China sets new relay WR as finswimming concludes at Chengdu World Games

CHENGDU, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese women's team achieved a relay golden double in finswimming at The World Games 2025 on Monday, as Hungary's Nandor Kiss set another world record in the pool.

Following their thrilling comeback victory in the women's surface relay 4x100m event on Sunday, China's team - consisting of Shu Chengjing, Xu Yichuan, Xie Wenmin, and Hu Yaoyao - aimed to surpass their own world record set at the Birmingham World Games in 2022.

Amid tremendous cheers from local supporters, the team led from start to finish in the surface relay 4x50m final, clocking a world-record time of one minute 7.99 seconds to secure the gold medal.

"We're so happy, so excited! This is the first time our four athletes have competed together, and we're really surprised and unexpected to achieve such great results," said Xu. "The audience at the venue also cheered us on and gave us a lot of motivation."

"Over the past two weeks, we've been practicing our baton exchange techniques non-stop. If we could improve by even 0.1 or 0.2 seconds, it would be crucial for breaking the record," added the 33-year-old, who's competing at her fourth World Games.

Germany, winner of the men's surface relay 4x50m on Sunday, also claimed its second relay gold in the surface relay 4x100m. Ukraine and South Korea took the silver and bronze, respectively, while China finished sixth.

Kiss and compatriot Szebasztian Szabo Gyoergyei each set a new world record in the men's surface 200m and men's bi fins 50m, respectively. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Sofiia Hrechko secured the women's surface 400m gold with a new world record of 3:11.88.

"At first, I was just fighting for a podium position until my perfect second 50 meters gave me the lead. When it came to the final sprint, I had only one thing in my mind: going faster and faster!" said Kiss. "Since the last World Games in Birmingham, I've been dreaming of this gold medal. Even now, I can hardly believe I actually made it."

The two-day finswimming competition saw seven world records and nine World Games records. Hungary topped the medal table with five golds, three silvers and one bronze, followed by Germany with 3-3-0, and Ukraine with 2-4-5, while China finished further behind with 2-1-1.

"The full-body swimsuit significantly reduces drag. As for the fins, the original material used was fiberglass, but now we use carbon fiber," Yang Xiangbin, head coach of China's finswimming team, explained the reasons for the emergence of numerous new records. "It offers better elasticity and lighter weight, though the only trade-off is that it's more brittle than fiberglass." ■