won two bronze medals! Zhang Yufei won the bronze medal in the 100-meter butterfly and won two medals for the Chinese swimming team
In the early morning of July 29, Beijing time, the women's 100-meter butterfly final of the Paris Olympic Games was staged at the La Défense Swimming Pool. In this competition for the "Butterfly Queen" in the swimming pool, which brought together all the masters of this event in the world, Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei tried her best and swam in a time of 56.21 seconds, setting a good example for herself and the Chinese swimming team in this competition. Second medal at the Olympic Games. Together with the last Tokyo Olympics, the total number of Olympic medals she won has reached 6, 2 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. Even among the best swimmers in China, she is already outstanding. However, Zhang Yufei was distraught after failing to win the 100-meter butterfly championship that she longed for.
Starting from the preliminaries, Zhang Yufei swam better every time. From 56.50 seconds in the preliminaries to 56.15 seconds in the semi-finals, she improved her condition bit by bit. But at the same time, the momentum of the two players on the American team is getting stronger and stronger, especially Walsh, who set a new world record of 55.18 seconds this year. In the semifinals, she swam 55.38 seconds. , clearly one level ahead of other players, and seems ready to break the world record again at any time. It would be false to say there is no pressure, but Zhang Yufei is still trying hard to adjust her mentality and physical condition, not wanting to regret it again.
After starting the finals, just as Cui Dengrong coach told him before the game, Zhang Yufei bit down on Walsh who was in the next lane and was still in second place when he turned around. In the last 25 meters, Zhang Yufei was a little exhausted, but still tried hard to keep herself among the medalists. Before the sprint, another American star Husker stood out. The first hit the wall , with a time of 55.59 seconds. Walsh’s time was 55.63 seconds. Zhang Yufei failed to swim to 56 seconds, but successfully suppressed it. Germany's Kohler, the champion of this year's World Championships in Doha, fought hard and tenaciously to retain the bronze medal.
Husker
In Tokyo three years ago, Zhang Yufei lost to the Chinese Canadian McNeil in the 100-meter butterfly final despite high expectations for winning the 100-meter butterfly. Although she later won the 200-meter butterfly, won his first Olympic gold medal , made up for the regret, and cooperated with teammates to win the gold medal in the women's 4×200 meter freestyle relay event, with 2 gold medals and 2 silver medals, becoming the most outstanding and outstanding member of the Chinese swimming team. From coach Cui Dengrong to teammates, etc. Anyone who knows her well knows that what Zhang Yufei wants most is the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. In Fukuoka in 2023, Zhang Yufei finally opened her World Championships gold medal account and dominated the 100-meter butterfly final, which she cared about most. Her pressure was relieved to a certain extent and she breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, Zhang Yufei was very successful throughout 2023. It was the most perfect year in her career. She won 23 gold medals in international competitions, remained undefeated with 9 gold medals in the Universiade and 6 gold medals in the Asian Games, and won Asian Games Most Valuable Athlete Award.
Entering the new year, in order to prepare for the Paris Olympics with all their strength, Zhang Yufei and her teammates Qin Haiyang chose to avoid the Doha World Championships at the beginning of the year, giving up personal honors that were easier to obtain, and fully prepared for the Olympics. At the National Championships and Paris Olympic Trials at the end of April, Zhang Yufei also easily won the championship in her main event. However, due to insufficient competition in the domestic arena, her results were relatively average.
After the championship game, Zhang Yufei did not return to Beijing. The entire team conducted closed training in Shanghai and then flew directly to Paris in early July.Since Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang, Xu Jiayu and other ace players in the Chinese team did not participate in international competitions during the year until the start of the Olympic Games, many swimming fans did not find an intuitive
performance comparison between them and the world's masters, and a direct The scene of the conversation did not make it very clear about their true competitive status. However, there are internal sources saying that Zhang Yufei once exceeded the world record time during training. This record refers to the original world record of 55.48 seconds held by Swedish star Sjöström for 8 years. This at least shows that Zhang Yufei The training situation and status are stable and normal.
But on June 16, the 21-year-old Walsh significantly improved the women's 100-meter butterfly world record at the U.S. Olympic trials. The athlete only finished seventh in the finals of the Fukuoka World Championships. Her results The rapid improvement, coupled with the eager eyes of another butterfly star Husker, defending champion McNeil and others, has made the competition for the Olympic gold medal in the women's 100-meter butterfly extremely fierce, and Zhang Yufei is also facing a more difficult challenge. . On the first day of swimming pool competition, she took on the task of making two appearances in the evening. First, she advanced in the 100-meter butterfly preliminaries, and then she and her teammates won the Chinese team's first medal in this Olympics. Won third place in the women's 4×100m freestyle relay final.
Although in this Olympics, her title as the number one model worker will be given to her teammate Li Bingjie, who participated in 9 Days 8 and marched the longest distance, Zhang Yufei is still one of the Chinese athletes who is the most conscientious and undertakes the most competition tasks. In the next seven days, she will also compete in the women's 200-meter butterfly competition and strive to defend her title, as well as the women's 50-meter freestyle competition, and several relay competition tasks. She still has a high possibility of winning the gold medal. Zhang Yufei herself has said that at the age of 26, she has passed her peak age and is no longer in her best competitive condition, but she will try her best not to leave any regrets.
text/Beiqing Sports Liu Ailin
