Chinanews.com, September 9 -- In the men's 25-meter breaststroke final of the Hangzhou Asian Games held on the evening of the 25th, China's Qin Haiyang rode in the dust, breaking the Asian Games record with a time of 100.57 seconds and winning his first gold medal in this event. His teammate Yan Zibei won the silver medal.

Image source: Hangzhou Asian Games official social media

Qin Haiyang was one of the two flag bearers of the opening ceremony of the Chinese sports delegation at the Hangzhou Asian Games. At the opening ceremony, he walked at the forefront of the Chinese sports delegation with Yang Liwei, the captain of the Chinese women's basketball team.

The men's breaststroke event is one of the most suspenseful competitions of this Asian Games, and Qin Haiyang has super strength in all three breaststroke events. In the men's 100m breaststroke heats, Qin Haiyang was significantly ahead of his opponents with a time of 58.35 seconds.

Image source: Screenshot of the Hangzhou Asian Games website

The final process was as expected before the match, Qin Haiyang swam faster and faster in the competition, and finally won the championship. This is Qin Haiyang's second individual medal of the tournament, after he had already won a silver medal in the men's 200m medley event.

Born in 1999, Qin Haiyang is 24 years old and began learning to swim when he was 9 years old. When I first practiced, breaststroke was not Qin Haiyang's strong point. In order to make up for the shortcomings, Qin Haiyang spent a lot of energy on this, and later breaststroke gradually became his main sport.

In 2018, also in Hangzhou, Qin Haiyang took a big step forward in his career by finishing on the podium at the World Short Pool Swimming Championships. It was also from that year that his name became more and more known.

However, like all athletes, Qin Haiyang has experienced ups and downs. In the sprint stage of the Tokyo Olympic cycle, Qin Haiyang trained hard, but his results were bottlenecked. At the Tokyo Olympics, Qin Haiyang was out due to a foul in the preliminary round, and his long-term efforts failed to achieve the desired result.

Data map: The picture shows Qin Haiyang reaching the end point. Photo by China News Agency reporter An Yuan

"Your struggle will become your gift, and your pain will illuminate your future path." This motto, with Qin Haiyang through the most difficult days, he slowly came out of the trough. Now Qin Haiyang has learned not to dwell on the results, he returned to his original appearance, began to enjoy swimming, and focused on the process.

At the Fukuoka Swimming World Championships in July, Qin Haiyang, who won four golds and one silver, became the first athlete to win three gold medals in the 7m, 4m and 1m breaststroke at a single World Championships, rewriting FINA history.

Especially in the men's 200m breaststroke final, Qin Haiyang swam 2:05.48 to win the championship, which broke the world record. He said after the race: "People thought no one could win [the breaststroke gold], but I did it. ”

Data map: Qin Haiyang display medal. Photo by Tang Yanjun

Before this year's World Championships, Chinese athletes had never won a major competition in the men's breaststroke. Qin Haiyang made up for China's swimming shortcomings and announced the rise of men's breaststroke in China. At the Chengdu Universiade in August, Qin Haiyang packed five gold medals and brought home five more gold medals.

Winning three gold medals in men's breaststroke at this Asian Games is Qin Haiyang's goal, but his stage does not stop there.

Next year's Paris Olympics, Qin Haiyang deserves more expectations. (End)