Sun Yang - 2011 World Aquatics Championships

2011 World Aquatics Championships

On the first day of competition, Sun placed second in the 400 freestyle, losing to Park Tae-Hwan in a time of 3:43.24. Three days later, he would go on to win his first World Championship title in the 800 freestyle with a time of 7:38.57. After a day of rest he would go on to anchor the China team to a bronze medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay. On the final day of competition, Sun competed in the 1500 freestyle. By the time the final 50 meters rolled around, there was no question Sun would win, it was whether the world record would be broken. Over a second above the record however, it seemed unlikely. However, splitting a time of 25.94 sec over the last 50 meters, he ended up breaking the ten year old world record by 0.42 sec in a time of 14:34.14, and winning by over 10 seconds from the second place finisher.