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Luo Wins China's First Breaststroke Swimming World Title
Luo Wins China's First Breaststroke Swimming World Title
Chinese woman swimmer Luo Xuejuan made a breakthrough by winning the country's first ever breaststroke swimming world title at the 9th FINA world championships Monday in Fukuoka.
Making her world championships debut in the Fukuoka event, the 17-year-old from east China's Zhejiang Province clocked a championships record and this year's world's best time of one minute 7.18 seconds in winning the 100 meters breaststroke event. She had set a meet record of 1:07.48 in the event's heats here on Sunday.
The best previous Chinese performance in breaststroke swimming at world championships was a 2-3 finish in the 100m event and a silver medal in the 200m event, during the 1994 world championships in Rome.
Australian Leisel Jones finished second in 1:07.96 and Hungarian Agnes Kovacs was third in 1:08.50, at the Fukuoka event on Monday.
"I am not satisfied with my performance today as pace at the first half was not as fast as I'd planned," Luo said after her victory. "My intention was to swim under 1:07.00 but actually I swam slower," she said.
"I was nervous today and I didn't sleep well last night," she admitted.
"The introduction of the 50m event (breaststroke) at the world championships is good for me as I'm good at shorter distance. I'm confident to give a best shot at the 50m event (on Friday)," she added.
Luo was also to compete in the 200m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay events.
Profile of Luo Xuejuan Luo was born on January 26, 1984 in Hangzhou, capital of the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. She began learning swimming at the age of seven, when she was studying in a primary school.
Luo became a member of the provincial swimming team in 1996, where she began regular training under the instruction of her current coach Zhang Yadong. Three years later, Luo won her first national title.
Luo clocked the world's best time of 31.45 seconds for the 50m and a world's best of 1:07.42 for the 100m event, at last year's national swimming champions meeting in April, five months before the Olympic Games. She competed in the 200m and finished eighth in Sydney.
Making her world championships debut in Fukuoka, the 17-year- old set a championships record of 1:07.48 in the 100m heats on Sunday and won the final in a new meet record of 1:07.18.
Luo was not happy, however, with her title-winning performance, thinking her pace was not as fast as planned during the first half. She admitted to be nervous before the race and said she had a poor sleep the previous night.
Luo was happy though for the introduction of the 50m event at world championships in Fukuoka and hoped to have it listed as an Olympic event. "I'm good at shorter distances," she said.
"I'm confident for and will give my best shot at the 50m event here (on Friday)," she added.
Luo was also to compete in the 200m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay events.
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