CHINA’S Sun Yang set an Asian record in the men’s 1,500m freestyle, getting within a second of world record that has stood for more than nine years.

    The 18-year-old Sun led from the second lap and gradually built up a big lead on his closest rival, South Korean star Park Tae-hwan, finishing in 14 minutes and 35.43 seconds to improve the Asian record.

    It was 10 seconds faster than Zhang Lin’s former Asian Games mark and closer than ever to world record of 14:34.56, set by four-time world champion and dual Olympic 1,500 champion Grant Hackett in July 2001.

    Sun celebrated by gesturing “No. 1” with both his hands.

    Park, who had already won the 100, 200 and 400 freestyle events, was going for an unprecedented 100-1,500 sweep, but fell short with a second-place 15:01.72. No one, male or female, has ever won the 100-1,500 freestyle events in a major international event. Zhang rounded out the podium with a third-place 15:22.03.

    China’s Ye Shiwen, 14, became just the second swimmer in a textile suit to clear the old world record of 2:09.72 set by compatriot Wu Yanyan in 1997 in the women’s 200 individual medley. Ye posted the top-ranked time in the world with a 2:09.37 to move into a tie for seventh on the all-time list.

    However, China was disqualified from the men’s 4x100m medley relay after an illegal change involving the second swimmer, marking a contentious end to an otherwise dominant performance by the hosts.

    China appeared to be the winner when Lu Zhiwu touched ahead of his Japanese opponent. But pandemonium soon turned to silence when a video review showed that Lu’s teammate, Wang Shuai, dived into the water before Sun Xiaolei had touched.

    Japan was elevated to gold with a time of 3 minutes, 34.10 seconds.(SD-Agencies)