Records tumble as China’s swimmers hit Olympic qualifying times at national championships
- Asian gold medallist Tang Qianting sets regional best twice in women’s 100m breaststroke event
- Pan Zhanle clocks third sub-47 second in men’s 100m freestyle, but time is 0.17 seconds slower than own world record
China’s elite swimmers have been in the pool all week at the National Championships putting up 36 Olympic qualifying times, breaking two Asian records and ripping through numerous personal bests.
The championships in Shenzhen began just days after news of a doping scandal surrounding the China swim team at the Tokyo Olympics became public.
It was reported that 23 members of the squad had tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ), a prescription heart drug that can enhance performance.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has since called for an independent investigation by Swiss prosecutor Eric Cottier to look at the case.
China said it would cooperate with the investigation after Wada also said it would send a compliance audit team to assess the nation’s anti-doping programme.
The first regional record fell when Asian Games gold medallist Tang Qianting won the semi-final of the women’s 100m breaststroke with a time of one minute, 04.68 seconds.
