Sun Yang of China competes in the men's 200m freestyle final during day one of the FINA Champions Swim Series 2020 in Beijing, China, January 18, 2020.
China wrapped up four more gold medals on the second day and a total of nine golds from the two-day Champions Series in Beijing.
Liu Xiang achieved the first gold for China on the second day of the Beijing leg and clocked 24.03 for a new Asian record, improving by 0.01 compared to her performance on January 15 in the Shenzhen leg of the Series.
"I did not expect to swim the Asian record and win all the four events I took from the Shenzhen and Beijing legs. The results boost my confidence that I want to swim better at the Olympic Games," said the 23-year-old.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo from the Netherlands finished second in 24.38 following Liu.
In the men's 400m free, Sun Yang dominated the race after 100 meters and won in 3:44.98, slower than his winning time in Shenzhen (3:44.07). Danas Rapsys of Lithuania came to third (3:49.62) behind Sun's compatriot Ji Xinjie (3:47.04).
"Three titles in five days, I am pretty happy with my performance as I keep smooth and steady in every race. I am also happy to swim with the best swimmers in the world, such as Danas and the others at the beginning of the year. It is the only international event we can have before the Olympic Games, it is like a rehearsal for us," said the captain of China's swimming team.
Yu Jingyao brought the third gold for China in the women's 100m breaststroke in 1:07.18. While the fourth gold came from 17-year-old Yang Junxuan who broke the national record that stood for eleven years in China, finishing the women's 200m freestyle in 1:54.98.
Previously on day one, China won five golds by Sun in men's 200m freestyle, Liu in women's 50m backstroke, Yu in women's 200m breaststroke, Xu Jiayu in men's 100m backstroke, and Yan Zibei in men's 100m breaststroke.
Yang Junxuan of China in action during day two of the FINA Champions Swim Series 2020 in Beijing, China, January 18, 2020.
Japanese swimmers Ryosuke Irie took victory in men's 200m backstroke (1:55.55) and former world record holder Ippei Watanabe took the gold in men's 200m breaststroke (2:08.40).
Hungarian Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu seemed rusty as she was denied by her teammate Liliana Szilagyi in the 200m butterfly (2:08.56) to (2:08.37) with the latter losing in her favored 200m individual medley (2:09.93) to Sydney Pickrem of Canada (2:09.26).
Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands topped the women's 100m backstroke (59.64) and Matthew Temple of Australia snatched a gold in men's 100m butterfly (51.71). Michael Andrew of the United States walked home with a gold in men's 50m backstroke in 24.92.
About 70 top swimmers from 26 countries and regions competed in the FINA Champions Swim Series.
(With input from Xinhua News Agency)