Zhier Fan
American swimmer (born 2004)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zhier Fan (born April 12, 2004) is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world junior record holder in the 4×50-meter mixed medley relay. At the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, he won gold medals in the 100-meter breaststroke, 4×100-meter medley relay, 4×100-meter mixed medley relay, and won the B-final of the 200-meter breaststroke.
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| National team | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | April 12, 2004[1] Plano, Texas, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Metroplex Aquatics Club (2010–2021)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Stanford University[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Background
Fan swam competitively for Metroplex Aquatics from the age of six until his graduation from high school in 2021. Fan attends Stanford University and competes collegiately for Stanford Cardinal.[2]
Career
2021 Swimming World Cup
At the first stop of the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup circuit, the first weekend of October in Berlin, Germany, Fan set a personal best time of 2:06.06 in the final of the 200-meter breaststroke, finishing 0.69 seconds behind bronze medalist Fabian Schwingenschlögl of Germany.[3] He also set a world junior record in the final of 4×50-meter mixed medley relay, contributing a time of 26.79 seconds for the 50-meter breaststroke portion of the relay to help win the silver with a time of 1:41.55.[4][5][6][7] The following stop, conducted the following week at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, he placed fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 57.91 seconds, which was 0.20 seconds slower than bronze medalist Andrius Šidlauskas of Lithuania.[8] In the 200-meter breaststroke, he won the bronze medal with a time of 2:06.18, finishing 4.11 seconds behind gold medalist Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands.[9] For the 4×50-meter mixed medley relay, he improved upon his split time from the previous stop, lowering the time to a 26.75, and helping win the gold medal in a new world junior record time of 1:41.21.[10][11]
Two months later, Fan won the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2021 Winter Junior National Championships edition West, held in December in Austin, Texas, with a personal best time of 1:52.92 that set a new Championships record in the event.[12] He also helped place thirty-first in the 4×100-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:06.03, splitting a 45.33 for the second leg of the relay.[13]
2022 US International Team Trials
In April 2022, at the USA Swimming International Team Trials in Greensboro, North Carolina, Fan swam a personal best time of 1:00.64 in the preliminary heats of the 100-meter breaststroke, qualifying for the final where he went on to place eighth in 1:01.38, won the b-final of the 50-meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 28.07 seconds, placed eighth in the c-final of the 200-meter breaststroke with a 2:30.20, and placed 22nd in the 200-meter individual medley with a 2:03.46.[14] Per his results in the 100-meter breaststroke, USA Swimming named him to the roster for the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in the event.[15]
2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships
| 2022 Junior Pan Pac Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 | 4×100 m mixed medley | 3:46.83 (CR) |
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:00.74 |
| 4×100 m medley | 3:36.65 (CR) |
The first day of competition at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, contested at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Honolulu beginning August 24, Fan won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter mixed medley relay, helping finish in a new Championships record time of 3:46.83 by splitting a 1:00.76 for the breaststroke leg of the relay.[16][17] On the second day, he won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:00.74, finishing 0.61 seconds ahead of silver medalist Yamato Okadome of Japan and 1.04 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Nicholas Mahabir of Singapore.[18][19] Two days later, and the final day of competition, he started competition in the evening finals session by winning the b-final of the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:14.30.[20] For his final event, he and finals relay teammates Daniel Diehl (backstroke), Thomas Heilman (butterfly), and Kaii Winkler (freestyle) set a Championships record of 3:26.65 and won the gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay, with Fan contributing a time of 1:01.52 for the 100-meter breaststroke portion of relay.[21][22]
2022–2023: Freshman collegiate season
In January 2023, in a dual meet against the Arizona State Sun Devils, Fan achieved a duo of second-place finishes, one in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best time of 52.63 seconds and one in the 4×50-yard medley relay with relay teammates Leon MacAlister (backstroke), Andrey Minakov (butterfly), and Luke Maurer (freestyle).[23] For his second of two individual breaststroke events at the meet, he finished fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.33.[24] He was the fastest Stanford Cardinal swimmer in each of his breaststroke events.[23][24] At the dual meet against the USC Trojans in early February, he improved upon his placings in both of his breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 53.08 seconds and the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.93.[25] For the final dual meet of the season, against the California Golden Bears on February 18, he placed second in both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke.[26]
2023 Pac-12 Conference Championships
Launching into his first collegiate championships season at the 2023 Pac-12 Conference Championships, with competition contested at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, Fan was disqualified with his relay teammates in the 4×50-yard medley relay in the first finals session, on March 1.[27][28] On the second day, he swam a personal best time of 1:44.87 in the preliminaries of the 200-yard individual medley and qualified for the c-final in the evening, where he went on to win the c-final in a personal best time of 1:44.09.[27][29] He lowered his personal best time in the 100-yard breaststroke the following day twice as well, first to a 52.50 in the preliminaries to qualify for the final ranking seventh, then to a 51.97 in the final to place fifth.[30][31] The following, and final, day, he placed fifth in the b-final of the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:56.92.[32][33] Both the 51.97 and 1:56.92 were "B standard" 2023 NCAA Division I Championships qualifying times and were not fast enough to earn him a spot at the Championships (each team was limited to 18 swimmers and only the swimmers with "A standard" times automatically qualified for the competition).[34]
International championships (50 m)
| Meet | 100 breaststroke | 200 breaststroke | 4×100 medley | 4×100 mixed medley |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PACJ 2022 |  | 1st (b) | | |
Collegiate championships (25 yd)
| Meet | 100 breaststroke | 200 breaststroke | 200 medley | 4×50 medley |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pac-12's 2023 | 5th | 5th (b) | 1st (c) | DSQ |
Swimming World Cup circuits
The following medals Fan has won at Swimming World Cup circuits.[35]
| Edition | Gold medals | Silver medals | Bronze medals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Personal best times
Long course meters (50 m pool)
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 m breaststroke | 28.07 | b | 2022 US International Team Trials | Greensboro, North Carolina | April 28, 2022 | [14] |
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:00.64 | h | 2022 US International Team Trials | Greensboro, North Carolina | April 29, 2022 | [14] |
Legend: h – preliminary heat; b – b-final
Short course meters (25 m pool)
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m breaststroke | 57.91 | 2021 Swimming World Cup | Budapest, Hungary | October 7, 2021 | [8] |
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:06.06 | 2021 Swimming World Cup | Berlin, Germany | October 3, 2021 | [3] |
Short course yards (25 yd pool)
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 yd breaststroke | 51.97 | 2023 Pac-12 Conference Championships | Federal Way, Washington | March 3, 2023 | [30] |
| 200 yd breaststroke | 1:52.92 | 2021 Winter Junior US National Championships | Austin, Texas | December 11, 2021 | [12] |
| 200 yd individual medley | 1:44.09 | 2023 Pac-12 Conference Championships | Federal Way, Washington | March 2, 2023 | [27] |