China's blistering start puts world on notice

Early golds for Zhang, Qin show squad means business in Japan

FUKUOKA, Japan — Team China's pool stars showed the world they mean business, bagging back-to-back gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan on Monday.

The Chinese sweep saw Zhang Yufei win the women's 100-meter butterfly and Qin Haiyang go wire-to-wire in the men's 100m breaststroke.

Zhang, a hugely popular household name in China ever since her 200m butterfly gold at the Tokyo Olympics, rallied over the final 15 meters, touching in 56.12 seconds. Maggie MacNeil of Canada finished second in 56.45, and Torri Huske of the United States clocked 56.61 for third just two years after placing fourth in the event at the Tokyo Games.