A string of stunning performances by China's young pool stars at last week's national swimming championships in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, whetted the appetite for the forthcoming Asian Games in the same city as well as next year's Paris Olympics.

Pan Zhanle of Zhejiang celebrates after the men's 100m freestyle final at the swimming national championships in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 1, 2023. Pan broke the men's 100m freestyle Asian record. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

Pan Zhanle led the way on Monday, with the 18-year-old clocking 47.22 seconds to shave 0.34 sec off the Asian 100m freestyle record. Now the confident youngster has set his sights on challenging Romania's world-record holder (46.86) David Popovici on the international stage.

"I did not expect to swim 47.22, a result that's good enough to rank top-three in the world. As a swimmer, of course I want to become one of the top athletes in the world. I hope I have the chance to compete with Popovici to see who is the fastest," said Pan.

"If Popovici can improve two seconds in three months, why can't I continuously improve my best? As far as winning medals is concerned, I will get what I deserve eventually. If I fail this time, I will succeed the next time."

Pan also shone at last year's short-course world championships in Melbourne, where he broke the short-course 100m free Asian record.

His training partner Wang Haoyu grabbed silver in Monday's 100m free in Hangzhou, with Chen Jun'er claiming bronze. Afterward, Chen heaped praise on Pan's feat.

"It was an honor to be there to witness the Asian record being broken. I just need to learn a lot more from our champion," said Chen.

Pan's breakthrough triumph became a trending topic on social media, with the hashtag "Pan Zhanle breaks Asian record" viewed over 36 million times by Sunday.

"People started to notice him at last year's (long-course) world championships in Budapest, and now Pan has broken the Asian record. This can be a catalyst for a new chapter in Pan's career," read a commentary on thepaper.cn.

"And it's not just about Pan, a number of promising young Chinese swimming stars are on the rise, too."

Pan produced his second surprise win of the championships by touching ahead of Olympic champion Wang Shun in the 200m freestyle final, clocking 1:44.65.

"I was actually nervous at the very end of the race today. I did not expect to surpass big brother Wang Shun. I'm trying my best to catch up with the Olympic champions. After all, records are there to be broken," said Pan.

Another major surprise at last week's nationals was Qin Haiyang's Asian-record time of 57.93 in the men's 100m breaststroke on Tuesday. That beat the previous Asian mark of 58.63 owned by Yan Zibei, who finished second behind Qin in Hangzhou.

Qin credited his recent surge on focusing on details in training, as well as healthy competition from his two main rivals, Yan and Sun Jiajun.

"From a technical point of view, my two rivals are better than me. I have studied them over and over again, and now I'm finally seeing some improvement," said the 23-year-old Qin, who also won 200m breaststroke gold.

"I really want to thank my two teammates. Without them pushing me on, it would be impossible for me to have such a breakthrough.

"Now that I have higher expectations on the world stage, my ultimate goal is to win an Olympic gold medal."

Former Asian-record holder Yan was impressed by Qin's momentum, saying: "We haven't seen a Chinese swimmer produce such a great result in a number of years. That's testament to China's overall improvement in men's breaststroke."

Another breaststroke star to shine in Hangzhou was Sun Jiajun, who refreshed the men's Asian 50m breaststroke record with a time of 26.61 on Saturday. The 22-year-old also won the men's 50m butterfly.

On the women's side, Li Bingjie equaled the Asian record (4:01.08) in the 400m freestyle. The 21-year-old, though, was disappointed with her time.

"Actually, I had set a goal of breaking the 4-minute mark. This discipline is very competitive on the world stage. If I can't go under 4 minutes, I won't be able to compete with the world's best swimmers," said Li, who also dominated the 200m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle at the national championships.

"I hope I can make more breakthroughs before the Paris Olympics. I just want to be more competitive and break more records."

Olympic aces

Despite the rise of China's next-gen talents, a number of reigning Olympic champions showed their class, including Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Wang Shun.

The 29-year-old won golds in the 200m and 400m individual medley, and the 4x200m freestyle relay. Afterward, Wang claimed he relished the healthy competition from his young rivals.

"Before a race, a swimmer standing next to me asked me when I was born, and I said 1994. He said that I was 12 years older than him. I really hope these younger swimmers can enjoy their time in the pool and one day shine on the big stage," said Wang, who was the only 90s-born swimmer in the 400m IM final.

"My results here have not been too bad, but I still have room for improvement. I was thrilled to compete in this wonderful venue that will host the Asian Games."

Another Olympic champion to top the podium at the nationals was Zhang Yufei, who took the women's 200m butterfly title in 2:07.99.Zhang, though, was far from satisfied with her time.

"It was too slow. My goal was to reach 2:04 or 2:05," said Zhang, who is measuring herself against the 2:04.70 swam by Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh in March.

"She beat me last year in Budapest, so I feel I must reach 2:04 or 2:05 in order to challenge her. I haven't slept well since seeing her result this year. I went to my coach, and he told me that since I'm the reigning Olympic champion, it's normal that other swimmers are targeting me, and I have withstood such pressure in the past.

"I didn't show my best form in my main discipline this time at the national championships, but I hope I can deliver my best result at the Asian Games and the next world championships."

On Thursday, Zhang topped the podium again, clocking 56.48 to win the 100m butterfly. On Saturday, she completed her campaign with another gold, this time in the 50m butterfly (25.47).

"I think the main challenge for me is to maintain a strong mentality. And my team is helping me to ease any pressure," said Zhang.

"Even if I'm not at my best, I just want to see how far I can push myself. I need to know how to cope with these difficult situations with the right mentality."

Veteran Ye Shiwen sprang a surprise by fending off her younger rivals to claim women's 200m breaststroke gold.

"All my hard work has paid off, and I think I have given 100 percent of myself," said Ye, who as a 16-year-old won two Olympic gold medals at the 2012 London Games before temporarily retiring from competition to complete her academic studies.

Since returning to the pool in 2018, it hasn't been smooth sailing for Ye, so the 27-year-old was thrilled to finally make it back to the highest podium in Hangzhou.

"She shows that the right spirit can overcome all difficulties. No matter what setbacks we face, if we firmly take each step forward, we can realize our golden dreams," read a People's Daily commentary on Ye.

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