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Photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

Qin Haiyang, a 23-year-old Chinese swimmer, has been busy winning gold medals and breaking records lately. On the night of August 2, he clinched his first gold medal at the Chengdu Universiade in the men’s 100m breaststroke, clocking 58.92 seconds at the Dong’an Lake Sports Park Swimming Venue. The night before, he had set a new Universiade record in the same event during the preliminary heats.

Soon after the breaststroke final, it was time for the mixed 4x100m medley relay final. After Wang Guokai handed over to Qin, China took the lead and never looked back. Zhang Yufei extended the gap in the third leg, and Li Bingjie secured the victory in the last leg. China won another gold and broke another Universiade record. This also meant that Qin won another gold.

Last week, at the Fukuoka World Championships, Qin had bagged four gold medals, including the men’s 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, as well as the mixed 4x100m medley relay.

The Universiade roster introduced Qin as “the National Games men’s 200m breaststroke champion”, but now he has become the“Breaststroke king”. When asked about his change of title, Qin was very straightforward. “I had prepared myself mentally before the competition. This was my goal--to change my nickname.”

Qin was born in 1999 in Zhuzhou, Hunan province. He used to train under Ye Jin, who also coached Ning Zetao. In 2015, he bought home both the men’s 100m and 200m breaststroke gold medals at the First National Youth Games in 2015. In 2017, he beat Yan Zibei and gradually rose to prominence.

As Qin mentioned earlier, participating in the Universiade was a training opportunity for him and his final goal is to become the champion at Paris Olympics.”