Chinese swimmer Qi Hui claimed her second gold at China Open by winning the women's 200 meters individual medley in Beijing on Monday.

Qi didn't lead the squad of eight until the third lap where she showed her great advantage in breaststroke. After touching the wall first in two minutes 14.14 seconds, Qi also met the Olympic qualifying A standard of 2:15.27.

"I'm quite satisfied with the result today and the previous two events," said Qi who also grabbed the gold in the women's 100 meters breaststroke on Sunday and entered the final in the 200 meters breaststroke.

"I have achieved my goals of swimming under the Olympic qualifying A standards in the three events, and two golds in hand made it better," Qi added.

The 23-year-old Qi held the third position in the first two laps on Monday while Sze Hang Yu from Hong Kong led the butterfly lap, then South Korean teenager Choi Hye Ra overtook the leading position in the backstroke lap.

"I lost my pace during the backstroke lap, so I dared not to pull off all the stops in breaststroke. What's more, I strained my thigh a little on Saturday," Qi explained.

But the breaststroke specialist still managed to push herself forward in the third lap and made an impelling dash in freestyle to win the race.

The 16-year-old Choi, who qualified for the final with the fastest time in Sunday's heats, followed Qi in 2:16.71 for the siliver and German Annika Mehlhorn took the bronze in 2:17.16.

Qi suffered disastrous failure at the 2007 World Championships due to unsuccessful training method and disappeared from the competing pool for almost a whole year.

"I'm still not in top form," Qi said."I will train hard and confirm which events to compete in at the Olympics after the national championships by the end of March."
 
 
Hungarian Szepesi Clinches in Women's 200 Meters Backstroke at China Open

Nikolett Szepesi from Hungary edged the host swimmer Chen Yanyan to clinch the title of the women's 200 meters backstroke at China Open on Monday.

Szepesi, 20, trailed behind Chen in the openning lap, but overtook the leading position after the first turn until finishing the race first in two minutes 13.33 seconds.

"I felt really tired during the race. I left my hotel at seven this morning," said Szepesi, who cruised into the final with the fastest qualifying time of 2:14.31.

The 22-year-old Chen took the silver in 2:13.85 ahead of world championships runnerup Antje Buschschul from Germany, who finished the final in 2:15.30.

Szepesi experienced her first Olympic Games at Athens 2004, but failed to race into the semifinals of the 100 meters backstroke event.

"After all, I'm satisfied with my performance today," added

German Helge Meeuw takes gold of men's 100 meters backstroke at China Open

German swimmer Helge Meeuw touched the wall with the swiftest time of 55.07 seconds in men's 100 meters backstroke at China Open on Monday.

Meeuw went almost head to head with South Korea's Sung Min throughout the race but managed to secure a narrow lead before touching the wall. Sung finished second in 55.43 seconds.

The bearded swimmer, who started from lane four with 54.96 seconds in the heat, said he felt exhausted in the race and still did not adequately adapt to finals in the morning.

Meeuw had won a gold in Friday's men's 4X100 meters medley relay for the German team. He was the bronze medal winner of men's 50m backstroke in World Championships Short Course in Shanghai in 2006.

China's Shi Feng, the first gold winner at the Water Cube, where the tournament was held, followed the pair and placed third in 56.81 seconds, still yet to qualify for the Olympic A standard, which stands at 55.14 seconds.

Sweden's Nystrand Takes Gold of Men's 50 Meters Freestyle at China Open

Sweden's Stefan Nystrand clocked the fastest time of 22.39 seconds in men's 50 meters freestyle at China Open on Monday.
Nystrand won the race by a split of 0.03 seconds faster than compatriot Petter Stymne, who finished in 22.42 seconds.

However, Nystrand said he was not satisfied with his performance and felt weak while swimming.

Nystrand had claimed gold of men's 100 meters freestyle on Sunday. He placed fifth in men's 50 meters freestyle at the World Championships short course in Shanghai in 2006 and moved up to the third at the Melbourne World Championships last year.

He also voiced dissatisfaction over having finals in the morning. "I don't like finals in the morning, but there is nothing to do about it and I can't really complain."

He said he may have to get up as early as 5:30 a.m. during the Olympics for enough wake-up time before the race.

Brazilian swimmer Nicholas Dias placed third with 22.50 seconds in the event.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)