Silver medalist Ye Shiwen of China, gold medalist Katinka Hosszu of Hungary and bronze medalist Sydney Pickrem of Canada (R to L) pose for photos during the awarding ceremony of the women's 200m medley final at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, July 22, 2019. (Xinhua/Tao Xiyi)
GWANGJU, South Korea, July 22 (Xinhua) -- After an eight-year dry spell, Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen shrugged off her ups-and-downs by taking a silver medal at the 18th FINA World Swimming Championships here on Monday evening.
Ye came out from her strong freestyle stroke in the women's 200m individual medley to clock a time of 2:08.06, 0.5 seconds shy of her own Asian record set in the 2012 Olympic Games. Defending champion 'the Iron Lady' Katinka Hosszu of Hungary retained the title with a time of 2:07.53.
"I was thrilled with the medal, since I won my first world title in 2011 Shanghai worlds. It was a long-awaited success," said the 23-year-old.
Ye's medal drought lasted through the 2013, 2015, and 2017 worlds as well as the 2016 Olympic Games.
She also stopped swimming in order to concentrate on study in Tsinghua University for more than one year.
On her way back to the podium, Ye cleared the first hurdle by winning the 200m national title in 2:09.24 last March and earned her tickets to the Gwangju worlds.
"It was a sweet and bitter feeling when I stood up on the podium at worlds. The result was within my reach and I did my race smoothly, just like what my coach told me. But in fact, I expected to break my own Asian record," Ye said.
"During the race, I was calm when I was behind in the first 150m. I knew I would burst out in the freestyle. I enjoyed the race much more than before. I think I am a stronger swimmer."
"I will continue to enjoy the race as much as possible, I have confidence in myself," Ye added.
Ye will compete in the 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley later in Gwangju.
