under the Olympic qualifying A standard of 1:09.01
South Korean Kung Seul Ki, gold medallist of the 200 meters breaststroke on Saturday trailed behind in 1:09.30 and Qi's national teammate Sun Ye finished third in 1:09.71.
Qi experienced a waterloo defeat at the 2007 World Championships after using an "unsuccessful training method" as she said, and disappeared from the competitive swimming for almost a whole year.
"I spent quite a long time to resume my strength and I was still not in top form," said Qi. "But I felt much better now."
Chinese top freestyler Zhang Lin met no challenge at all in the men's 1,500 meters race, one day after his national record breaking performance in the 400 meters freestyle final on Saturday.
The 21-year-old promising star touched the wall first in 15:5.57 seconds, followed by Romanian Dragos Coman in 15:35.39 and Daniel Delgadillo from Mexcio in 15:47.00.
This is Zhang's third gold at the Olympic test competition, as he also anchored the Chinese team to win the men's 4x200 meters relay on Saturday.
The German squad also grabbed two golds as veteran Annika Lurz triumphed in the women's 400 meters freestyle before leading the quartet to victory in the women's 4x100 freestyle relay.
Japanese Ryo Tateishi edged Olympic silver medallist Daniel Gyurtal from Hungary to clinch the title of the men's 200 meters breaststroke race in 2:13.61. He already bagged home a gold in Saturday's 100m breaststroke final.
Swedish Stefan Nystrand unsurprisingly took victory in the men's 100 meters freestyle by clocking 48.94 seconds. The 26-year-old sprinter is also the hot favorite in the men's 50 meters freestyle on Monday as he claimed the bronze in the event at last year's World Championships.
