TIANJIN, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Qin Haiyang from the Chinese Army shattered his own world junior record in the men's 200m breaststroke in 2:07.35 while Sun Yang took the 800m freestyle title at the 13th Chinese National Games here on Monday.
Qin, who set up a national record and world junior record 2:08.71 at the Chinese National Spring Championships last April, dominated the field from the start to the end. And his result could bring him a silver medal at the FINA World Championships one month ago.
Yang Zibei, winner of the 100m breaststroke, came to second in 2:08.75 and local favorite Li Xiang third 2:10.67.
"I thought of breaking the record because I just improved my 100m breaststroke by more than one second. So did in the 200m. I've been training very well this month after returning from the worlds where I did not show my best," said the 18-year-old.
Qin later swam in the 200m individual medley semifinal and finished second in 2:01.32.
Olympic champion Sun Yang claimed a comfortable victory in the 800m freestyle final in 7:46.80, ahead of Ji Xinjie of Shandong in 7:52.96 and Qiu Ziao of Shanghai in 7:53.16.
"It was my 102nd gold medal in my career. But in fact, I just focused more on my own performance. I tried to save some energy tonight because I will swim 1,500m and two relays," said Sun.
Ning Zetao, the 2015 world champion, showed he was the best by winning the men's 100m freestyle in 47.92, which could rank him sixth in the world. Yu Hexin of Guangdong placed second in 48.63 and Hou Yujie of Henan third in 49.06.
"I only started to tune up for the Games since last May and my focus was 50m and 100m freestyles. I was satisfied with the results and my form today," Ning said.
Chasing behind for the most of the race, former world bronze medalist Zhang Yufei from Jiangsu surged ahead to win the women's 200m butterfly in 2:06.17. Zhou Yilin of Hebei took the silver in 2:06.29 and Li Shuang of Henan third in 2:09.31.
Zhang, who won a gold medal from the 4X100m freestyle relay on Aug. 31 and runner-up in the 100m butterfly, said: "I'm happy to make my personal best since I have not improved my time for two years. It means a lot to me and bring me more confidence."
