Wow. There are some fast swims coming out of Qingdao, China this week at the 2017 Chinese National Swimming Championships. ​Xu Jiayu​, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist in the 100m backstroke, put on a clinic in the same event Wednesday, dropping a blistering fast 51.86 -- a new Asian record and second-fastest performance of all-time.

That swim is only one one-hundredth of a second behind ​Ryan Murphy's​ world record of 51.85, which he set leading off the United States gold medal 4x100 medley relay at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.​

Jiayu swam a strong 52.31 in the finals of the individual event in Rio, but fell just short of the gold medalist Murphy who touched in 51.97.

Comparative splits:

Ryan Murphy -- (25.13)(26.72) -- 51.85
​Xu Jiayu​ -- (24.99)(26.87) -- ​51.86​​
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Jiayu was always a contender going into the 2017 World Championships this summer in Budapest, but he just completely changed the conversation with this performance.



Jiayu has now placed himself in some very elite company, becoming only the third man in history to eclipse the 52 second barrier. ​Aaron Peirsol ​first did it back in 2009 at the U.S. World Championship Trials with a 51.94. Murphy was the next man up, breaking it twice during the 2016 Olympics in Rio -- first in the individual event with a 51.97 and then later on in the relay, dropping a 51.85 for a new world record.​
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Many men have come very close to breaking this elusive barrier. ​Matt Grevers (United States), Camille Lacourt (France), Mitchell Larkin (Australia), ​​David Plummer (United States), ​and ​Ryosuke Irie (Japan) ​have all been 52.24 or faster.