Sun Yang wins Men’s 1500m freestyle gold medal: Day four – Chinese Long Course National Championships
Chinese swimming superstar, Sun Yang defended his national 1500m freestyle title with great audacity on the fourth day of the ongoing 2011 Chinese Long Course National Swimming Championships on September 25, in Rizhao, China.
Yang presented a notable swim in the Men’s 1500m discipline and stayed prominently ahead of his following swimmers. The Chinese veteran clocked an astonishing time of 14 minutes and 45.78 seconds to own the crown of distant freestyle swim.
Yang topped the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) rankings table in the 1500m discipline, as he produced a time of 14 minutes and 34.14 seconds at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July. His time was marginally under the previous
record of 14 minutes and 34.56 seconds, set by Grant Hackett of Australia in 2001. The 19-year-old Chinese champion stunned the aquatic world by improving the 10-year-old world record of Hackett.
In addition, Yang also posted a second fastest time of 14 minutes and 42.52 seconds in the same discipline earlier this year, whereas, he also captured gold medals of 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle earlier at the championship.
Yang was followed by his national rival, Li Yunqi, who remained considerably away from him and occupied the podium for silver medal. Yunqi was nearly twenty four seconds behind Yang, as he submitted a time of 15 minutes and 09.40 seconds for second position.
The third spot of the race was secured by Wang Hunan, who stayed nearly twelve seconds slower than Yunqi and reached the podium for bronze medal, by reporting in a time of 15 minutes and 21.06 seconds.
Yang impressed the national crowd by overpowering the efforts of his fellow competitors in a very comfortable manner. He was extremely happy with his fourth gold medal of the national championships, as he was the only Chinese swimmer to reach the podium
on four occasions, in four days.
In addition, the world champion also expressed his desire of continuing his dominance and defending his title at the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
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