Olympic gold medalist Wang Shun had to settle for silver in the 200m in his first Games of the 2026 season, while 13-year-old Yu Zidi bounced back for his third victory of the China Open Swimming Championships on Sunday.
The only athlete born in the 1990s to compete in his final, the 32-year-old Wang qualified fastest in his group in the morning heat.
He started the final strongly but faded towards the end and was overtaken by talented 21-year-old Australian William Petric, who won in one minute and 57.53 seconds.
Wang clocked 1:58.57 to take silver, while countryman Xie Yichen took bronze with 1:58.74.
The 200m champion from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Wang said she felt “stunned” in the phone room, but felt “real and good” to be back in competition. Wang last ran at the National Games in November, where she signed off with a gold medal in the 400m IM.
“More than four months have passed since then … I’m lucky I could focus on doing one thing well,” he said. “When you look back, you realize that you have dealt with a lot and faced a lot of problems. It is precisely these events that make me feel very satisfied”.
