The 2025 Chinese National Swimming Championships kicked off Saturday in Shenzhen, with the competition representing the sole opportunity for swimmers to qualify for this summer’s World Championships.

Pan Zhanle in a 200m freestyle semi-final competition in Shenzhen on Sunday. Xinhua

Competition is fierce and athletes will need to put up some of the best times of their careers in order to make the grade and book their tickets to Singapore.

Qin Haiyang competes in men's 100m breaststroke finals in Shenzhen on Sunday. Xinhua

Right off the bat, we saw a monster swim at the hands of Olympian Li Bingjie in the women’s 400-meter free with the 23-year-old firing off a new Asian Record of 3:59.99. She dipped under the 4:00 barrier for the first time ever, becoming just the 6th woman ever to do so.

Tang Qianting in action during women's 100m breaststroke semi-finals on Sunday. Xinhua

The men’s 400-meter free final demonstrated the otherworldly range of 20-year-old Pan Zhanle. The reigning 100-meter free Olympic champion and world record holder stopped the clock at 3:45.34 to eke out the victory narrowly ahead of Fei Liwei who settled for silver just .23 behind. Former Olympic champion Sun Yang captured bronze in 3:47.53.

Yu Yiting competes in women's 200m medley relay finals on Sunday.

The rest of the individual events on Saturday’s agenda were semi-finals. Yu Yiting grabbed the top slot in the women’s 200-meter individual medley, registering a time of 2:10.56. Fellow Olympian Ye Shiwen is in the mix with a 2nd-seeded 2:11.92 while Yu Zidi secured the 3rd seed.

Zhang Yufei reacts at the awarding ceremony of women's 100m butterfly on Sunday. Xinhua

Yu Yiting also made it happen in the women’s 100-meter fly, producing a top-seeded outing of 57.57 to hold the advantage of 6-time Olympic medalist Zhang Yufei. Zhang held fast at 57.94, with Wang Yichun earning the 3rd seed in 58.14.

The games, held at Shenzhen Universiade Center, will run until May 24.