"I always want a world record," says China's Zhang Yufei

TOKYO, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Yufei made into the Olympic semifinal as No.1 in the women's 100 butterfly heats, but she always wanted to break a world record, as the first session of pool swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games started Saturday night.

Zhang took 55.82 seconds to qualify for the semifinal, and Australian swimmer Emma McKeon finished with the same time.

"The result is acceptable, but I prefer a world record," said the 23-year-old Zhang.

The world record for the event is 55.48 seconds, which is held by World Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who ranked the third after the heats.

Zhang ripped a 55.62 Asian record in September 2020.

"It was a common race for me, more like a national campaign rather than an Olympics," Zhang said.

Zhang is the second-fastest swimmer of all time in the women's 100m butterfly. If she were to win the Olympic title in Tokyo, she would be the first Asian/Chinese woman to win a title in the women's 100 butterfly in 29 years since China's Qian Hong did at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"I thought I would be faster," she said, adding that she will try her best to earn China the first gold in swimming in Tokyo.

China won a total of 13 gold medals in swimming at the previous Olympic Games.