China Olympic trials end with national record in men's 1500m freestyle

SHAOXING, East China, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The seven-day Olympic swimming trials ended here on Saturday with a new national record in the men's 1500 meters freestyle.

China's top freestyler Zhang Lin shaved more than three seconds off his own national record in the event with 14 minutes 55.98 seconds.

"I wanted to swim under 14 minutes 50 seconds and break the Asian record, but it was the last race at the trials, and I've been tired out," Zhang said.

"I think I'll have to improve my pace," he added.

Zhang's result is still 0.95 seconds slower than the Asian record of 14:55.03 owned by his archrival South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan. The world record of the event is kept by Australia's Grant Hackett at 14:34.56.

Zhang, 21, also downed the national record of the 400 meters freestyle at the trials with 3:44.97, which could place third in the world.

Also on Saturday, China's veteran breaststroker Qi Hui held off younger Li Xuanxu to win women's 200 meters individual medley, clocking 2:12.61.Qi's result could place seventh in the world.

Chen Huijia, from Zhejiang, took home the gold of women's 100 meters breaststroke in 1:08.43. The event was once a huge pride for China when former breaststroker Luo Xuejuan won the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. But the best result at the trials is already out of the top ten in the world.

Chinese male quartet on the national team won the 4X100 meters medley final, clocking 3:41.11. The four have smashed the national record with 3:37.92 seconds in Friday's heats.

Chen Zuo, the last leg freestyler, said on Friday that the result could only place China the 16th in the world.