ASIAN GAMES/SWIMMING: World 50 m Back record for China’s Xiang Liu

The 18th Asian Games is continuing in Indonesia, with excellent swimming competition in Jakarta, including a world record in the women’s 50 m Backstroke. Highlights of the first three days in the pool:

Men’s 200/400/800 m Freestyles: China’s Yang Sun won his sixth, seventh and eighth career Asian Games golds, winning the 200-400-800 m races and has the possibility for another gold in the 1,500 m if he chooses to compete.

His 200 m win in 1:45.43 is the no. 2 time in the world this year, and his 400 m win in 3:42.92 was the top mark in the world for 2018.

Men’s 50/100 m Backstrokes: A brilliant duel in the 100 m Back ended in a 52.34-52.53 win for China’s Jiayu Xu over Japan’s Ryosuke Irie with the no. 2 and 3 times in the world for 2018, behind American Ryan Murphy’s 51.94.

The same 1-2 finish was recorded on the second night of the Games in the 50 m Back as Xu won by 24.75-24.88.

Men’s 200 m Medley: China’s Shun Wang moved to no. 3 on the world list for 2018 with a 1:56.52 win over Japan’s Kosuke Hagino (1:56.75).

Women’s 50 m Backstroke: A nine-year-old record went down as China’s Liang Xiu – no relation to the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 110 m Hurdles in track & Field – swam 26.98 for the first world record of the Asian Games. China’s Jing Zhao had the old mark of 27.06 from the 2009 World Championships in Rome (ITA).

Women’s 400 m Medley: Japan’s Yui Ohashi was already the world leader at 4:33.77 at the Pan-Pacific Championships, but recorded the no. 2 time in the world at 4:34.58.

There are three more nights of swimming to go; the track & field action starts on Saturday (25th).

Through the first three days of overall competition, China leads with 62 medals (32-18-12) to 48 for Japan (12-18-18) and 34 for Korea (8-12-14). The biggest individual winner – and she’s not done – is Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee with five (4-1-0).