Sun sets as young gun Zhang rises at China's National Games

Sun Yang may never again reach the gold medal-winning heights he attained before his swimming career unravelled in doping scandal but China could have a successor emerging in 18-year-old Zhang Zhanshuo.

Xu Jiayu and Zhang Zhanshuo Claim Impressive Wins at Chinese National Games - https://t.co/LnlqeXxCqQ pic.twitter.com/Ks44kltazl

The Qingdao native has been part of the national team for several years and earned world titles in China's victorious 100 and 200 metres freestyle relay teams at Doha in 2024.

But he has grabbed the spotlight for himself this week in the National Games pool in Shenzhen, claiming the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle gold medals for his home province Shandong.

Sun, who completed a four-year doping ban last year, was sixth in the 400, nearly seven seconds behind Zhang, and was disqualified in the 200 final with a false start.

Sun won Olympic golds and world championships in both events along with the 1 500 in his heyday but with his 34th birthday looming, he conceded he was now racing more against himself than the competition.

The future looks bright for Zhang, though, who broke his own junior world record in the 400 at Shenzhen with a swim of 3:42.82.

His 1:44.86 in the 200 was also impressive, less than a half-second off Sun's best (1:44.39) and making him China's third fastest swimmer of all-time in the event.

🏊🇨🇳Zhang Zhanshuo smashes the national junior record, winning 200m freestyle gold at 1:44.86🏅.

🗣️Yet the 18-year-old remains grounded:
"Seeing #TatsuyaMurasa🇯🇵 swim 1:44.54 pushes me. I can't be full of myself—my eyes are on the global stage."#NationalGames @swimcoverage pic.twitter.com/BoqPPenr4h — CGTN Sports Scene (@CGTNSportsScene) November 13, 2025

Zhang's feats have made a splash on Chinese social media but the teenager said he was not getting ahead of himself given the benchmark set by fellow 18-year-old Tatsuya Murasa.

The Japanese swimmer clocked 1:44.54 in the 200 at the Singapore world championships, taking a surprise bronze behind Romanian winner David Popovici, the Olympic gold medallist, and American runner-up Luke Hobson.

"There was a Japanese talent at the Singapore world championships who is the same age as me and broke 1:44.60," Zhang told Chinese broadcaster CGTN after his 200 win.

"So I think there's still a bit of a gap there and I can't feel too proud of myself for winning this title."