Ye bounces back to win 200m medley

The women's 200m individual medley final at the National Games witnessed a bounce back by Olympic champion Ye Shiwen, on two minutes 9.28 seconds for gold just weeks after a 2:10.48 fourth-finish in Barcelona, where she was out of shape.

The 17-year-old, winner of the 200m and 400m im at the London Games, also took the 400m im gold at the National Games on 4:31.59. She finished the seventh of the event at Barcelona.

The winning mark of Ye was the world fourth fastest time of year, and could have earned her a silver medal at the Barcelona Worlds. Shanghai girl Chen Xinyi was second in 2:09.55, only 0.27 second slower than Ye, which ranked sixth of the world this year and could have won a bronze at the Barcelona Worlds.

Hungary's swimmer Katinka Hosszu, winner of both the medley events at Barcelona, held the best time of the year in 2:07.92.

"I noticed that other swimmers were also very competitive, so I will train harder in the future," said Ye.

"After the World Championships, I went to Kunming for training. I was relaxed there and made some adjustment," Ye explained how she did to find her form back.

Butterfly veteran Wu Peng claimed his fourth consecutive 200m fly gold at the National Games in 1:55.19, which was the fourth best time of the world this year. Wu, 26, claimed the bronze of the event at the Barcelona Worlds in 1:55.09.

Chen Yin of Hebei was second in 1:55.55, while the bronze came to his teammate Hao Yun in 1:56.82.

Wu, the most successful butterfly swimmer in China, was the silver medallist of 200m fly in 2007 Melbourne Worlds and bronze medallist in 2011 Shanghai Worlds. He was considering retirement after the National Games.

After winning the men's 4X100m free relay Thursday, Zhejiang also claimed the 200m free relay Saturday, which was also the fourth title for Swimming star Sun Yang at the National Games.

Sun, Wu, Lu Zhiwu and Wang Shun clocked 7:12.79 to win the gold, while Henan and Shanghai came second and third respectively.

The double Olympic champion Sun, who registered in seven events at the National Games, has already claimed the 200m, 400m free and 4X100m free relay titles in the previous days.

Sun, winner of the 400m, 800m and 1,500m free at the Barcelona World Championships in July, took a bite of short distance here as he finished third in the 100m free semifinals. The final will take place on Sunday.

The 21-year-old touched in 49.34. Ning Zetao of Chinese Army was first in 49.09, while Lu Zhiwu of Zhejiang came second in 49.14.

The world fastest time of 100m free was 47.53, creating by James Magnussen of Australia.

"I don't care whether I can win the title," said Sun. "I just want to have a try."

Also Saturday, the 18-year-old Shanxi girl Cao Yue, winner of the 400m free at the National Games, won the 200m title with a personal best 1:56.25, which was the world sixth fastest time of the year.