Shaoxing, East China: Zhang Lin broke his own national record in the 400m freestyle at China's Olympic trials with a strong 3:44.97.

The 21-year-old based at the national training centre in Beijing, is now 9th fastest ever after improving from a best of 3:45.04 clocked in February this year. His best last year was 3:46.27 and in 2006 3:47.07. 'I had expected the national record breaking result today, as I improved a lot after training abroad,' Zhang told Xinhua. 'In my opinion, this result is not fast enough to grab a medal at the Olympics. I look forward to rewriting the record again and again in the following four months.'

Second was Sun Yang, of Zhejiang, who wept on the podium who described his 3:48.26 was 0.93sec shy of the best time of 3:47.33 from the China Open test event in January. 'I intended to challenge Zhang in the final but failed, and I didn't improve my personal best as I had expected,' said Sun, who is 1m 98 tall. Sun, 18 this year, has improved from a best of 3:52.12 as a 15-year-old in 2006.

Elsewhere the trials witnessed the following highlights:

Men: the 100m freestyle went to Zhang Enjian, Tianjin, in 50.49; 100 meters backstroke; the 100m backstroke went to Ouyang Kunpeng, Jiangxi, in 54.91.

Women: the 50m freestyle went to Zhu Yingwen, Shanghai, in 25.27 ahead of Xu Yanwei, Shanghai, 25.29; and the 200m breaststroke went to Qi Hui, Chinese Navy, in 2:25.68, ahead of Sun Ye, Shanghai, in 2:26.52.

But here is a thing: whither Wang Qun? At 12, she was on 2:26.05 long-course 200m breaststroke in 2005 and a 2:22 short-course two years ago - but now not in a field of eight that ended at 2:32.25. I cannot find mention of her yet - but I'm ever hopeful.