By Michael Church, OCA Media
Tokyo, Japan, September 25, 2026: Zhang Zhanshuo etched his name in the Asian Games record books at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Friday as victory in the men’s 400 metres freestyle gave the towering Chinese swimmer his seventh gold medal at Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
The 1.98 metres tall 19-year-old, who had already won the 200, 800 and 1500 metres freestyle plus three relay golds, set a new Asian Games record to win in 3 minutes 41.28 seconds, 0.15 seconds under the mark set by Korea’s Park Tae-hwan in Guangzhou in 2010
“I'm actually calmer than I imagined I would be,” said Zhang of his golden haul. “Of course, I'm very happy to have won these seven gold medals. Moving forward, these seven gold medals will become even greater motivation for me.
“The moment I touched the wall was probably the most exciting. It was also my final race of the competition. Today feels like a perfect conclusion.”
Zhang surfaced first from the start and went on to dominate, leaving his rivals battling for the minor medals. Kazushi Imafuku finished in second, more than four seconds behind the winner, with Fei Liwei third.
Zhang celebrated his victory in extravagant style, holding up first one finger, then two and all the way to seven as he sat on the lane rope.
The Qingdao native was the stand-out performer for a Chinese team that comfortably topped the medal table for the second Asian Games in a row, winning 30 golds, 13 silver and 11 bronze, well clear of second-placed Japan with Hong Kong China in third.
Li Bingjie notched up her fifth gold medal success by winning the women’s 800 metres freestyle as the Chinese swimmer picked up the pace in the final 100 metres to outlast Singapore’s Ching Hwee Gan.
The 24-year-old Li, the current Asian record holder in the distance, touched in 8 minutes 24.02 seconds to add the 800 title to her wins in the 400 metres and 1500 metres as well as in the 4 x 100 freestyle and 4 x 200 freestyle relays.
“I'm definitely very happy to have won the gold medal, but my result was still a bit short of what I had expected for myself,” said Li. “I'll go back, continue training hard and keep improving.”
Zhang Yufei won the women’s 50 metres butterfly in 25.41 seconds, touching ahead of Chinese team mate Wu Qingfeng with Rikako Ikee, the six-times gold medallist at the 2018 Asian Games from Japan, in third.
Qin Haiyang held off the challenge of team mate Liu Junjie and Japan’s Shin Ohashi to retain his title in the men’s 50 metres breaststroke, winning in 26.68 seconds, while Kodai Nishiono pipped Korea’s Lee Ju-ho and Xu Jiayu, the champion, in the men’s 200 metres backstroke.
Chinese Taipei won their first ever men’s Asian Games swimming gold when Wang Kuan-hung touched first in the men’s 200 metres butterfly in a time of 1 minutes 55.05 seconds, ahead of China’s Xu Fang and Kim Min-seop from Korea.
“It feels unreal,” said Wang. “I’m very excited and I feel very happy. I’m super happy to have achieved this goal. I had imagined winning this gold. It’s a dream come true.”
The Chinese finished off the final session with victory in the women’s 4 x 100 medley relay, securing gold ahead of Japan and Korea in an Asian Games record time of 3 minutes 54.55 seconds.
