Ye Shiwen Wins 400-Meter Gold For China In World Record Setting Time

China’s Ye Shiwen had plenty to celebrate late Saturday night after she not only won the 400-meter individual medley, but did so in world record-setting time. The 16-year-old swimmer was the first Olympian to set a world record in the Olympic pool in 2012 and she did so after training fellow competitor Elizabeth Beisel. The two teenagers fought hard through their match with Beisel leading through the halfway mark.

Ye pulled ahead as she appeared only to become faster as the race progressed, eventually giving a final powerful pick to finish with the gold medal and a final time of 4 minutes, 28.43 seconds. The former world record was a 2008 Beijing Olympics time of 4:29.45 which was set by Stephanie Rice.

Beisel finished almost a full two seconds behind Ye with a final score of 4:31.27 while China also claimed the bronze medal in the competition with Li Xuanxu claimed a final time of 4:32.91.

It was a good night in women’s and men’s swimming for the Chinese, before her gold medal Sun Yang won the men’s 400 freestyle during the opening night of Olympic swimming competition.

In other swimming news Michael Phelps stunned the swimming world when he failed to win a medal during the 400-meter individual medley, finishing in 4th place. After his loss Phelps said:

“It was just a crappy race. I felt fine the first 200, then, I don’t know. They just swam a better race than me, a smarter race than me, and were better prepared than me. That’s why they’re on the medal stand.”

China currently leads the medal counts with 6 golds, 1 silver and two bronze compared to the United States which claims 2 gold, three silver and 2 bronze medals.