As the global sporting community continues to react with shock to a mass doping case in China, the nation's swimmers have shrugged off the furore to post a series of eye-catching times in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.
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China have yet to confirm their squad for the Games, which kick off in late July, but the Shenzhen Olympic trials showed the team will have enough medal threats to give swimming powers Australia and the United States plenty of food for thought.
Teenage sensation Pan Zhanle took seven gold medals from the weekend's trials, claiming the 100m freestyle in 46.97 seconds - 0.17 seconds off his world record (46.80) set at the world championships in Doha, Qatar, in February.
Pan's emergence has lifted China's already-strong prospects for gold in the men's and mixed medley relay events - in which they will boast men's breaststroke weapon Qin Haiyang and women's Olympic 200m butterfly champion Zhang Yufei.
Breaststroker Tang Qianting has also boosted China's medal chances in the women's medley relay, emerging as a threat to American world record holder Lilly King in the individual 100m event.
Tang, 20, won the 100m breaststroke in Shenzhen with an Asian record swim of one minute 4.68 seconds, a couple of months after beating a depleted field for the world title in Doha.
Wang Shun, the first Asian male to win Olympic gold in the men's 200m individual medley - at the Tokyo Games - showed he remains a force in the event at the age of 30 as he claimed the national title in 1:55.35, his third-best time.
Chinese swimming is in the spotlight after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it would launch an independent review over its handling of a case that allowed 23 swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance to avoid punishment.
The swimmers all tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication, before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were cleared of wrongdoing after a Chinese investigation found the results were due to contamination.
WADA accepted the explanation, but last week announced an independent review of the case after pressure from national anti-doping authorities.
Swimming Australia was among those that welcomed the review, saying it hoped the investigation would restore faith in global anti-doping systems ahead of the Olympic Games.
The independent review is expected to report its findings in two months.
China won six medals, including three golds, at the Tokyo Olympics to finish fourth on the medal table behind the United States, Australia and Britain.
China will aim higher at Paris, where their strength in relays could see them challenge their previous best at the 2012 London Olympics, in which they finished second with 10 medals including five golds.
The Chinese team will head into a closed training camp in Shanghai in early May, according to a report on the Chinese Olympic Committee's website.
Australian Associated Press
