Four Chinese swimmers, Pan Zhanle, Qin Haiyang, Yang Junxuan and Yu Yiting stepped onto the podium on the first day of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Incheon, South Korea, on Thursday.
Pan finished the men’s 400-meter freestyle final in 3:36.43, defeating Duncan Scott of Britain who came in second with a time of 3:37.04, and Kieran Smith of the U.S. who came in third with 3:37.15.
Pan was still in fourth place during the final 50 meters of the race, but managed to come back in the final sprint. His victory also witnessed a six-second improvement of his personal best performance.
Qin earned the men’s 100-meter breaststroke silver medal after finishing the final in 56.22 seconds. The gold went to Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus who won it with 56.10 seconds. Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands took bronze with 56.59 seconds.
Yang claimed the women’s 50-meter freestyle silver medal in a close final against Katarzyna Wasick of Poland and Milla Jansen of Australia. Wasick touched the wall first in 23.51 seconds, ahead of Yang who did it in 24.11 seconds and Jansen who finished in 24.32 seconds.
The fourth medal for China was earned by Yu, who came second in the women’s 100-meter medley event. Kate Douglass of the U.S. won gold with 56.97 seconds. Yu finished the final in 57.88 seconds and Mary-Sophie Harvey of Canada did it in 57.95 seconds.
Yu’s compatriot Tang Qianting came in fifth with 58.84 seconds.