Chinese Woman Sets World Record in 200 Butterfly
By wchung | 22 Mar, 2026

LEFT: In this photo released by the Xinhua news agency Liu Zige from Shanghai competes during the women's 200m butterfly final at the 11th Chinese National Games in Jinan, east China, on Wednesday Oct. 21, 2009. Liu has wiped 1.6 seconds off the world record in the event. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Fan Jun); ABOVE: In this photo released by the Xinhua news agency Liu Zige from Shanghai reacts after winning the women's 200m butterfly final at the 11th Chinese National Games in Jinan, east China, on Wednesday Oct. 21, 2009. Liu has wiped 1.6 seconds off the world record in the event. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Fan Jun)

Olympic champion Liu Zige trimmed 1.6 seconds off the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly at China’s National Games on Wednesday.

Liu was timed in 2 minutes, 1.81 seconds, domestic news agency Xinhua reported. She eclipsed the previous world mark of 2:03.41 set by Australian Jessicah Schipper at the swimming world championships in July.

Liu, who won the same event at the Beijing Olympics last year to clinch China’s only swimming gold medal of the games, won Wednesday’s race by almost four seconds ahead of Jiao Liuyang, the Olympic silver medalist.

“I don’t think the result today is fast enough for me, and there is still room for me to better the record in the future,” Xinhua quoted Liu as saying after setting the first swimming world record of the Oct. 16-28 National Games. “Every tiny progress could make a new world record, which is very common in the pool.”

Liu said she hadn’t had a day off training since placing second at the world championships in August.

“I trained very hard after I came back from the Rome Worlds,” Liu said. “I cooperate very well with my coach, who set higher standard for my training in terms of intensity and capacity.”

10/21/2009 9:57 AM JINAN, China (AP)