GUANGZHOU, China, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Giant screens, loud music, popular dance and singing made the FINA Champions Swim Series like a live show, but the swimmers were always the biggest stars in the pool as Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, Fu Yuanhui and Xu Jiayu of China were the biggest winners on the first day of the new competition here on Saturday.
Backstrokers Fu Yuanhui and Xu Jiayu made local fans crazy as Fu touched wall first in the women's 100m backstroke in 59.60 seconds and later she edged teammate Liu Xiang, world record holder, in the 50m back in 27.60.
"I seldom compete two finals in one night and I like the new competition very much. I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere with the audience and the breath-taking race," Fu said.
Xu Jiayu dominated the men's 200m backstroke in 1 minute 55.24 seconds and 100m back in 52.98. Ryosuke Irie of Japan all finished second in both events.
"I enjoyed the race and I hope the audience enjoyed watching too. I felt a little bit nervous in my first event 200m and better in the 100m race," said the 100m champion in 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest.
Zhang Yufei celebrated victory in 200m butterfly in 2:07.36 and Ye Shiwen, two-time Olympic champion, clinched her first victory in the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.48 since she found her new favorite stroke in breaststroke.
"I had competed my first international event in 2010 Asian Games. I was full of emotion when I came back to Guangzhou. It was a great chance to compete with the best swimmers in the world. I felt I was a reborn swimmer and out of the previous glory," Ye said.
Wang Shun and Qin Haiyang gave China a one-two finish in the men's 200m individual medley in 1:57.24 and 1:57.89.
Sjostrom snatched her first title in the women's 200m freestyle in 1:57.62, beating Chinese rivals Li Bingjie and Wang Jianjiahe, and later added 100m butterfly crown in 57.16.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary continued her typical Iron Lady way as she competed in five events in two hours and four individual events in first 30 minutes! Hosszu edged Li Bingjie 0.05 to take the 400m freestyle gold in 4:05.16. And the Hungarian star finished third in the 200m butterfly 2:11.95, two fourth places in the 100m backstroke 1:02.99 and 200m freestyle 2:02.56. She came to second with his relay team members in mixed 4x100m freestyle relay as the last event of the day.
Brazilian Old Boys, the 39-year-old Nicholas Santos won the 50m butterfly in 23.01, and 34-year-old Felipe Lima topped 50m breaststroke in 26.68.
Pieter Timmers of Belgium stormed 48.60 winning the men's 100m freestyle and Masato Sakai of Japan led the men's 200m butterfly in 1:56.44, followed by Chad le Clos of South Africa with 1:58.31.
Consisted by He Junyi, Benjamin Proud, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Georgia Davies won the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay in a time of 3:30.55.
A total of 109 swimmers from 28 countries and regions are competing in the innovative Champion Series. There are 17 final races on the compact two-hour program, including 14 individual races and 3 relays every day.
