China's Ning Zetao sets new national record in 100m free

Chinese swimming star Ning Zetao has broken the national record to surge to victory in the 100 meter freestyle at the short course swimming race in Queensland, Australia.

China's Ning Zetao celebrates his win in the men's 100 meter freestyle final at the Aquatics World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Aug 6, 2015. [Photo/VCG]

The 24-year-old Ning Zetao finished in 46.64 seconds, breaking his previous national record time of 46.76 seconds set at the world short course swimming championships in Doha in 2014.

His new record was a mere 0.05 seconds outside the championship record set by Shinri Shioura of Japan in 2016.

Ning and his coaches considered the race as a practice to test his recent training.

"Hopefully I can return to my best as soon as possible, and get a good result at the National Games held in August this year in Tianjin," the Henan native was quoted as saying by local media Dahe Newspaper.

Ning is training solo in Australia, as he continues to try to recover from a slump that began at the Rio Olympics.

Ning rose to stardom when he won the men's 100-meter freestyle at the Kazan World Championships in 2015, becoming a hot favorite ahead of the Rio Olympic Games. However, he failed to make the final of his favorite event, finishing 12th in the men's 100m free and 30th in the 50m free.

Ning also won the men's 50m freestyle gold medal in 21.77 seconds this time.