World record holder Zhao Jing continued to assert her authority in the women's 50m backstroke by touching home first in 27.97 seconds at the Chinese Swimming Championships here on Saturday.

Although nearly one-second away from her world mark, Zhao met no challenge as she set an early pace with a good start and roared through the pool to secure her dominance.

"I've been trying to regaining shape since the Shanghai world championships," Zhao said. "My swim today is ok and I hope to keep my powder dry for the next-stage training program."

The second and third places went to Zhejiang swimmer Fu Yuanhui and Beijing's Cheng Haihua respectively.

Liaoning's Wang Qunyao stole the limelight from world champion Jiao Liuyang by chalking up 25.62 seconds to grab the title, with a tiny edge of 0.09 over Jiao in the women's 50m butterfly.

Jiao, 20, from Guangzhou Army, had to settle for the silver. Her teammate Yao Jianan stood third in 25.76.

In the women's 100m butterfly, Lu Ying of Shanghai claimed victory in 57.99, Zhu Xiaoya of Jinagsu splashed home first in the women's 200m freestyle in 2 minutes and 13.08 seconds, leaving Hunan's rising star Li Xuanxu in second place with 2:13.22.

Shanghai team lifted the crown in women's 4x100m freestyle relay in 3 minutes and 43.10 seconds.

In the men's part, Chinese Navy's Qu Jingyu snatched gold in 28.25 seconds in the 50m breaststroke. Wang Shun from Zhejiang stormed in the 100m freestyle in 49.78.

The six-day national championships, with 38 gold medals on offer, will come to an end on Sept. 26.

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