China’s Sun Yang tops swimming heats to storm into final

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China's Sun Yang and his teammate Ji Xinjie competed in the heats of the men's 200-meter freestyle at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia on Sunday morning.

The 2016 Rio Olympic champion kept on creating the ripples in the pool and comfortably made into the final in style.

Sun, starting on lane four in heat five, made his debut at the Asian Games this year. The 26-year-old grabbed an early advantage and held on to touch the wall just 0.12 seconds behind Hoang Quy Phuoc of Vietnam at the 50-meter turning mark.

But the Rio Olympic gold medalist was able to catch up on the 100m mark, and remained in the lead before finishing first in a time of one minute and 47.58 seconds.

Sun Yang (L) and Ji Xinjie of China talk after their Men's 200m Freestyle Heats. /VCG Photo

After storming into the final, a confident Sun said, “I feel good today. Everything is going well. My earlier expectation was to finish in the top two, making sure I can go to the final. And in the final race, I will try my best since my opponents are much stronger compared to the ones in past years. So hope I can achieve a good result.”

He will compete for his sixth big gold medal event in the final later this afternoon. The final is scheduled to be held at 7 pm (GMT +8) BJT.

As for the other Chinese swimmers, Li Bingjie and Wang Jianjiahe will compete in the women's 1500m freestyle final, before Sun's final, in what will be China's first chance at gold in the pool. World champion Xu Jiayu will face defending champion Ryosuke Irie of Japan in the men's 100m backstroke final. China will also try to defend their title in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay tonight.