ANSHAN, China, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- While Ye Shiwen tasted the sweet victory in her new favorite 200m breaststroke, world champion Xu Jiayu suffered a bitter upset in the 200m backstroke at the Chinese Autumn Swimming Championships here on Tuesday.
As the two-time Olympic champion in the individual medley, Ye excelled at her new specialty in breaststroke after she finished fourth place in 200m breaststroke at the Gwangju World Championships in late July. Ye never looked back when she competed in the national meet and touched home first in a time of two minutes 25.79 seconds. He Yun and Yu Jingyao came second and third 2:28.32 and 2:28.41, respectively.
In the men's 200m backstroke final, Xu, 100m world champion and long-time winner of the backstroke in the national meets, showed below-par form and finished 2:02.39, far behind the champion Wang Yutian 1:59.14 and runner-up Jin Yan 1:59.77.
Cong Yu won a close battle in the men's 200m individual medley 2:01.65 and beat Ren Zhiyong by 0.15; Zhu Menghui sprinted 54.34 to crown in the women's 100m freestyle.
The Championships, held from September 4 to 12, is considered a rehearsal for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with a morning final competition format.
A total of 522 swimmers took part in the meet, with 278 male and 244 female participants from 25 teams.
