China's star swimmers have high expectations for Budapest worlds
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E-mail Xinhua, June 16, 2022
BUDAPEST, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China's swimming stars Zhang Yufei, Wang Shun and Xu Jiayu have been well tuned for the upcoming 19th FINA World Swimming Championships to be held here from June 18 to July 3.
The 45-member Chinese national team arrived in Budapest on Tuesday and soon began a two-session training series on the very next day for the worlds, which marks the beginning of the Paris 2024 Olympic cycle.
Being no stranger to Budapest's swimming pool, Zhang, who won two gold and two silver medals at Tokyo 2020, will take part in the women's 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly, and the women's 50m and 4x200m freestyle relay at the worlds.
"I feel good in this familiar place where I competed five years ago (for the 2017 swimming worlds). There were many good memories," Zhang told Xinhua after an adaptive training on Wednesday.
The women's 200m butterfly world title is the only one missing for Zhang to become a Grand Slam winner in this event, and she aims to nail it this time.
"I'm excepting to wrap up the 200m butterfly and the Grand Slam here. And also I want to stand on the top podium of the 100m butterfly," she said.
Becoming a Grand Slam winner is also the goal for Wang, who claimed the men's 200m individual medley gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"I bear the Grand Slam exception in my mind. But now I just focus on preparing for the events. I regard myself as the only rival to compete against," said Wang, a six-time worlds participant who is paying his third visit to Budapest.
The city is also a memorable place for Xu, a two-time men's 100m backstroke world champion.
"I won my first world title in Budapest, and want to make it here for the third time in a row," said Xu, who was crowned in the 100m backstroke at Budapest 2017 and defended it in two years.
"I'm not yet in a competitive mood right now, but that's normal," he added. "I believe I'll be all set after the championships kick off since I'll have competitions every day since Day 2, and I'm here to be a champion." Enditem
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