2026 CHINESE SC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- October 23rd – October 28th
- Beijing, China
- SCM (25m)
- Results via Asian media
The 2026 Chinese Short Course National Championships continued to unleash the heat, as the penultimate night of action in Beijing brought about a historic swim by Asian Games megastar Zhang Zhanshuo.
Racing in the final of the men’s 800m freestyle, 19-year-old Zhang scorched a winning time of 7:28.61 to establish a new lifetime best, Chinese national and Asian continental record.
The teen handily beat his domestic competitors in the race, with Zhang Zhongxin next to the wall nearly seven seconds behind in 7:35.71, followed by Li Chengyu who touched in 7:37.04 for bronze.
The former Asian record in this SCM 8free rested at the 7:32.76 Japan’s Kaito Tabuchi put on the books just a couple of weeks ago at the 2026 Japanese Short Course National Championships. Tabuchi’s record was actually notched on the front 800m of his overall 1500m free swim, which also nailed a Japanese record.
That means Zhang hacked over four seconds off that former record to become the first Asian man ever to clear the 7:30 barrier in the event.
Zhang is now the 10th-best performer worldwide in history, with this SCM 800 free representing his second individual Asian record. He already set the LCM 200 free standard at the powerful 1:43.49 he notched for Asian Games gold.
That marked just one of seven gold medals Zhanshuo earned in Tokyo this year, making him the winningest swimmer ever at the quadrennial competition.
