Chinese swimmers showcased their strength in depth with record-breaking performances by veterans and rising stars at the national championships in Beijing. As of Tuesday, swimmers had broken one world, six Asian and multiple national records. Zhang Yufei and Zhang Zhanshuo set Asian short-course records in the women’s 100m butterfly and men’s 800m freestyle, clocking 54.87 seconds and seven minutes 28.61 seconds respectively to claim gold. The national event is the official selection trial for...

China’s top swimmers have returned to the pool following their dominant Asian Games display and once again put their competitors on notice with strong performances at the national championships. Li Bingjie reclaimed the women’s 1,500m freestyle short-course Asian record in style, clocking 15 minutes and 34.09 seconds to win gold on Monday. The 24-year-old shaved 4.32 seconds off the previous Asian mark of 15:38.41, set by Singapore’s Gan Ching Hwee just 11 days earlier. Li had held the record...

French football superstar Kylian Mbappe has issued an apology after an “ill-judged” comment about China sparked intense backlash on social media and led a string of major Chinese brands to cut ties with him. After a video began circulating widely online that appeared to show the France and Real Madrid striker making a controversial remark about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, several Chinese firms including the dairy giant Mengniu announced they were pulling out of deals with him on...

Tom Eaves may be in the latter stages of his career but the striker insists he still has the fire in his belly to achieve.