HANGZHOU, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Olympic and world champion Sun Yang took part in his first and only race in the FINA Swimming World Championships (25m) here on Friday and he led the team to the bronze in the men's 4X200m freestyle relay, breaking the Asian record.
The Chinese men's 4X200m freestyle team of Ji Xinjie, Xu Jiayu, Sun Yang and Wang Shun timed six minutes and 47.53 seconds to rank third.
Sun swam the third 200m in the relay and came from behind to take the lead in the last 25m, but China was overpassed in the last 200m.
Brazil won the gold in 6:46.81, and Russia took the silver in 6:46.84. Both the first three broke the world record of 6:49.04. The United States and Australia were fourth and fifth, respectively.
"I tried my best," said Sun, 200m free winner at 2016 Rio Games. "We expected to break the world record before the final. The bronze is a breakthough. We proved that We are a strong team and we can beat America and Australia in relay."
"It is my first time competing in short-course competition. It is a new experience," Sun added. "I am happy with the result."
Xu Jiayu gave up the 50m backstroke semifinal to prepare for the relay.
"The team is the most important," said Xu. "We did our best."
