China's Yang Junxuan sets national record in women's 100m freestyle

SHENZHEN, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Yang Junxuan set a national record to win the women's 100m freestyle in China's national swimming championships here on Tuesday.

Yang claimed the gold medal in 52.68 seconds, breaking the previous record of 52.90 which was set in 2020 by Olympic champion Zhang Yufei.

"I am happy to break the national record, but the result is a little bit slower than I expect, I hope I could compete with the world's top level," the 22-year-old Yang said.

Wu Qingfeng finished second and Cheng Yujie placed the third. Wu led at the turn with Yang in third, but Yang surged ahead on the second lap to win the race.

In men's 100m freestyle final, Pan Zhanle won his fifth gold medal in 46.97 seconds, while Wang Haoyu and Ji Xinjie got the silver and bronze respectively.

In men's 200m breaststroke final, Tan Haiyang led all the way from the start to win the race in 2:08.87, followed by Dong Zhihao and Yu Zongda.

In men's 200m butterfly, Niu Guangsheng claimed the gold medal in 1:55.46, Xu Fang took the silver and Wang Xizhe got the bronze.

In women's 1,500m freestyle, Gao Wei won the race in 16:06.19, followed by Ma Yonghui and Mao Yihan.