Too strong! A 16-year-old girl from Fengcun Town, Deqing County, China won the championship in the doubles and group events at the national synchronized swimming competition

Too strong! A 16-year-old girl from Fengcun Town, Deqing County, China won the championship in the doubles and group events at the national synchronized swimming competition

Deqing Fengcun Town Network September 24, 2023 19:12 Guangdong

From September 8 to 10, 2023, the synchronized swimming doubles finals of the First Student (Youth) Games of the People's Republic of China (abbreviated as: Student Youth Games) came to an end at the Olympic Center Swimming Pool in Leshan, Sichuan. Zhang Wanyi/He Zhien won the championship in the doubles event with a score of 365.8429.

Zhang Wanyi and He Zhien are both "post-00" young players, but have won medals in national and provincial competitions many times. Among them, He Zhien was born in Zacun Village, Fengcun Town, Deqing County, Zhaoqing, Guangdong in 2007. She is now 16 years old. She won the championship of the lifting combination event, the runner-up of the single event, and the runner-up of the double event in the 2021 Guangdong Province Synchronized Swimming Championships. In 2022, the 16th Guangdong Province Games Synchronized Swimming Competition Group A won the single event championship, the double event championship, and the free combination runner-up.

He Zhien (second from left)

He Zhien (second from right) and Zhang Wanyi (first from right)

Liang Yun, coach of Guangdong synchronized swimming team, said that Zhang Wanyi and He Zhien have trained young athletes for more than 6 years. The main purpose of selecting them to participate in the duet finals is to train newcomers through the competition. "Their levels are relatively close, and their technical special abilities are still relatively outstanding among athletes of the same age group in the country. Under the new rules of synchronized swimming, the two did not have much time to run in. The winning set of movements was choreographed before the National Youth Synchronized Swimming Competition in July this year. After countless revisions, it was not easy to win the gold medal in the Youth Games."

He Zhien in the competition

This Youth Games is the first competition after the merger of the National Student Games and the National Youth Games. A total of 12 teams from 10 cities including Chengdu, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region participated in the competition. The age span of the participants in the synchronized swimming event is large, with the oldest being 18 and the youngest being 13, which is a big challenge for Zhang Wanyi and He Zhien on their way to winning the championship. However, the two have relatively outstanding personal skills and have cooperated well with their teammates in adult competitions before. This is their first time to participate in a large-scale comprehensive event in their age group as the protagonists.

In addition, He Zhien, Zhang Wanyi and their teammates represented the Guangzhou team of Guangdong Province and won the gold medal in the first synchronized swimming group event of the Youth Games.