Sanya, China, April 26, 2026: With racing so tight and so prolonged in open water swimming, it must be hard not to think about your closest rivals.
But China’s Zhang Ziyang was able to do just that in winning Asian Beach Games gold in the men’s 5km race at the Haiyue Square venue cluster in sunny conditions on Sunday, April 26.
Zhang finished the three-lap race in 53 minutes and 46 seconds. Behind him were two hard-chasing Vietnamese swimmers – Nguyen Huy Hoang, who took silver in 53:53.2, 7.2 seconds behind Zhang, and in third place Mai Tran Tuan Anh, who clocked 53:56.3 for bronze, 10.3 seconds behind the Chinese champion.
“It was a hard race but I wasn’t thinking about the Vietnamese swimmers or anyone else,” Zhang said.
“I was only thinking about my own performance and doing the best I could. I wasn’t even thinking about what position I would finish. The sea was very calm today so it made it easier to keep my rhythm.”
The event attracted 28 swimmers, with 23 finishers and five over the time limit.
Zhang’s gold in the men’s 5km race followed gold and silver for China in the women’s race the previous day, while Vietnam celebrated silver and bronze in the men’s race after picking up bronze in the women’s event.
This was another fine effort from Vietnam, suggesting they will push China close in the mixed team event, 4x1500m relay on Monday. This will be the third and final medal of the open water swimming competition and the hosts will be bidding for a golden hat-trick.
Zhang won the gold medal in the men’s 10km marathon at the Hangzhou Asian Games and says his performance has improved a lot now he is concentrating only on open water after previously competing in the pool and training for both styles.