German swimmer in competition
(BEIJING, February. 1) -- After the finals for six events of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Swimming China Open Friday morning, men's 100m butterfly swimmer Shi Feng of China won the first gold medal produced at the newly-built National Aquatics Center, or "Water Cube," while Germany earned three titles in the men's 200m freestyle, women's 100m freestyle and men's 4x100m medley relay.
In the men's 100m butterfly final, which was staged first, China's Shi Feng finished first with a time of 53.43 to become the first champion since the opening of the Water Cube. Shi's teammate Wang Dong came in second by a margin of 0.26, and Simao Morgado of Portugal ranked third in 54.29.
In the women's 200m butterfly final, Hoshi Natsumi of Japan clinched the gold in 2:08.55, followed by Polish veteran Otylia Jedrzejczak, the Olympic champion of this event at Athens 2004, with 2:10.18.
In the men's 200m freestyle final, German veteran Paul Biedermann took the title with a time of 1:48.51. The silver and bronze medals went to Polish veteran Pawel Korzeniowski (1:48.76) and Zhang Lin of China (1:48.92), respectively.
In the final of the women's 100m freestyle, German veteran and world record holder Britta Steffen was crowned with a time of 54.73, followed by Zhu Yingwen of China with 55.51 and Slovakian veteran Martina Moravcova with 55.62.
Friday morning's finals were highlighted by the two relay events staged last. As a result, the German team consisting of Helge Meeuw, Andreas Loesel, Steffen Deibler and Paul Biedermann wrapped up the men's 4x100m medley relay in a time of 3:44.40.
The Chinese team, made up of Xu Yanwei, Zhu Wenrui, Zhu Qianwei and Yu Rui, won the women's 4x200m freestyle relay title with 8:09.50.
The heats of five events, the women's 50m freestyle, men's 100m butterfly, women's 200m butterfly, men's 400m freestyle and women's 200m freestyle, and the final of the women's 800m freestyle (Heat 2) will be staged beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday evening.
The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 Swimming China Open will be held at the National Aquatics Center from January 31 to February 5.
