2 golds have China off to strong start

FUKUOKA, Japan — China won just a single gold medal at last year’s swimming world championships in Hungary. But on the second day of this year’s competition in Japan, the Chinese claimed two golds in about 10 minutes to open the session.

And they are sure to win more with six days to go in the pool.

The American pair of Kate Douglas and Alex Walsh, college teammates at the University of Virginia, later went 1-2 in the 200-meter individual medley with Yu Yiting of China taking bronze. It was the Americans first gold.

“That was a huge honor for me to do it tonight,” said Douglass, who overtook Walsh in the final 50-meter freestyle leg to finish in 2 minutes, 07.17 seconds. “I really just wanted to get the gold for Team USA tonight, and I’m so happy I did that.”

Walsh finished in 2:07.97 and Yu in 2:08.74.

The Chinese sweep saw Zhang Yufei win the women’s 100 butterfly and Qin Haiyang go wireto-wire in the men’s 100 breaststroke.

Zhang rallied over the final 15 meters, touching in 56.12 seconds. Maggie MacNeil of Canada finished second in 56.45, and Stanford’s Torri Huske of the United States clocked 56.61 for third just two years after placing fourth in the event at the Tokyo Olympics.

The women’s race was a rematch of the final two years ago at the Tokyo Games. The top four finishers in Tokyo were separated by only 14 hundredths of a second. That race went to MacNeil, followed by Zhang and Australian swimmer Emma McKeon. Huske was .01 behind McKeon and missed out on a medal.

“This is my first gold medal in the world championships,” Zhang said, calling her competitors MacNeil, McKeon and Huske “my old friends.”

Qin was never challenged in the 100 breaststroke and finished in 57.69. Three men tied for second in 58,72: Nic Fink of the United States, Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy and Arno Kamming of the Netherlands.