Chinese Trials: Asian, Chinese Records Tumble During Third Day

SHAOXING, China, April 3. THE third day of swimming at the Chinese Trials witnessed a national record from Zhang Lin in the men's 400 free and an Asian record in the men's 400 freestyle relay.

Zhang downed the men's 400 freestyle national record with a time of 3:44.97 to become the eighth-fastest swimmer in the event of all time. He is now ahead of Larsen Jensen's 3:45.04 and behind Erik Vendt's 3:44.56. The performance dipped Zhang under 3:45 for the first time as he clipped his previous record of 3:45.04 set at the Good Luck Beijing China Open last summer. Sun Yang wound up taking second in 3:48.26.

"I had expected the national record breaking result today, as I improved a lot after training abroad," Zhang told Chinaview. "In my opinion, this result is not fast enough to grab a medal at the Olympics. I look forward to rewriting the record again and again in the following four months."

Chen Zuo, Huang Shaohua, Lv Zhiwu and Cai Li broke the Asian record in the men's 400 free relay with a time of 3:17.07. Japan previously held the record with a 3:18.38 set last summer.

"We had to give up individual freestyle finals this morning to retain strength for this. The result should get us the ticket to the Olympics," Cai told Chinaview. "The first leg swimmer Chen Zuo dashed off into a good start today, and all of us swam really well. But I believe there is still room for us to improve. The race at the Olympics will be tough, and we have to go all out,"

In other action, Ouyang Kunpeng won the men's 100 back in 54.91, while Qi Hui won the women's 200 breast in 2:25.68. Zhang Enjian walked away with the men's 100 free title in 50.49, while Zhu Yingwen claimed the women's 50 free in 25.27.

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