The Singapore World Swimming Championships are just around the corner—how are Pan Zhanle, Zhang Yufei, and Wang Shun performing?

The World Aquatics Championships will kick off this month in Singapore, and the Chinese national swimming training team has already assembled and is currently preparing at the General Administration of Sport of China. On July 3, the Chinese team held an open practice session. How are the athletes performing?

To prepare for the World Aquatics Championships, the national training team completed its assembly in Beijing on July 1. The roster includes renowned athletes such as Pan Zhanle, Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun, Qin Haiyang, Tang Qianting, and Li Bingjie, as well as a group of promising young talents who recently made waves at the Shenzhen Champions Meet—like Yu Zidi, Yu Jingming, and Lü Qinyao. The final list of participants will be announced in the coming days.

In the morning, Pan Zhanle focused primarily on land-based physical training to activate his body and maintain strength in his limbs and core. In the afternoon, he engaged in recovery-oriented, water-based training sessions. Since returning from the National Swimming Championships, Pan’s training regimen has emphasized aerobic exercises. While still working on his 100-meter freestyle, he’s also been preparing for the 800-meter freestyle—and at this year’s World Championships, he hopes to rediscover his competitive rhythm in the 200-meter freestyle.

As for the main event—the 100-meter freestyle—Pan Zhanle said he’ll simply give his best effort, confident that he can swim faster than his 47.77 seconds from the championship meet. Recently, Romanian star Popovici clocked a historic second-fastest time in the 100-meter freestyle at 46.71 seconds, while several American swimmers have also made impressive strides. Pan Zhanle believes this is an excellent development.

Zhang Yufei took a relatively long break after the Paris Olympics and didn’t officially resume training until this spring. Now, she’s working hard to regain her form and is determined to deliver her best performance possible at the upcoming World Championships.

Before the championship, Zhang Yufei teamed up with the national team’s foreign coach, Bohl, to kick off the preparation phase for the Los Angeles Olympics. Thanks to Coach Bohl’s rigorous motivation and her own remarkable personal growth, Zhang Yufei has now reached a deeper, more advanced level of understanding in swimming.

After the Paris Olympics, she had clearly stated she would no longer compete in the 200m butterfly—but yesterday, Zhang Yufei publicly hinted for the first time that a possible comeback might still be on the table.

The oldest member of the training team is 31 years old.Wang Shun, this will be his eighth World Championships. Since the Paris Olympics, Wang Shun has continued to maintain a remarkably high level of competitive performance and exceptional training capabilities. In May, at the National Swimming Championships, he delivered an astonishing time of 4 minutes 10.64 seconds in the grueling men’s 400-meter individual medley event.

Thirty-one-year-old Wang Shun, soon-to-be 30-year-old Xu JiaYu, and 27-year-old Zhang Yufei have all proven through their performances that age isn’t a barrier—on the contrary, as they’ve grown older, they’ve gained deeper self-awareness and an even more profound understanding of their respective disciplines. Combined with China’s swimming community embracing increasingly scientific training methods and highly specialized, tailored support systems, the country’s robust, multi-disciplinary team structures are helping athletes maintain peak performance—and extend their competitive careers—at elite levels for longer than ever before.

Source: Beijing Youth Daily · CCTV News Client

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