Photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

Joined by Tokyo Olympic champions Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie, China won the women's 4x100m freestyle relay on Tuesday, pocketing the first gold of swimming in the ongoing Chengdu Universiade.

Having come from the just-ended World Aquatics Championships, Li and Zhang, competing in the first and fourth legs seperately, led the Chinese team to the victory by clocking 3 minutes and 37.51 seconds, breaking the previous FISU record of 3:37.99.

"As you all know, we came straight from the World Aquatics Championships to participate in the Universiade in Chengdu because most of the time we compete as professional athletes. But this time, we are all university athletes, and we are really happy to be here in Chengdu," Zhang Yufei said in an interview with National Business Daily (NBD).

Photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

After the World Championships, Zhang Yufei immediately switched to the Universiade. Including the preliminaries, she will compete in three events in one day. How to quickly adjust the competitive state?

Zhang Yufei said to NBD, "When I signed up for the Universiade in the first half of the year, including before going to the World Championships, I had already prepared mentally. I know that this is a continuous battle. What I can do is to adjust my state to the best as soon as possible under the current circumstances."

"Coming to the Universiade Village in Chengdu makes me feel like I'm back in university," Zhang Yufei said when talking about her first experience competing in the Chengdu Universiade. "In previous competitions, we usually have 2-3 days of trial sessions before the actual competition, but today, as soon as I got in the water, I felt really comfortable."

Photo/Zhang Jian (NBD)

In the morning preliminaries, Zhang Yufei and her teammates finished second in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. In the final, they competed fiercely with the powerful Italian team.

"We expected to compete with Italy in the afternoon final, so we kept encouraging ourselves and our teammates before the race. This is our home field, and we have to win this championship!" Li Bingjie said in an interview with NBD after the game.