China’s Ye Shiwen was one of the disappointments at the World Swimming Championships last month, failing to medal in the two events she broke Olympic records in at the London 2012 Games.
Ye, 17, was 11 pounds heavier this summer than last, she told The Associated Press at worlds in Barcelona, Spain.
There’s no reports if she lost weight, but she’s certainly shaving seconds. Ye swept her two Olympic gold events, the 200 and 400 individual medleys, at the Chinese National Games in notable times.
The blog Li-Ning Tower documented the differences well here.
Here’s Ye’s progression in each event over the last year:
200 IM
2012 Olympics — 2:07.57 (gold)
2013 World Championships — 2:10.48 (fourth)
2013 Chinese National Games — 2:09.28 (gold)
400 IM
2012 Olympics — 4:28.43 (gold)
2013 World Championships — 4:38.51 (seventh)
2013 Chinese National Games — 4:31.59 (gold)
Her times at this month’s Chinese National Games would have won bronze and silver, respectively, at the 2012 Olympics, so she’s not all the way back. She also went faster in the 200 IM at Chinese Nationals in April (2:09.08). But the alarms sounded from Barcelona can be quieted a bit.
Also notable from the Chinese National Games was the performance of Sun Yang, who won five gold medals. Sun, 21, swept the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles at worlds and was named the swimmer of the meet. It will be interesting to see if Sun takes on the 200 in a major international meet in the future and a potential battle with the likes of Ryan Lochte.
Sun won the 200 free at the Chinese National Games in 1:44.47, an Asian record which would have won silver at worlds, one second faster than Lochte, who was fourth.
