In a nail-biting finish, the Chinese athlete dashed in the final lap and touched the wall first at 1:55.00 breaking an Asian record.

The athlete erupted and screamed in delight after winning gold – his first Olympic gold medal in the event.

“I felt so incredible, like a dream,” Wang told China Central Television.

“I was also mentally prepared before the race to fight for this event.

“First of all I would like to thank my country for giving us a very good training environment under the difficult circumstances of the epidemic. I would like to thank my coach and the team doctor who supported me, they are very helpful.”

This is the third Olympic Games for Wang who competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016 where he won bronze in the same event.

“At the London Olympics I felt like I was there to have fun, I was watching those elder brothers and sisters who were winning gold medals and I felt like they were so good!

“In Rio I started to compete with my rivals – they won medals and I wanted to win medals too. This time, I didn’t think about competing with anyone, I just concentrated on myself,” Wang explained.

Second and third place up for grabs

The battle for second and third place was also a thrilling duel between Japan’s SETO Daiya, USA’s Michael Andrew in for the attack but in the end Team GB’s Duncan Scott won second place, just 28 seconds behind WANG.

Jeremy Desplaches of Switzerland took bronze at 1:56.17.

Unfortunately host nation Japan failed to make podium with SETO clocking in at fourth place and HAGINO Kosuke finishing at sixth place.

Rio 2016 silver medallist Hagino specifically gave up the 400m individual medley – his pet event – to compete in the 200m individual medley. But instead of being disappointed, Hagino was grateful to for the opportunity to compete with the world’s best swimmers.

“I gave it my all, even though my time was slow. I have no regrets now. Looking back, I’ve been through a lot and it’s been a difficult time for me and the international swimmers (due to the pandemic) but to be in the top eight and to be able to compete with them again, I couldn’t be happier as a competitor, Hagino said.

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