Latest news with #ZhangYufei
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Pan Zhanle set for Sun Yang showdown as China's Olympic swimming stars head to Shenzhen
A clash of generational leading lights is on the cards when the Chinese National Swimming Championships begin in Shenzhen this weekend, with Pan Zhanle on course to race against Sun Yang. Advertisement Present-day golden boy Pan is poised for his first competition of the year as he aims to follow his show-stealing feats at last year's Paris Olympics. Sun, who made a similar splash when blazing a trail for China at the London 2012 Games, will continue his bid for rehabilitation after serving a ban for anti-doping rule violations. The week-long championships, the country's premier meet, could provide the first meeting in the pool between the veteran three-time Olympic gold medallist and Pan, who has been striving to surpass him since childhood. Asked at the age of 10 about his future goals, Pan, now 20, had said swimming 'faster than Sun Yang is good enough'. Other star names heading to Shenzhen include Zhang Yufei, Qin Haiyang, Tang Qianting and Yu Yiting, for what will be China's sole selection event for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July and August. Races get under way on Saturday. Sun Yang has entered four freestyle events at the Shenzhen meet. Photo: Xinhua Pan is set to be centre of attention after his exploits in Paris. Having already claimed gold in the 100 metres freestyle in a world-record time, he stunned the world again in the men's 4x100m medley relay, producing a remarkable final leg to haul China from third to first and end the United States' decades-long dominance of the discipline. Advertisement He has entered the 50, 100, 200 and 400m freestyle in Shenzhen, raising the possibility of at least one meeting with the 33-year-old Sun, who has been listed for the 100, 200, 400 and 800m freestyle.
South China Morning Post
24-03-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Olympic swim champ Zhang Yufei: just looking at pool made me feel sick, now ‘I'm back'
Olympic champion Zhang Yufei has opened up about how looking at the pool made her feel physically sick, and she took a five-month break from swimming to decide if she even wanted to continue in the sport. Advertisement But in a post on RedNote on Monday, the double Tokyo Games gold medallist announced, 'I'm back', and said she had set her sights on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. To mark her return, Zhang competed in the 100m butterfly at the Chinese Spring National Championships in Qingdao on Sunday, finishing fifth in 58.12 seconds. 'Yes, I'm back [and] I'm very happy to be back in the pool,' she said. 'After a half-year absence, the last month of training has made me feel different. 'When I took part in the World Cup last October, I got a kind of sickness, the type that made me want to vomit when I looked at the pool. It sounds ridiculous, but that was my true feeling at that time, I was even a little glad that I was injured so that I could avoid the pool: out of sight, out of mind.' Zhang Yufei is interviewed by reporters before the closing meeting of the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 11. Photo: EPA-EFE The 26-year-old said that for the past five months she had not gone near a swimming pool, except for the weeks of training she did to prepare for the spring championships.
