China wins women's 4x100m freestyle relay in Chengdu

CHENGDU - Joined by Tokyo Olympic champions Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie, China won the women's 4x100m freestyle relay on Tuesday, pocketing the first gold of swimming in the ongoing Chengdu Universiade.

Having come from the just-ended World Aquatics Championships, Li and Zhang, competing in the first and fourth legs seperately, led the Chinese team to the victory by clocking 3 minutes and 37.51 seconds, breaking the previous FISU record of 3:37.99. Italy came second on 3:38.81 and Japan placed third on 3:41.83.

"Before the final, we had anticipated there would be a tough competition against Italy, and we kept encouraging each other. As the host, we must win the championship," said Li, who has just won a silver medal in women's 800m freestyle in Fukuoka World Aquatics Championships.

In the semifinals of women's 50m butterfly, Gallagher Erin Paige of South Africa broke the FISU record with the time of 25.72 seconds, but soon the record was updated again by Zhang in 25.29.