NZMS CELEBRATING SWIMMERS – Men’s 50m Freestyle Champion for 2026
It Started with a Hot Summer
By Ziyu Wang
I did not start swimming because I dreamed of becoming a competitive athlete. I started because I enjoyed eating.
I was about eight or nine years old and had a very good appetite. I thought that eating a lot without exercising might not be particularly healthy. It was also a hot summer in northeast China, so swimming seemed like the perfect solution.
What began as a simple way to stay active soon became something I genuinely enjoyed. A few years later, when I was around 12 or 13, a coach noticed that although I was a slightly bigger kid, I was also strong. I was selected for more serious training, and that was the beginning of my competitive swimming journey.
I went on to train and compete as a provincial-level swimmer in Heilongjiang. Some of my most memorable results came during my teenage years, when I became a five-time champion at the 2014 Heilongjiang Provincial Games and later finished 10th in the men’s 200 m butterfly at the 2015 FINA Swimming World Cup in Beijing.
At that stage of my life, swimming was mainly about training and competing. Later, it also became something I wanted to understand. I studied Sports Training at Beijing Sport University, followed by a master’s degree in Sports Pedagogy and Training. This gradually shifted my interest from simply completing a training programme to asking why particular methods work and how training on land transfers to performance in the water.
In February 2025, I moved to Christchurch to begin a PhD in Health Sciences at the University of Canterbury. My research focuses on swimming performance, particularly how strength training transfers from the gym to swimming economy and performance in the pool. Alongside my PhD, I also work as an undergraduate tutor at the university.
Swimming has also helped me become part of the local community in Christchurch. Since February 2025, I have worked as a part-time coach at Canterbury Swim School, teaching both children and adults with different levels of experience. More recently, I began coaching the Sprint Squad at Waitaha Swim Club, working with competitive swimmers on sprint technique, starts, turns, underwater skills, and race speed.
Moving between these different roles has been interesting. Sometimes I am the swimmer trying to improve my own performance. Sometimes I am the coach standing beside the pool. At other times, I am the researcher trying to understand the evidence behind what swimmers and coaches do every day.
I have also continued competing through Masters swimming, although my own training recently has been occasional rather than part of a consistent programme. Because of this, I genuinely did not expect to break a record at the 2026 New Zealand Masters Swimming Championships.
When I saw that I had swum 24.35 seconds in the men’s 50 m freestyle—a national record in the 25–29 age group—I was surprised and very happy. The encouragement I received from the Masters swimming community made it even more memorable. Knowing that my name and time will be engraved on the trophy when it is returned in 2027 is a great honour.
The reason I first started swimming was simple: I wanted to stay healthy during a hot summer. The reasons I have continued are much bigger. Swimming has given me opportunities to compete, study, teach, coach, and connect with people across two countries.
I still enjoy eating—but fortunately, I still enjoy swimming too.