OLYMPIC champion Ye Shiwen finished off the podium in the women’s 50m freestyle at the Chinese national swimming championships in Huangshan, Anhui Province, on Tuesday night.

Like another Olympic champion, Jiao Liuyang, Ye didn’t take part in her specialty events, instead swimming the 50m freestyle and 200m breaststroke. Ye placed fourth in the 50m freestyle, in 25.74 seconds, as Shanghai swimmers Yin Fan and Xu Wen finished one-two in 25.26 and 25.45, respectively.

Ye seemed satisfied with her performance.

“It (felt like) my best, and was 0.01 second faster than my time last year in the City Games,” Ye said. “I haven’t had a good rest since the Olympics because I’ve had a really tight schedule. I’m so tired that I chose less competitive events.”

Ye said she’ll resume her training in October.

“Next month I’ll head for the plateau training base in Yunnan Province,” Ye said. “Hopefully I can return to form in time for the short-course swimming championships at year’s end.”

Ye stunned the world with double individual medley gold medals, a world record and an Olympic record in her Olympic debut in London.

In the women’s 50m backstroke this week in Huangshan, Liu Xiang of Guangdong Province touched the wall first in 28.19 seconds. Beijing’s Liu Zhaochen topped the men’s 100m freestyle in 50.09. Another Beijing swimmer, Wang Shuai, clocked 27.91 to grab the 50m breaststroke gold.

Shanghai’s Lu Ying claimed the women’s 100m butterfly title in 58.78 and her teammate, Yin Fan, powered home first in the women’s 50m freestyle in 25.26.

The women’s 200m individual medley gold went to Zhang Wenqing from Shandong, who registered two minutes and 13.24 seconds. The women’s 4x100m freestyle gold was collected by Beijing in 3:43.63.

(Xinhua)