TAIYUAN, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Olympic champion Sun Yang's golden haul was stopped in the men's 100m freestyle as he tied in the third place on the fifth day of the Chinese National Swimming Championships here on Tuesday.
Sun, who swept victory in the 200, 400 and 800m freestyle at the meet, finished first on the 50m turn in a time of 23.77 and he was surpassed and tied in the third place with Yang Jintong of Tianjin at the wall in 49.48. Hou Yujie of Henan took the title in 49.37 and Yu Hexin of Guangdong finished second in 49.38.
"I was satisfied with my time, since I focused on the long distance training recently with my coach Zhu Zhigen. I was the only swimmer who competes from 100m, 200, 400, 800, 1500m freestyle in one meet. But I will not give up sprint training because it is highly competitive in the 200m race in the world. I need to improve my speed, starts and turns," Sun said.
Sun will compete 1500m and try to collect his fourth gold medal on the last day of competition on Wednesday.
World champion Xu Jiayu added his third title in the men's 200m backstroke 1:55.43, ahead of teammate Li Guangyuan 1:56.48.
"It was very hard to swim longer distance than 100m on the plateau that I felt dizzy right now. In fact, I trained very well and I expected to have better results here," said Xu who proved his reputation as the backstroke king by winning 50m, 100m and 200m.
Li Guangyuan was fainted after the race and absent from the awarding ceremony due to altitude sickness and strength overdraft.
Li Zhuhao of Zhejiang sealed victory in the men's 50m butterfly 23.55, ahead of Zhao Xianjian 23.93 and Wang Peng of Chinese Navy 23.94. It was Li's third champion after he won in the 100m and 200m butterfly.
In the women's 800m freestyle, Wang Jianjiahe claimed the victory in 8:22.65, beating Li Bingjie of Hebei 8:28.72 and Hou Yawen of Liaoning 8:33.95.
"I did not swim to my best and I felt hard to move my arms and legs in the water," said the 16-year-old.
Suo Ran of Chinese Navy and Feng Junyang of Guangxi celebrated their victory as the two both clocked in 31.50 in the women's 50m breaststroke. Yu Jingyao from Beijing, winner of 100m and 200m, had to settle for a bronze medal at 31.54.
Team Henan edged Beijing to lift the trophy of women's 4X100m medley relay in 4:04.42.
The six-day Chinese National Swimming Championships, which serves as the Asian Games Trails, will come to an end on Wednesday.
