14-Yr-Old Xie Yichen Busts Out 2:00.12 LCM 200 IM At Chinese Nationals

03/21/2025 12:10 PM

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 CHINESE NATIONAL SPRING SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, March 18th – Sunday, March 23rd
• Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
• LCM (50m)
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
• Day 3 Recap
• Results via Asian media

Day four of the 2025 Chinese National Spring Swimming Championships saw three of the nation’s top five fastest 100m freestylers of all time dive in for the event.

He Junyi got to the wall first in this non-World Championships qualifier, posting a winning effort of 48.44.

That finished a hair ahead of Wang Haoyu who settled for silver by the narrowest of margins, logging 48.45 as runner-up.

Chen Juner rounded out the podium this evening in 48.71.

Wang ranks as China’s 3rd-swiftest 100m free performer in history, courtesy of his 47.89 personal best put up at this same competition 2 years ago. He is China’s 4th-best ever with a PB of 48.10 from 2019 while Chen is ranked 5th overall with a career-quickest mar of 48.13 from last year.

With their performances here, He and Wang now represent the 4th- and 5th-fastest swimmers in the world this season.

The men’s 200m IM also took place today, with Zhang Zhanshuo wrangling up the win in a time of 1:58.59.

Although Zhang posted the sole sub-2:00 time of the field, Xie Yichen, just 14 years of age, snagged the silver in 2:00.12.

Xie’s performance is massive for a 14-year-old. For perspective, the current U.S. National Age Group Record for 13-and-14-year-old boys rests over 3 seconds slower – the 2:03.73 Shareef Elaydi put on the books last year.

Looking back further, Xie’s time also outperformed the 2:02.50 American Olympic icon Michael Phelps turned in at the age of 14.

Finally, Chen Luying produced a time of 2:07.30 to win the women’s 200m butterfly race by nearly a second.

Yu Liyan registered 2:08.19 followed by Tian Songyan who hit 2:08.31. Yu Yiting was also in the race, posting 2:09.03 for a new personal best.

18-year-old Chen has been as fast as 2:06.81 in her career and her effort this evening inserts her into the season’s world rankings list in slot #3.

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