Sun Yang gunning for four golds at worlds

Besides defending three titles, the 23-year-old will also vie for a 200m relay medal

KAZAN: China’s swimming superstar Sun Yang is gunning for four individual gold medals as he prepares to get his world championships campaign underway in Sunday’s 400m freestyle heats and final.

The Chinese giant dominated the long-distance freestyle events in Barcelona two years ago with world titles in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m to underline his reputation as one of swimming’s superstars.

The 23-year-old will be defending all three in Kazan, plus racing in the 200m and relays for China in what promises to be a busy schedule.

Sun will be looking to again add the world title to his Olympic gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle after a helter-skelter couple of years which also saw him banned for three months for a doping offence.

Several of his long-distance rivals including Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, Australia’s Mack Horton, Japan’s Ayatsugu Hirai and Connor Jaeger of the US have already posted fast 1,500m times this year.

But in 2015 no-one has got within ten seconds of Sun’s world record of 14 minutes 31.02 seconds from the 2012 Olympic Games and the six foot six inches freestyler remains the favourite to defend all three titles.

“Training has been going well. I’m under lots of pressure for the world championships since I am going to compete in four individual events, but I’m ready for these challenges,” said Sun. “This is my first time competing in Russia and my impression towards Kazan is that it’s a clean and beautiful city.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2015.

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