Former Olympic champion Ye clinches 1st national title of breaststroke

File photo of Ye Shiwen competes during the National Games in Tianjin on Sept 2, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

HUANGSHAN, Anhui - Former Olympic champion Ye Shiwen took her first national title of breaststroke here on Sunday by winning the 100m race at the Chinese Swimming National Championships.

Her timing of one minute and 9.26 seconds is nearly five seconds behind the national record, but the two-time Olympic champion in individual medley events was quite satisfied with her performance on Sunday evening.

"It's my personal best in the event," said the 21-year-old, "I'm a little bit surprised by the title."

Ye finished fourth in the 50m backstroke final on Saturday and was fifth in the 50m breaststroke on Friday.

Teenager Wang Yichun from Shandong was the only swimmer who finished the women's 100m butterfly final within one minute. After clocking in 58.80 seconds, the 12-year-old grabbed her second national title.

Wang's first national title came on Saturday as she won the 50m butterfly final with a personal best result of 25.95 seconds, 0.58 seconds behind the national mark.

"I started swimming at the age of six," said Wang. "I haven't thought about my future plan. I just want to keep training and to see what will happen."

Wang finished fourth in the 100m butterfly event at the National Games with a personal best of 58.44 seconds, 1.03 seconds behind the gold medalist Zhou Yilin.

In other actions, Yang Junxuan of Shandong won the women's 200m freestyle in one minute and 58.02 seconds. Her teammate Wang Peng took victory in the men's 50m backstroke in 25.60 seconds.