China's Zhang sparkles at Olympic trials with national record

SHAOXING, East China, April 3 (Xinhua) -- China's top freestyler Zhang Lin set a new national record of three minutes 44.97 seconds in the men's 400 meters freestyle at an Olympics trials here on Thursday.

"This was a good result, but as far as I know, the score would be out of the top three at the Olympics. There is still a long way to go if I want to get any medal in the event," Zhang said.

The 21-year-old swimmer shaved 0.07 seconds from his own national record of 3:45.04 set at the Good Luck Beijing Swimming China Open competition in February. The world record for the event is 3:40.08, set by Australia's Ian Thorpe in 2002.

In the event's final, Zhang led throughout the race, edging national teammate Sun Yang to the second with 3:48.26.

Zhang placed seventh in world ranking last year and stood at the second this year. He said he would go to Australia for more training in May.

At the Olympic trials, Zhang also claimed the title of the men's 200 freestyle on Tuesday, clocking 1:47.63 and nearly hitting his national record set at the 2007 World Championships.

In the men's 100 meters backstroke, national record holder Ouyang Kunpeng took the title in 54.91 seconds.

China's top breaststroker Qi Hui touched the wall first in the women's 200 meters breaststroke, clocking 2:25.68.

In the men's 100 meters freestyle, the top four swimmers in the heats gave up the final to retain strength for a relay race Thursday evening. The gold medal of the event at the trials went to Zhang Enjian from Tianjin, who clocked 50.49 seconds.

The final of the women's 50 meters freestyle was dominated by veteran swimmer Zhu Yingwen, clocking 25.27 seconds. But Chinese swimmers are still distant from the best swimmers of the event, the world record of which was renewed less than a week ago by Australia's Lisbeth Trickett with 23.97 seconds.