Chinese swimmers receive awards in Beijing on October 29, 2022 after the Chinese National Swimming Championships (25 meters). Photo: Cui Fandi/GT

The 2022 Chinese National Swimming Championships (25 meters) came to a close with one world record, three Asian records and eight national records broken in three game days. Although it was only an intra-team competition, the overall results were notable by both young and more mature swimmers. Team China appear ready for the Melbourne World Championships at the end of 2022.

After achieving only one gold and four bronze medals in Budapest in June and July, the worst results since the 2007, the Chinese swimming team are facing pressure and questions from the outside. After the swimmers of the golden era of Chinese swimming, whether the new generation of swimmers can take over the baton it's yet to be seen. However, in terms of the performance at the championships, the Chinese swim team still have a lot to look forward to in the Paris Olympics.

Although there were no on-site spectators, the atmosphere was enthusiastic. In addition to the cheers and applause of the staff and media reporters, the players also watched and cheered on their teammates as they competed. The foreign coaches watching from the poolside showed infectious enthusiasm, roaring and cheering for the swimmers and encouraging them after each game.

The most outstanding performance of this selection was that of Li Bingjie, who established on the first day a new world record time of 3:51.30 in the women's short course 400-meter freestyle, with an improvement of more than two seconds on the previous record, a fact which the US sport media SwimSwam said exceeded all expectations and was incredible. In addition to sweeping the four crowns in the middle and long freestyle, Li broke three records, fully demonstrating her capability.

Although Li showed her usual modesty in the post-race interview, saying she still had many shortcomings, the 20-year-old youngster also showed her ambition for the World Championships, saying she wanted to do better than her world record-surpassing score.

However, compared to the women's team's blossoms, the men's swim team's results were slightly worrisome. Of the 12 records that were broken, only three were broken by male athletes. The number of athletes competing in men's events was far less than in women's events and in some events no athletes even achieved the FINA B standard.

During the National Championships weekend, Beijing was also entering the best time of fall. The yellow foliage surrounding the competition arena resembled the athletes' potential bountiful harvest of gold medals. However, Team China still face serious challenges in Melbourne despite outstanding performances during the games.