Short Pool World Cup Beijing station starts today
Xu Jiayu and Liu Xiang all have “small goals”
From today to Sunday, the 2008 FINA World Cup series Beijing station will be held in the Water Cube. Since this event was the Dayong of Hangzhou short pool swimming world championship in December this year, it attracted 244 players from 40 countries and regions to participate. As the host, China sent 131 players to participate in the competition, including Xu Jiayu, Liu Xiang, Fu Yuanhui, Wang Shun and other national swimming teams. Xu Jiayu, who just finished the special training in Australia, said yesterday that he would take part in two competitions of 50 m backstroke and 200 m backstroke this time. He hoped to practice on behalf of the competition, he achieved ideal results in the following Hangzhou short pool swimming world championships.
After winning five gold medals in the Asian Games, Xu Jiayu did not relax because the short pool swimming world championship in December this year will be held in Hangzhou. He said, “I want to hold this competition at home, fully demonstrate your strength.” Therefore, this time he did not adjust and relax after the previous competition. He went to Australia with Xu Guoyi, the coach in charge, and started special training. In this training, Xu Jiayu did not hire a foreign coach, so the training arrangement can be mastered by himself, mainly focusing on carving techniques. “Because next is the short pool swimming world championship, it is mainly to make some detailed changes in technology.” He said, “the technical requirements of the short pool are mainly reflected in turning around, reaching the edge and underwater legs. I think I am still good in these aspects. But every time I train, I will ask myself to keep improving and strive to do every action well, which is the best promotion for myself.”
In Windsor, Canada two years ago, Xu Jiayu gained a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke on his first short-course World Championship trip. This time in Hangzhou, he will compete for all three individual backstroke events, but the main projects are 50 m backstroke and 100 m backstroke. “The goal of the short Pool World Championship is to win the championship, which is also the premise of winning the Grand Slam.” After Xu Jiayu was in Beijing, he also participated in the two short-course World Cup in Japan and Singapore. He said, “I hope I can get the best results in every competition, and hope to win the championship in the world championships.”
In this year’s Jakarta Asian Games women’s 50 m backstroke competition, Liu Xiang, a Chinese female general who won the championship with the result of breaking the world record, said that his current state was not as good as that of the Asian Games. “Because I had a rest after the Asian Games, the training level and the competition status were not as good as before.” Liu Xiang said that in this Beijing railway station competition, she would try her best to show her level in the 50 m backstroke and the 50 m freestyle, “I will take the attitude of taking part in the competition, do your best.” In Liu Xiang’s plan, the next most important competition is the Gwangju Swimming World Championship in South Korea next year. Her training and competition arrangements will be carried out around this big goal. Our reporter Li Yuanfei J131