The 2024 Doha World Swimming Championships ended the competition for the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relay finals on the 17th, and the Chinese team broke the Asian record and won the championship. Yu Yiting, a young player who served as the last baton, withstood the pressure and took the lead to the end, winning her first World Championship title.
The lineup sent by the Chinese team in the final on the day was Pan Zhanle, Wang Haoyu, Li Bingjie, and Yu Yiting. Previously, the Chinese team adopted a "late-start" strategy in the finals of the men's 4x200m freestyle relay and the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, while the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relay finals faced a different situation.
The first stick Pan Zhanle and the second stick Wang Haoyu are good at the men's 100m freestyle, the third stick Li Bingjie is 800m and 1500m in the individual specials, and the fourth stick Yu Yiting is mainly in the medley. This "preemptive" stick strategy requires the first half to create a lead and hold the advantage in the second half, which is a big test for 18-year-old Yu Yiting.
Thanks to the trust of my coach and teammates, in fact, my individual results in the 100m freestyle were not particularly good, and I was worried about holding back before the race, after all, everyone has great expectations for the gold medal. Yu Yiting said, "I swam 53.90 seconds in the preliminaries, which is a great encouragement for me. In the final, my legs were shaking when I handed over the baton, and I was even more nervous when I saw that we had a clear advantage. ”
Yu Yiting said: "All three of my teammates are world champions, so there is no reason why I should not work hard. They said the first three would give me an advantage, and in the end I rushed without hesitation. Now I'm part of the World Championship team, so I'm very happy and I can't believe it. ”
Olympic relay champion Li Bingjie said after the race that being chased by opponents felt more pressure than chasing opponents. "Normally in the 4x200m freestyle relay, I get very excited, but I didn't even want to talk before today, I was too nervous. I like to chase after people, and today they are chasing me, and I'm worried that something will go wrong with my stick. I was very satisfied, and my time in the 100m freestyle (53.11 seconds) was my personal best. ”
The 18-year-old Wang Haoyu has won gold medals in three relay events at this year's World Championships.
The intensity of this World Championships is high, and I played better in the relay than in the individual events, and I was very well prepared before the race. Wang Haoyu said, "When I won the first two relay championships, I didn't have any ideas. Today is different, and it will be nervous to see the advantage and the hope of winning. The biggest takeaway from this World Championships is that everyone twisted into a rope and actively rushed forward, especially the relay race, which gave me a lot of surprises. ”
**: Xinhua News Agency
Process edit: u031