China's Sun Yang competes in the final of the men's 400m freestyle event at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai on Sunday. Cui Meng / China Daily

Defeated by archrival Park Tae-hwan in the men's 400m freestyle and so failing to produce an opening victory for the host at the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai on Sunday night, China's rising star, Sun Yang, was still satisfied with his swim.

Sun claimed he could have had a chance to defeat the South Korean, if they had been competing in adjacent lanes.

"My strategy for this race was to pay attention to Park for the full course, but Park was in lane 1," said Sun, who was swimming in lane 4.

"The quality of all the finalists was even, so nobody dared to lead at the beginning. If we had competed side by side, I think I could have beaten him.

"We can't afford to make any small mistakes during big event like the Worlds. Although I lost to Park, I have learned a lot."

Going into the finals with the fastest time from the preliminaries, Sun, who won the bronze medal in the men's 1,500m freestyle at the Rome World Championships two years ago, was expected to win the first gold medal of the swimming event on home soil.

But Park, the 2007 world champion in the event and the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist, produced a time of 3 min 42.04 sec to win.

The time was just off Park's career best of 3:41.53, set at the 2010 Asian Games, and now stands 15th on the all-time list.

Sun finished second in 3:43.24, followed by defending champion Paul Biedermann of Germany in 3:44.14.

Before the Shanghai Worlds, the 19-year-old Sun said many times that the 400m gold was the one he wanted the most, but this failure won't affect his confidence in the following races.

"I'm satisfied with my results today, although it was not as good as many people expected," he said.

"It is my first appearance in the 400m in a major event, so it's good practice for me. It will help a lot in my preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

"I always considered Park my strongest opponent at these worlds, so I have no regrets about losing to him. My favorite distances are 800m and 1,500m. This silver has built up my confidence for the following races."

Finishing only seventh in the preliminaries, Park had to swim in lane 1 in the final, which is always considered a disadvantage. But Park disagreed.

"I was glad to swim in lane 1, which allowed me to fully concentrate on my own tempo and not to get distracted by the competition," said the 21-year-old Korean.

For Sun, it prevented him from watching his rival closely.

"Normally he is faster in the first 200m and I can do better in the last 200m," Sun said.

"But today it was strange that nobody wanted to take the lead in the 200m. And, with Park in lane 1, it was hard for the other swimmers to notice him."

Sun will continue his quest for his first world title in the men's 800m freestyle on Wednesday.

Zhang Lin became China's first male swimming world champion at the Rome World Championships by winning the men's 200m freestyle.