String of encouraging performances at Olympic trials boost Team China's confidence for Games

With or without Sun Yang, Chinese swimmers' strong performances at last week's Olympic trials showed they remain a force to be reckoned with in Tokyo.

Three-time Olympic champion Sun's participation at this summer's Games hinges on the outcome of his forthcoming retrial for an alleged doping violation. However, amid rumors that Sun might make a shock appearance at the trials in Qingdao, Shandong province, a younger generation of medal hopefuls thrived in his absence, giving Team China a timely morale boost for Tokyo.

Zhang Yufei, 23, was particularly impressive, clocking the world's fastest times this year in the 100m and 200m butterfly en route to collecting five golds.

Zhang's winning 200m time of 2 min 5.44 sec was a new personal best, the fastest recorded since the 2017 world championships final, and would have seen her top the podium at the 2019 worlds.

The 55.73 she clocked to win the 100m was just a quarter of a second shy of the world record, held by Sweden's reigning Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom.

With no opponents having cracked the 2:06 mark in the 200m this season, Zhang has emerged as one of the gold-medal favorites for Tokyo in an event in which China boasts a rich history. Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang claimed 200m golds at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games.

Zhang, however, stressed that her best is yet to come.

"The result today was OK. I am actually not quite satisfied with it," Zhang, who finished sixth in the event at her Olympic debut in 2016, said after the 200m butterfly final in Qingdao.