Zhang Zishan wins 200m individual medley

Zhang Zishan from Guangxi scored a win in Thursday's swimming events. He outpaced the field in the men's 200m individual medley.

Zhang's advantage suddenly presented itself in the breaststroke, which helped him become the first swimmer to arrive in the freestyle segment. Zhang held his lead till the end, finishing first in 1 minute, 58.53 seconds to win the title.

The champion also broke his own national mark set at the Junior Nationals in April.// He was almost 2 seconds ahead of runner-up Liu Weijia from Liaoning.

But the action in the pool wrote another story for Asian champion Wu Peng. He won the 200m butterfly one day earlier, but missed a spot on the podium of the men's 200m backstroke. Wu only managed fourth in the final, nearly four seconds behind the gold medal winner.

16-year-old Shandong swimmer Zhang Fenglin grabbed the title. The silver and the bronze went to Cheng Feiyi from Liaoning and Zhang's teammate Xie Jiale.

A record of 525 swimmers from China's 24 provincial teams, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Chinese Army are competing for gold in 32 events of the swimming competition over the duration of the National Games.

So far,athletes have established one world record and nine Asian records in swimming at the National Games.