Setting a national record and anchoring the Chinese team to a relay victory, freestyle specialist Zhang Lin was undoubtedly the biggest excitement at China Open on Saturday.

The 21-year-old swimmer clocked three minutes and 45.04 seconds, slicing 1.23 seconds off an early national record in the men's 400 meters freestyle, which he himself set at a swim meet in Australia last December.

The world record for the event is 3:40.08, set by Australia's Ian Thorpe in 2002.

Zhang's finishing time of 3:45.04 seconds was less than a second away from his arch rival South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan, who ranked first with 3:44.30 in FINA's 2007 world rankings.

Zhang's score could elevate him from the current seventh to the second in the rankings.

In the men's 4X200 meters relay, Zhang swam the anchor leg and excited the crowd by overtaking the German squad, who led the race in the first three legs.

Zhang's coach said the three-month training in Australia worked well for the swimmer: "I hope he will keep the momentum in the run-up to the Olympics."

The men's 100 meters breaststroke was dominated by Japan's duo of Ryo Tateishi and Yuta Suenaga, who clocked 1:01.58 and 1:02.10 respectively.

World champion Britta Steffen, the winner of the women's 100m freestyle on Friday, took home her second gold in women's 50m freestyle.

World championships medalist Annika Lurz was defeated in her specialty -- women's 200m freestyle -- by Chinese Zhu Qianwei, who clocked 1: 58.90.

Athens butterfly gold medalist Otylia Jedrzejczak, of Poland, placed third in the race, finishing in 2:00.79.

China's veteran breaststroker Qi Hui posted a low result and was the last to touch the wall in the women's 200m breaststroke, won by South Korea's Jung Seul Ki, in 2:25.16.

The gold medal of the women's 800m freestyle went to 15-year-old Chinese teenage You Meihong who timed 8:31.18.

China Open, a swimming test event for the Olympics, kicked off on Thursday. It drew more than 230 swimmers from 30 countries and regions, but remains short of world-class swimmers.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)