China's Sun Yang celebrates after the Men's 200m Freestyle Semifinal of swimming at the 17th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on July 24, 2017. Sun Yang advanced to the final with 1:45.24. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)
BUDAPEST, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese swimmer Sun Yang made a strong comeback to finish third in men's 200m freestyle semifinals and secured a final spot at the 17th FINA World Championships here on Monday.
Two championships records were shattered, by Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom in women's 100m butterfly and Britain's Adam Peaty in men's 100m breaststroke, respectively.
Sun, who won three 400m freestyle title in a row on Sunday, was restrained to the final position after first two laps, before he came back to finish second in his group and third overall with 1 minute and 45.24 seconds.
"I didn't expect that my opponents swam so fast, and they built a one-second lead after 100 meters," commented Sun.
Sun is expected to face physical challenge on Tuesday as he will compete in 800m free heat in the morning, then the 200m free final in the evening.
Xu Jiayu, who finished just one hundredth second shy of the world record at the National Championships this April, continued his in-form performance in men's 100m backstroke semifinals to sit atop with 52.44 seconds.
"I didn't want to give myself too much pressure before the contest, and just aimed at a better personal record," Xu pointed out.
Another Chinese swimmer Li Guangyuan failed to secure a berth in the final after losing the playoffs to Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov.
Fu Yuanhui, a humorous Chinese female swimmer, might expect huge disappointment as she could not make into the final of 100m backstroke.
She only ranked 13th among 16 semi-finalists with one minute and 0.39 second. Her teammate Chen Jie also crashed out from the semifinals with a deficit of 0.03 second at ninth.
"My training was quite systematic and went well before I came here. I didn't expect to finish the 100m backstroke in such a poor manner," Fu said, also expressing her expectation towards the 50m backstroke competition.
Peaty, Olympic gold medalist in Rio, clocked 57.47 seconds to defend his world title in men's 100m breaststroke, also bettering previous championships record of 57.75 seconds, set by himself in Sunday's semifinals. China's Yan Zibei ranked seventh at 59.42.
One day after breaking the women's 100m freestyle world record in the team relay event, Sjostrom went on to beat the championships record of 100m butterfly with 55.53 seconds. The previous record was 55.64 seconds, she set two years ago in Kazan. It was also her fourth gold medal in the event at worlds. The Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei was placed eighth.
"I'm surprised by this result, also happy about it. It's my fourth gold in 100m butterfly, and I just feel proud," said the Swedish.
Shi Jinglin made into the women's 100m breaststroke final with her fifth ranking.
The Hungarian crowds enjoyed a wonderful night as local favorite Katinka Hosszu won the women's 200m individual medley champion with two minutes and seven seconds.
"It means a lot to me, and it's incredible to experience with the crowds. It definitely gives you extra energy and motivation. It's just crazy," said Hosszu.
Britain won two gold medals on Monday with Benjamin Proud's triumph in men's 50m butterfly gold with 22.75 seconds.
